Gov. Maura Healey says Rep. Seth Moulton was "playing politics" with trans athletes comment

MIDDLETON - Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey on Tuesday knocked Rep. Seth Moulton for "playing politics" with his post-election comments about transgender athletes.

Moulton had told The New York Times, "I have two little girls, I don't want them getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete." He doubled down on his remarks in an interview with WBZ-TV, saying "this is an example of a contentious issue that we have to be willing to take on as a Democratic Party . . . we're losing on issues like this."

Healey responds to Moulton

Healey, the first member of the LGBTQ community to serve as governor in Massachusetts, was asked for her take on Moulton's stance. She said it's important that Democrats have discussions "about a whole bunch of issues" following the presidential election defeat.

"I also think it's important in this moment that we not pick on particularly vulnerable children," she told reporters in Middleton. "And you know that's what I've been disappointed in seeing."

Trump's campaign spent tens of millions on anti-trans ads. Healey said there are "strong anti-discrimination laws in the books here in Massachusetts that we're going to continue to enforce."

"I think a discussion about transgender athletes is a different discussion as somebody who was a college athlete. But you know there's too much conflating of things right now and what I see and what I saw in that comment was playing politics with people," Healey said. "We shouldn't do that. We should have real conversations and not play politics with people, particularly young people and folks who are vulnerable."

Backlash after Moulton's comments on trans athletes

Earlier in the week Massachusetts Rep. Ayanna Pressley also appeared to respond to Moulton's comments, writing in a social media post, "I will always stand with trans people and the entire LGBTQ+ community. This Congresswoman sees you and loves you."

Some trans activists and anti-war protesters called on Moulton to resign outside a Veterans Day event on Monday. Moulton told WBZ-TV that the outrage over his remarks proved his point.

"It's a whole variety of issues where Democrats are clearly just out of touch with most of America. And I think that's because we do too much preaching and not enough listening," Moulton said.