Top assistant resigns, Salem schools condemn Seth Moulton’s comments about trans athletes

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

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

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

Matt Chilliak, Moulton’s campaign manager and director of his “Serve America” ​​political committee, confirmed to the Globe that he was resigning but did not rule on whether it was related to the comments and referred further questions to Moulton’s office.

Moulton, who briefly sought the party’s 2020 presidential nomination, said in a statement Friday night that while he supports transgender rights, he stands “firmly in my belief” about limits on transgender participation in competitive women’s sports.

“These two ideas are not mutually exclusive, and we may even disagree about them. Yet there are many who shout from the extreme left corners of social media that I have failed the unspoken Democratic Party purity test,” he said. “We did not lose the 2024 election because of any trans person or issue. We lost in part because we shame and denigrate too many opinions that too many voters have, and that has to stop.”

Moulton’s comments came as Democrats came around the country is trying to understand where their nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, and the party’s writ went wrong this election cycle.

After Donald Trump’s victory on Tuesday, the Democrats took turns pointing fingers. Harris’s allies blamed President Biden to stay in the course too long before they dropped out, talked about misinformationand some, like 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. Locally, a new state law in New Hampshire barring transgender girls from girls’ sports in middle schools and high schools led to a lawsuit from a transgender girl’s family.

In the late days of the campaign, Republicans spent heavily on ads attacking transgender rights and Harris for her past statements supporting gender-affirming care for prison inmates.

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

However, the state Republican Party applauded Moulton on Friday.

“The backlash against Congressman Moulton for making this statement is one of the reasons Democrats 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 the physical differences between men and women create particular risks in sports.”

Massachusetts state Rep. Manny Cruz, a Salem Democrat and member of the city’s school committee, said he agrees Democrats need to do some soul-searching, but “they shouldn’t look any further than themselves.”

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

While Moulton isn’t the only Democrat calling for a post-election showdown — Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who caucuses with the Democrats, called out identity politics when he said Wednesday that the party “abandoned working class people” — some felt Moulton’s comments was malicious and unnecessary.

The comments drew strong rebuke from the LGTBQ+ community in Massachusetts, which has been outspoken in recent days after Trump, who made attacks on transgender Americans central to his campaign, won a second term in the White House on Tuesday.

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

“Our community is deeply hurt by these remarks, 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, submitted on X Friday, calling Moulton “weak”. And on Friday afternoon, about a dozen people came to Moulton’s district office in Salem to protest his remarks, even though the office was closed for the Veterans Day holiday, which is on Monday.

Aria Stewart, who identifies as a transgender woman, organized the protest at the last minute “to send Moulton a message that he is alienating people” and accused Moulton of using “a familiar dog whistle” in his remarks about transgender men who cultivate 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.

“With all the things 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 staff contributed to this report.

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