Democratic losses in New Hampshire and across the nation are being attributed in part to the party’s embrace of extreme positions on the issues of boys playing girls sports, allowing males in female locker rooms, and other transgender issues. But is the party prepared to moderate its stance on them?
If the story of U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton unfolding across the line in Massachusetts is any indication, the answer is no.
The Massachusetts Democrat sparked a firestorm of outrage from fellow Democrats last week when he addressed the political impacts of his party’s stance on these issues. In the wake of Tuesday’s political shellacking, Moulton said, “Democrats spend 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,” Moulton added.
The following day, as outrage from Democrats grew to a simmer, Moulton turned it into a full boil.
“I mean, here we are accusing Republicans of being weird and we’re the ones who are suddenly requiring people to put pronouns in their email signatures,” he said during an interview Friday with WGBH’s Morning Edition. “I mean, that’s kind of weird, to be honest.
“You know, we went through the whole gay rights movement. We went through the whole civil rights movement. We never had to say, you know, ‘Seth Moulton: Straight’ or ‘Seth Moulton: White.’ And all of a sudden, we have to change all our values to meet the needs or demands of one very small minority group.”
Since then, one of Moulton’s top aides has resigned in protest, a city councilor from his district has called on Moulton to step down, former aides and interns have signed on to a letter condemning him, activists have covered the outside windows of his district office with pro-transgender stickers, and a small protest even formed outside of a Veterans Day town hall event in Marblehead while he was inside speaking.
“Seth Moulton represents this district,” one transgender activist told Kyle Davis, the Salem city councilor who is pushing for Moulton’s resignation while protesting outside Moulton’s town hall event Monday. “He does not represent me.”
The activist, who went by the name Jess, was joined outside the event by four other demonstrators, including one wearing a COVID-19 mask and sporting a Palestinian keffiyeh scarf.
But for the moment, Moulton isn’t backing down.
Monday, Moulton confirmed he won’t be backing away from his comments anytime soon.
“We as Democrats are more concerned about offending people and just getting all our words right than actually having legitimate, serious debates about issues that matter,” Moulton said Monday during an interview with WGBH’s Boston Public Radio. “And I hate to say it, but if you look at exit polls … the number-one issue for swing voters who chose Trump was actually the feeling that Kamala [Harris] was more concerned about trans issues than the middle class.
“So we ignore this at our peril.”
When pressed, Moulton tried to shift some of the “extremism” problem onto the GOP, claiming (without evidence) that Republicans would use control of Washington, D.C. to ban gay marriage.
“If we can’t come up with a position that the majority of Americans can buy into and agree with — a reasonable, rational position — then guess who’s going to win this debate?” Moulton said. “It’s going to be the Republicans, with their radical agenda that absolutely will take away rights from minorities all across the country. Civil rights and access to health care for trans people. Maybe the right to marry for gays — something that the majority of Americans agree with, but that the Republicans have made clear they want to take away.”
(Republicans controlled Congress and the White House from 2017-2019 and did not make any effort to ban gay marriage.)
Moulton’s attempts at deflection didn’t dampen Democrats’ anger.
Henry Cohen, who spent two years working in Moulton’s congressional office as a caseworker, said he used to work alongside transgendered co-workers under his former boss.
“You are not courageous, you are not smart, you are not serving the people of your district spreading hate,” Cohen said in a social media post. “Just join the Republicans already, you POS.”
Roberto Jiménez-Rivera, a city councilor from Chelsea, called Moulton “a transphobic idiot” and added he hopes Moulton loses his reelection bid in 2026.
In an op-ed published by The Boston Globe, two Democratic legislators (state Sen. Julian Cyr, who represents the Cape and Islands, and state Rep. Sam Montaño, who represents parts of Brookline and Boston) wrote that Moulton “needs a history lesson” and called his position “cowardly.”
“Trans kids weren’t on the ballot — our approach as Democrats was,” the duo claimed.
U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, a fellow member of the Bay State’s all-Democrat congressional delegation, chastised Moulton for “scapegoating a community that is already very vulnerable.”
Ironically, Moulton joined the rest of his caucus to unanimously oppose the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act last spring. That law would have barred biological males from competing in girls’ sports.
In New Hampshire, Granite State Democrats in Concord also unanimously opposed a bill protecting girls sports from 5th grade through high school from biological males. They also unanimously opposed a bill to allow female-only locker rooms and bathrooms. Republicans used those votes in their campaigns, and Democrats lost two state senate seats and two dozen House seats.
However, Democrats are expected to continue to advocate for males in female sports and spaces in the upcoming session, despite their defeats.
Back in Massachusetts, Moulton remains under fire.
One GOP campaign operative observed that being a Massachusetts Democrat serving in Congress “is probably one of the easiest high-profile jobs in America.”
“You’re virtually guaranteed to have that job for life,” he told NHJournal. “All you have to do is vote along party lines and make sure you keep your mouth shut at certain times.
“Seth Moulton, who is really good at doing the former, is somehow incapable of doing the latter.”
