(LifeSiteNews) — Former presidential son Donald Trump Jr. called himself “fairly liberal” on transgender issues during a recent interview, drawing the line at transitioning minors but otherwise expressing indifference toward adults and transgenderism.
Trump Jr., 45, appeared on the April 6 episode of the Full Send podcast for a wide-ranging conversation with host Kyle Forgeard. At one point, the discussion landed on transgender radical Audrey Hale’s murder of six people at a Nashville Christian school and the broader gender debate.
“All the gender affirmation bullshit, like, you know, I think it’s just a literal attack on everything that we hold near and dear,” he said. “Everything that would be a historical, traditional, normal American norm, they’re trying to break it,” citing the example of materials exposing “sexual details to children in elementary school.”
“I don’t give a (s)—, dude. If you’re an adult and you wanna be trans and you do it — great! If you’re happy, you’re productive,” Trump Jr. said. “I actually don’t give a (s)—. I’m fairly liberal on the issue.”
“Forcing it on the kids is like – that’s the crazy part,” Forgeard replied.
“You force it on a three-year-old, you get parents and try to say, ‘a parent shouldn’t decide but your rainbow-haired freak show teacher should be able to convince a three-year-old that they’re doing this and permanently mutilate their body,’ that’s (f)—— bull—-,” Trump Jr. said.
The comments were seized on by Trump’s conservative critics on social media, who cited it as an example of the Trump family’s moderation on LGBT issues.
Alongside his father’s rise to the top of Republican politics, Trump Jr. emerged as a fairly outspoken voice on political issues, generally hewing to a conservative position (such as condemning late-term abortion and woke corporations). But while he has criticized male athletes being allowed to deprive female competitors of recognition and opportunities, in 2019 he also suggested unisex facilities as a solution for the transgender bathroom debate.
Like his son, Donald Senior has a similarly mixed record. While running for president in 2016, Trump criticized a North Carolina law banning male students from female restrooms and said anyone should be allowed to “use the bathroom that they feel is appropriate.” Once in office, he took a stronger stance, rejecting Obama-era guidelines on the subject and announcing that it would no longer indulge bathroom-related “discrimination” complaints submitted to the Department of Education.
A supporter of same-sex “marriage,” Trump nominated a variety of pro-LGBT officials to various government posts and judicial vacancies, and continued some Obama-era LGBT policies such as an executive order on “gender identity nondiscrimination” and U.S. support for international recognition of homosexual relations at the United Nations Human Rights Council, and campaign actively courted LGBT voters with rainbow merchandise.
At the same time, Trump prioritized religious liberty and was generally aligned with social conservatives against the gender-fluidity movement, from banning gender-confused soldiers from the military to protecting women from having to share close quarters such as homeless shelters with men claiming to be transgendered. His White House also opposed the so-called “Equality Act” and maintained a biological definition of sex in its implementation of federal laws and regulations.
While running for reelection, Trump has pledged to “protect children from left-wing gender insanity” including banning federal funding, approval, and promotion of gender transition practices. In December, however, he hosted a gala for “gay conservative” group Log Cabin Republicans at his Mar-a-Lago resort home, where he declared, “We are fighting for the gay community, and we are fighting and fighting hard. With the help of many of the people here tonight in recent years, our movement has taken incredible strides, the strides you’ve made here is incredible.”
Many at the event reportedly celebrated Democrat President Joe Biden’s signing of the so-called “Respect for Marriage Act,” which forces all 50 states to recognize homosexual unions as marriage, though Trump himself did not mention the law in his remarks.
Trump currently leads national polls for the 2024 Republican nomination by a substantial margin, though his closest competitor, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (who has not yet announced his candidacy), remains competitive in state polls.