Massachusetts Democrat Seth Moulton bashes local media for trying to ‘inflame’ LGBTQ remarks

Massachusetts Democrat Seth Moulton, who dealt with post-election blowback for his comment that biological males shouldn’t compete in women’s sports, is slamming the local media for trying to “inflame” his remarks.

The Salem representative is standing firm that more of his party needs to be open to debating tough issues, like the participation of trans athletes in female sports, but says the local media is missing his point.

“I want to take this opportunity to set the record straight because I think a lot of the local media coverage has not represented my words correctly,” Moulton said during a tele-town hall with constituents last week.

“The national coverage has been different,” he added, “but the local media coverage has really tried to inflame my comments and to turn them into scapegoating or something. I’m a strong ally of the LGBTQ community and that hasn’t changed.”

Moulton voiced his criticism after a Danvers resident, named “Lisa,” expressed how she believes the incoming Trump administration is targeting her rights as a transgender woman.

“This is a time when Trump and his cohorts are enabling hate against the LGBTQ community,” she said. “I get what you were trying to say about transgender athletes but it came across as transgender people in general being unacceptable. … We need to avoid negative inferences about our class of people.”

Trump and other Republicans who hold majorities in both the House and Senate have talked about rolling back protections for trans people.

The president-elect has pledged to impose wide-ranging restrictions on transgender students. His administration could swiftly move to exclude them from Title IX protections, which affect school policies on students’ use of preferred pronouns, bathrooms and locker rooms.

Trump and other Republicans have also opposed “boys in girls’ sports.” At least 24 states already have laws on the books barring trans women and girls from participating in certain women’s or girls’ sports competitions

In an interview with the New York Times days after Trump won reelection last month, Moulton said that his party spends “way too much time trying not to offend anyone rather than being brutally honest about the challenges many Americans face.”

“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 said.

Moulton told the Herald last month after he started to receive heat for his comments that he also spoke to the Times about the economy and immigration, but the only thing that made it through the noise was his assertion about his daughters

During Thursday’s tele-town hall, Moulton thanked the woman who pointed out his “negative inferences” and that he appreciated her “candor.”

“Frankly, we need more of that candor in our party,” Moulton said, “a willingness to have discussions like you and I are having right now about contentious issues. We shouldn’t just shut people down when we bring them up, we should be able to talk about them.

Moulton then quickly dove into how he had supported the Equality Act and the Transgender Bill of Rights, unsuccessful pieces of legislation that looked to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and guarantee certain rights for transgender and nonbinary people.

The representative also highlighted how he voted against the “Republicans’ over-politicized Protection of Women in Sports Act” which would have prohibited school athletic programs from allowing biological males to participate in female sports.

Following his comments last month, Moulton’s campaign manager, Matt Chilliak, reportedly resigned his post in protest, a group of former staffers and interns circulated a letter demanding an apology, and the representative claimed party leaders wouldn’t even return his calls.

MassDems Chair Steve Kerrigan stated that Moulton’s comments didn’t reflect the state party’s values, while Gov. Maura Healey accused the veteran of “playing politics.”

“I’ve brought up a variety of issues like this where I think the Democratic party has just been out of touch,” Moulton told constituents on the tele-town hall, “and unwilling to have a serious debate and welcome people into discussions when they disagree with us, perhaps with the attitude that we might change our mind or perhaps with the attitude that we might learn something from your perspective.

“That’s the way we become a majority party again as Democrats,” he added. “That’s the way we win elections. That’s ultimately the way we protect the rights of people like yourself. … It’s going to take a willingness to engage on these issues.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report