Local News
Rep. Seth Moulton faced backlash after saying Democrats are afraid to address issues like transgender athletes competing in school sports.
LGBTQ+ advocates and the mother of a transgender child are publicly saying that they spoke with Rep. Seth Moulton a few days after the election about his comments on transgender athletes, and were disappointed at the congressman’s response to their concerns.
Moulton, a Democrat who represents much of the North Shore, has been facing sustained backlash since he made comments to The New York Times immediately after the election about how Democrats are too preoccupied by “trying not to offend anyone.”
“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,” he told the Times.
On Nov. 8, Moulton met virtually with local leaders who wanted to register their opposition to his comments. During that conversation, reported by The Boston Globe this week, the advocates, leaders, and the parent were hoping for an apology. Although Moulton admitted to not using the perfect words to make his point, he did not offer a full-throated apology, they said.
“During our meeting, I shared the collective anxiety and fear gripping our community. However, Rep. Moulton made it clear that he did not regret his statements and offered no apology,” Nina Selvaggio, executive director of Greater Boston PFLAG, said in a statement to Boston.com.
Selvaggio was joined on the call by Tanya Neslusan, executive director of MassEquality, and the mother of a transgender child who lives in Moulton’s congressional district and spoke to the Globe on the condition of anonymity.
Moulton, a member of the Congressional Equality Caucus, has walked in the North Shore Pride Parade and been endorsed by LGBTQ+ advocates in the past.
“[Moulton] has an unimpeachable voting record on LGBTQ+ issues, and he will continue to stand up for the rights of all Americans,” a spokesperson for the congressman said in a statement. “He has been talking to and listening to a wide variety of people about this issue over the last couple weeks. We don’t expect everyone to agree with him, but a lot of those conversations have been supportive of what he is trying to do: which is to push Democrats to make room for the voters we’ve lost.”
Selvaggio said that she is seeing parents and caregivers of LGBTQ+ people “panicked and frightened” about how they may be impacted by the incoming Trump administration. The president-elect stoked anti-transgender sentiment as a core part of his campaign, spending $215 million on “anti-trans ads,” she said.
Those on the call strove to make the point that transgender issues, and specifically the topic of transgender athletes in school sports, are not the massive cultural problems that some make them out to be, according to the Globe. They pointed out to Moulton that transgender people only make up about 1% of the U.S. population, and only a fraction of those people are young transgender people playing youth sports.
Moulton has stood by his remarks, saying that Democrats too frequently default to “preaching down to those we disagree with” instead of having “real, honest conversations about tough issues.”
“Unfortunately, the backlash has only served to reinforce my original point,” he said in a follow-up social media post.
The mother watched Moulton’s media appearances after the call to see if his tone would change, but was left disappointed.
“He did not ask any questions about the topic. He did not ask any questions about how my kids were doing,” she told the Globe. “I didn’t sense empathy.”
How this saga may impact Moulton’s political future remains unclear. The Salem Democratic City Committee recently voted in favor of a letter condemning his comments and said it was actively working to find a challenger to run against him in the 2026 Democratic primary.
Selvaggio followed up on the call by sharing “data and research to provide further context,” she said. That email went unanswered by Moulton’s office, she said.
“I hoped Rep. Moulton would be open to learning and would choose to lead from a place of love and care for this incredibly vulnerable population,” Selvaggio said. “I continue to hold out hope that he will rise to that challenge.”
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