But Stonewall Democrats are also dealing with fractures within their own party over transgender issues. While Hegseth was fielding senators’ questions, across the Capitol, House Republicans passed a bill banning transgender athletes from competing in women’s and girls sports at institutions that receive federal dollars. Two House Democrats, Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez of Texas, voted in support of it.
Organizers are not ruling out intervening in Democratic primaries as a method of “holding candidates accountable” — including sitting Democrats — following in the footsteps of another group, the Christopher Street Project PAC, that has said it will pressure and potentially primary Democrats who take anti-trans votes. Some activists said they feared the party may be backsliding on the issue — with at least two people affiliated with the National Federation of Stonewall Democrats calling out Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) by name.
The six-term Democrat ignited backlash from some in his party over his comments immediately following Kamala Harris’ loss to Trump that suggested the party’s electoral defeats were at least partly to blame on its embrace of transgender issues and Republicans’ success in weaponizing that against them. Republicans, for instance, had hammered Harris with an ad that said: “Kamala is for they/them; President Trump is for you.”
Following the election, Moulton, who has since tempered his comments on the issue and did not support the GOP-led transgender athlete bill, told The New York Times that “Democrats spend way too much time trying not to offend anyone rather than being brutally honest about the challenges many Americans face.” He said he didn’t want his own daughters “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.”
But his initial remarks continue to outrage LGBTQ+ advocates.
“The congressman is absolutely out of his mind if he thinks that that’s the reason why we lost the election,” Comeau said, adding that one goal of the group is “ to call out Democrats when they are using our community as a reason for these reasons that we lose elections.”
But Stonewall Democrats are also dealing with fractures within their own party over transgender issues. While Hegseth was fielding senators’ questions, across the Capitol, House Republicans passed a bill banning transgender athletes from competing in women’s and girls sports at institutions that receive federal dollars. Two House Democrats, Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez of Texas, voted in support of it.