The comments drew the ire of fellow Democrats in Massachusetts and condemnations of the state’s LGBTQ+ community. On Friday, Moulton’s top campaign aide resigned, though he declined to say why.
In Moulton’s hometown of Salem, Mayor Domenic Pangalo and the School Committee issued a joint email to city residents, saying Moulton’s comments “do not reflect our values.”
“We want to reassure our LGBTQ+ students that we as district leaders will always celebrate your identities, support your dreams and aspirations, and applaud your accomplishments,” the email said.
Matt Celik, Moulton’s campaign manager and director of his political committee, Serve America, confirmed to the Globe that he had resigned but did not clarify whether it was related to the comments and directed 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 stands “strongly, I believe,” for placing restrictions on transgender participation in competitive women’s sports.
“These two ideas do not conflict, and we can even disagree about them. However, there are many on social media screaming from the far left who believe I have failed the Democratic Party’s unspoken purity test. “We did not lose the 2024 election because of any trans person or issue. “We lost, in part, because we shame and belittle too many views held by too many voters, and this has to stop.”
Moulton’s comments came as Democrats across the country try to understand where their nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, and the party overall have gone wrong this election cycle.
After Donald Trump’s victory on Tuesday, Democrats took turns pointing fingers. Harris’ allies blamed President Biden for remaining in the race too long before withdrawing, spoke of misinformation, and some, like Moulton, blamed a focus on identity politics at the expense of the economy and immigration, issues that working-class voters often called ” Economy and migration. Their most important interests.
Transgender rights, including whether transgender athletes should be allowed to compete in women’s sports, has long been a hot-button issue. Locally, a new New Hampshire state law barring transgender girls from girls’ sports in middle school and high school has prompted a lawsuit from the family of a transgender girl.
In the final days of the campaign, Republicans spent heavily on ads attacking transgender rights and Harris over her past statements supporting affirmative care for prison populations.
The Massachusetts Democratic Party said Moulton’s comments “do not represent the broad view of our party.” Chairman Steve Kerrigan said the party is “proud to stand with the LGTBQ+ community, especially our transgender friends, neighbors and loved ones across the commonwealth.”
But the state Republican Party praised Moulton on Friday.
“The backlash against Congressman Moulton for making this statement is one of the reasons why Democrats are suffering significant losses across the country this election cycle,” said party Chair Amy Carnevale. “Republicans agree that it is entirely possible to respect gender preferences while also recognizing that physical differences between men and women create distinct 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.”
“Hearing a congressman talk about identity politics as the reason we lost the election is completely untrue,” 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 — Sen. Bernie Sanders, who caucus with Democrats, criticized identity politics when he said Wednesday that the party had “abandoned the working class” — some felt Moulton’s comments were inappropriate. . Mean and unnecessary.
The comments drew a strong rebuke from Massachusetts’ LGTBQ+ community, who have spoken out in recent days after Trump, who has made attacking trans Americans a campaign staple, won a second term in the White House on Tuesday.
The LGTBQ advocacy group, Mass Equality, said Moulton’s statements were “harmful and factually inaccurate.”
“Our community is deeply hurt by these statements, which reinforce harmful stereotypes and undermine the dignity of transgender athletes,” said Tanja Neslusan, executive director of Mass Equality.
State Representative John Moran, an openly gay Democrat from the South End, posted an X on Friday, calling Moulton “weak.” On Friday afternoon, about a dozen people came to the Moulton District Office in Salem to protest his remarks, even though the office was closed for the Veterans Day holiday, which falls on Monday.
Aria Stewart, who identifies as a transgender woman, organized a last-minute protest to “send a message to Moulton that he’s alienating people” and accused Moulton of using a “well-known dog whistle” in his remarks about transgender males playing women’s sports. .
Kyle Davis, a Salem City Council member who attended the protest, also questioned the timing of the statements, just days after the election.
“With everything Trump has said about trans people, this is a time when the trans community feels a lot of fear,” he said.
Billy Baker of the Globe contributed to this report.
Samantha J. Gross can be reached at samantha.gross@globe.com. Follow her @samanthagross.
