Salem Rally At U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton's Office Planned After Transgender Athlete Remarks

SALEM, MA — A Salem City Councilor is organizing a rally planned for outside of U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton's downtown office in the Witch City in response to the re-election of Donald Trump and in response to Moulton's recent comments on transgender athletes.

City Councilor Kyle Davis told Patch he is working with LGBTQ+ organizations and local leaders on what he called a "large rally" set for Sunday at noon between Front Street and Washington Street. He said the rally is being spurred by Trump's election and "Seth Moulton's recent transphobic remarks."

• U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton: 'I'm Not Going To Apologize'

Moulton this week declared "I'm not going to apologize" after he was quoted in a New York Times story on Trump's victory against Vice President Kamala Harris saying that he did not want his two daughters getting "run over" on an athletic field by a "male or formerly male athlete" to illustrate a bigger hurdle he said the Democratic party faces in relating to what he called "everyday Americans."

He said in the article that "as a Democrat, I'm supposed to be afraid to say that."

He also bristled at the ensuing backlash in a Facebook post and a series of interviews, saying: "Sadly, too many fellow Democrats feel like there isn't a place within our party for them to say certain things out loud even when it's a reasonable, majority opinion in our country."

Moulton's criticisms apparently extended to Salem officials during a WGBH-FM interview this week.

"Your local mayor and School Committee shut you down and denounce you," he said, "as opposed to picking up the phone and having a conversation. Or maybe even taking a bolder step and saying: 'Let's have a forum about this. Let's decide what would make sense. Let's hear from other people in the community.'

"Because I can tell you that the vast majority of people agree with me on this."

Critics have charged that statements like those of Moulton serve to further marginalize a transgender community that is already among the most vulnerable in society to hate, bias, depression, self-harm and suicide.

Davis told Patch organizations such as NAGLY, Newburyport Pride, Baystate Stonewall Dems and the North Shore LGBT Network will be in attendance and that he has asked State Rep. Manny Cruz, Mayor Dominick Pangallo, and councilors from Salem and neighboring cities to speak.

"Please join us in a celebration of the trans and queer community," Davis said. "Our aim for this event is to communicate loud and clear that we love and stand in solidarity with the trans community on the North Shore.

"This is a time where we need local leaders to stand with us and reaffirm their commitment to the LGBT(Q)+ community."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)