The backlash to comments he made about transgender athletes “has only served to reinforce my original point,” Congressman Seth Moulton wrote in a Facebook post Sunday night.
Two different Nov. 7 stories in the New York Times — one about the “new anxiety” transgender Americans are voicing about the Trump agenda, the other a post mortem on Vice President Kamala Harris’ failed presidential bid — used the same quote from Moulton.
“Democrats spend way too much time trying not to offend anyone rather than being brutally honest about the challenges many Americans face,” Moulton began.
He continued, “I have two little girls, I don’t want them getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete, but as a Democrat I’m supposed to be afraid to say that.”
The response was swift.
Walter Horan, a member of Marblehead’s Democratic Board of Registrars, told the Current that Moulton’s comments about transgender women were “Trump-like, insulting and inflammatory.”
“Trans women are not playing soccer to bowl over little girls,” he said. “They are playing because they want to participate — they want to belong. Arbitrarily saying that they are a threat to someone born female is simply flawed. The congressman is simply picking on one small marginalized group.”
Mayor Dominick Pangallo and members of the Salem Public Schools sent out a statement early Friday morning denouncing Moulton’’s comments “in the strongest terms possible.”
“We want to reassure our LGBTQ+ students that we as direct leaders will always celebrate your identities, support your dreams and aspirations, and applaud your accomplishments,” the statement read. “Neither fear nor political whim will shake our commitment to you.”
The statewide grassroots advocacy organization MassEquality issued a statement of its own, noting that Moulton’s comments were ill-timed, coming shortly before the 25th anniversary of Transgender Day of Remembrance in Boston and as the transgender community “is grappling with both the personal and political challenges of the current moment,” including the election results and the threat posed by Project 2025.
“Unfortunately, recent comments made by Congressman Seth Moulton regarding transgender athletes have further compounded our community’s sense of vulnerability,” the statement read. “Referring to transgender athletes as ‘male or formerly male,’ the Congressman’s remarks were both harmful and factually inaccurate. These statements contribute to the ongoing stigmatization of transgender people, especially transgender women and girls, in sports.”
In addition to the stream of criticism, Moulton’s comments may have also cost him his campaign manager and director of his “Serve America” political committee. The Boston Globe reported that Matt Chilliak had resigned, but the paper was not immediately able to confirm his decision stemmed from Moulton’s remarks.
Direct feedback
MassEquality Executive Director Tanya Neslusan was among LGBTQ+ community leaders who spoke with Moulton on Zoom Friday afternoon.
In the immediate aftermath of that call, Neslusan told the Current she hoped it would be an “inflection point” and a learning opportunity for Moulton.
Among the messages Neslusan said she hoped to impart was that advocacy organizations like MassEquality are always available as a resource to answer questions and help inform the congressman’s opinions before he speaks out.
“The (trans) community is really struggling right now; it is not the time to further ‘other’ it,” she said. “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”
However inadvertently, the words of a congressman can harm people, Neslusan added.
“It’s not just his daughters — it’s all of our daughters and all of our sons” Moulton should be thinking about, she said.
Since the election, Neslusan said her cellphones and those of other LGBTQ advocates have been “blowing up” with messages from people in crisis.
“They are really not sure if there is a place in the world for them,” she said.
Massachusetts has long been viewed as a refuge, and organizations like MassEquality will periodically be called upon to help relocate residents of red states.
“People look at Massachusetts as a bastion of safety,” Neslusan said. “When that veil is taken away, there are real repercussions that echo throughout the community nationally.”
Neslusan said the Zoom call ended with the LGBTQ advocates extending Moulton an open invitation to connect to discuss issues as they arise.
Neslusan also said she urged Moulton to “take a beat” before speaking and consider potential harms as he weighs competing priorities, among which protecting human life should top the list.
A split among states
According to the Movement Advancement Project, the country is equally split between states that ban transgender students from participating in sports consistent with their gender identity and those that do not. Both bans and permissive laws and policies have been the subject of legal challenges.
The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association’s policy is that a “student shall not be excluded from participation on a gender-specific sports team that is consistent with the student’s bona fide gender identity.”
Moulton told the Current he does not necessarily believe the MIAA policy should change.
“I’m not sure what exactly the right answer is, but I’ve heard from too many parents and athletes that the current rules are too liberal and there should be some restrictions,” he said in an emailed response to the Current’s questions. “Of course this shouldn’t apply to young kids who have participated in co-ed sports successfully for a long time, but as they get older and gender differences become more pronounced, this becomes an issue both of competitive fairness and of safety.”
Given how small a percentage of the population transgender people comprise, Nesulsan said she expects issues with transgender athletes to continue to be rare. There have been co-ed sports, including co-ed high school sports, forever, she noted.
“When you look at it that way, there is no reason to make transgender athletes the bogeyman,” she said. “This is not a hill to die on.”
In his Facebook statement, Moulton said that he appreciated the “thoughtful, constructive feedback” of leaders like Nesulsan.
“What has resonated most with me, because I share this concern, is the genuine fear about what the next four years will bring for the rights and safety of our most vulnerable citizens,” he wrote. “I will of course continue to advocate for better access to mental and other healthcare in America, and fight for individuals’ rights and freedoms, as I always have.”
Winning is paramount
Moulton told the Current that he recognizes that transgender Americans will be at risk under a second Trump Administration, “and it would be dangerously misleading to suggest otherwise.”
But the best way to protect the transgender community is to win at the ballot box, Moulton added.
“Republicans spent tens of millions of dollars during the campaign villainizing them, and Democrats did not effectively counter that dangerous message,” he wrote. “The only way the rights of transgender Americans will truly be protected is if Democrats have these debates, come up with a winning strategy on this issue and others, since our current strategy failed terribly, and start winning elections again.”
He pointed to a survey conducted by the Democratic polling firm Blueprint in which respondents ranked the statement “Kamala Harris is focused more on cultural issues like transgender issues rather than helping the middle class” third among reasons for not supporting her candidacy, behind inflation and illegal border crossings.
Moulton, who briefly sought the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, denied his stance has anything to do with his political ambitions.
“If the suggestion is that finding a rational position on issues in line with the vast majority of American voters — or simply being politically courageous enough to have these debates in the face of getting canceled — is a good place to be politically, then I’ll happily take that on,” he wrote. “The overwhelming majority of feedback I have received in the past few days has been positive, so I hope other Democrats will pay attention.”
Moulton added that, if the House ultimately stays under Republican control, Democrats will need people who have the relationships and willingness to work across the aisle to have any chance of influencing policy or moving any of their legislative priorities forward over the next few years.
In his Facebook post, Moulton also criticized those who went straight to social media with their criticism of him.
“They condemned not just my ideas, but denounced even having this debate — some calling on me to resign simply because I have an opinion that differs from theirs,” he wrote. “This is the wing of our party that pushes people away and makes them fearful to speak up, and it’s why the ‘surprising’ number of people that voted for Donald Trump should be no surprise at all.”
