Suddenly, Moulton has all kinds of company from big name Democratic politicians about trans athletes playing in women's sports.
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Seth Moulton comments on trans athletes: Is he owed an apology?
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Representative Seth Moulton.
Representative Seth Moulton. Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff
Representative Seth Moulton, of Salem, set off a firestorm last fall among his fellow Democrats over comments he made about transgender athletes competing in female sports.
Two days after the November election, The New York Times quoted Moulton in a piece analyzing how Trump managed to win a second term. A widely discussed Trump campaign ad had ended with the tagline, “Kamala is for they/them, President Trump is for you.” Many believed it was highly effective.
Moulton told the newspaper, “Democrats spend way too much time trying not to offend anyone rather than being brutally honest about the challenges many Americans face,” Moulton said. “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.”
Then, almost like they wanted to prove Moulton’s point, the base went off on Moulton suggesting that, yes, he should be afraid to say that. It became a major story in Boston and received notable national news attention. A top Moulton aide resigned. A protest rally was held in Moulton’s hometown days later. The Masschusetts Democratic Party admonished him saying the comments “do not represent the broad view of our party.” Mass Equality, the LGTBQ advocacy group, said Moulton’s statements were “both harmful and factually inaccurate.” A Salem City Councilor called on him to resign.
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He now faces a potential Democratic primary as a result of all this energy against him.
In the face of all of this Moulton doubled down on the comments, but he was seemingly alone on the stace among Democrats.
Suddenly, he has all kinds of company from big name Democratic politicians.
California Governor Gavin Newsom, for instance, has suggested that he always privately believed the issue was “deeply unfair,” despite previously avoiding public statements that could be perceived as giving ground to critics of transgender rights during the election.
When President Trump attacked Maine Governor Janet Mills at the White House last month and threatened to withhold federal funding unless the state changed its law allowing one transgender athlete to compete on a women’s team,
Democratic Congressman Jared Golden issued a statement agreeing with Trump’s broader argument.
“I also believe the state got this policy wrong. In public schools in Maine, biological boys shouldn’t compete against biological girls in sports,” Golden said.
Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, whom Democrats selected to respond to Trump’s congressional address, was asked Sunday about Newsom’s comments on NBC’s Meet The Press. She credited her leadership skills to playing in women’s sports. She argued that the issue should be left to individual states, implying that her position was driven more by political pragmatism than moral conviction.
Former Democratic Senator Jon Tester was more blunt: “Men shouldn’t be playing in women’s sports. It’s a bunch of crap,” he said over the weekend on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher.
New York Representative Tom Suozzi echoed a similar sentiment telling the New York Times: “I don’t want to discriminate against anybody, but I don’t think biological boys should be playing in girls’ sports. Democrats aren’t saying that, and they should be.”
Despite these remarks—and many similar statements from other Democrats—there has been little backlash from the party’s base. Instead, many of these figures have been praised for evolving on the issue.
When asked if he is owed an apology, Moulton told me Monday that, “This isn’t about me or even this specific issue.
“It’s about Democrats being able to win again. The fact that it took months for another prominent voice to say something reasonable—given Trump’s assault on the trans community—shows we still have work to do. But the fact that Newsom is getting less backlash—which was my whole point about our inability to have difficult conversations—makes me cautiously optimistic.”
To be fair, Moulton has a history of speaking out early on controversial topics, often earning criticism for being out of step with his party. He first won his congressional seat by unseating a Democratic incumbent in a primary. He unsuccessfully attempted to challenge Nancy Pelosi’s leadership. His brief, quixotic presidential run alienated some of his constituents. And in 2021, he was one of the most vocal Democratic critics of the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan—an issue Biden never politically recovered from.
Yet in each of these cases, history was ultimately kinder to Moulton than his critics were at the time.
A New York Times/Ipsos poll in January may have been a turning point for Democrats on this issue. The poll found that 79% of Americans opposed allowing transgender female athletes to compete in women’s sports. Even among Democrats, two-thirds agreed they should be barred.
Attitudes may continue to evolve, but politically, the landscape hasn’t changed much in the past four months. Democrats are still searching for a clear position.
The question of whether Moulton can read the room – or whether he reads the room better than any other Democrat – will likely remain.
James Pindell is a Globe political reporter who reports and analyzes American politics, especially in New England.
he also doesn't come off as presidential at all. he was a good VP choice, but i don't like him at the top of the ticket
