Chief Assistant Resigns, Salem Schools Condemns Seth Moulton’s Comments About Trans Athletes

The comments drew ire from fellow Democrats in Massachusetts and condemnation from the state’s LGBTQ+ community. On Friday, Moulton’s top campaign aide resigned, although he declined to explain why.

In Moulton’s hometown of Salem, Mayor Dominic Pangallo and the school committee sent a joint email to city residents saying Moulton’s comments “do not reflect our values.”

“We want to assure our LGBTQ+ students that we, as district leaders, will always celebrate your identity, support your dreams and aspirations, and applaud your accomplishments,” the email said.

Matt Chiliak, Moulton’s campaign manager and director of his Serving America political committee, confirmed to the Globe that he had resigned, but did not say whether it was related to the comments and referred further questions to Moulton’s office.

Moulton, who briefly sought the party’s presidential nomination in 2020, said in a statement Friday evening. that while he supports transgender rights, he is a “firm believer” in limiting transgender participation in women’s sports.

“The two ideas are not mutually exclusive, and we may not even agree on them. However, there are many who, shouting from the far left corners of social media, believe that I have failed the unspoken test of Democratic Party purity,” he said. “We didn’t lose the 2024 election because of transgender people or issues. We lost in part because we shame and disparage too many opinions held by too many voters, and that needs to stop.”

Moulton’s comments came directly from Democrats. The country is trying to figure out where their candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris, and the party as a whole went wrong this election cycle.

Since Donald Trump’s victory on Tuesday, Democrats have taken turns pointing the finger. Harris’s allies accused President Biden for staying in the race too long before dropping out, talked about disinformationand some, such as Moulton, blamed the emphasis on identity politics at the expense of the economy and immigration, issues that working-class voters often cited as their top concerns.

Transgender rights, including whether transgender athletes should be allowed to compete in women’s sports, have long been a hot-button issue. At the local level, a new New Hampshire law has been passed that transgender girls in bars from girls’ sports in middle and high schools caused Lawsuit from the family of a transgender girl.

In the final days of the campaign, Republicans spent heavily on ads attacking transgender rights and targeting Harris for her previous statements supporting gender-affirming care for prisoners.

The Massachusetts Democratic Party said Moulton’s comments “do not reflect the broad views of our party.” Chairman Steve Kerrigan said the party is “proud to support the LGTBQ+ community, especially our trans friends, neighbors and loved ones across the Commonwealth.”

However, the state Republican Party applauded Moulton on Friday.

“The backlash against Congressman Moulton for this statement is one of the reasons why Democrats have suffered significant losses across the country this election cycle,” said party chairwoman Amy Carnevale. “Republicans agree that it is entirely possible to respect gender preferences while recognizing that physical differences between men and women create risks in sports.”

Massachusetts Rep. Manny Cruz, a Salem Democrat and member of the city’s School Committee, said he agrees Democrats should do some soul-searching, but “they shouldn’t look beyond themselves.”

“To hear my congressman talk about identity politics as the reason we lost the election is obscene,” he said. “He has two ears and one mouth, and he needs to use them in that proportion.”

While Moulton isn’t the only Democrat calling for a reckoning after election losses, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who caucuses with Democrats, called identity politics when he said on Wednesday that the party had “abandoned working class people” – some saw Moulton’s comments as mean-spirited and unnecessary.

The comments drew harsh criticism from the LGTBQ+ community in Massachusetts. who was frank in the last days after Trump, who made attacking transgender Americans a centerpiece of his campaignwon a second term in the White House on Tuesday.

LGTBQ advocacy group Massive Equality said Moulton’s remarks were “both harmful and factually inaccurate.”

“Our community is deeply hurt by these statements, which reinforce harmful stereotypes and undermine the dignity of transgender athletes,” said Mass Equality Executive Director Tanya Neslusan.

State Representative John Moran, an openly gay Democrat from the South End, published on X Friday, calling Moulton “weak”. And on Friday afternoon, about a dozen people showed up at Moulton’s district office in Salem to protest his remarks, even though the office was closed for Veterans Day, which falls on Monday.

Aria Stewart, who identifies as a transgender woman, organized the protest at the last minute “to send a message to Moulton that he is pushing people away” and accused Moulton of using the “famous dog whistle” in his remarks about transgender men doing women’s sports. .

Kyle Davis, a Salem City Council member who attended the protest, also questioned the timing of the remarks, just days after the election.

“Given everything Trump has said about transgender people, this is a time when there is a lot of fear in the trans community,” he said.

Billy Baker of the Globe staff contributed to this report.

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Samantha J. Gross can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her @samanthajgross.