Emails show JD Vance’s right-wing, anti-LGBTQ pivot
Written correspondence between U.S. Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) and transgender attorney Sofia Nelson, a former friend and Yale Law School classmate, sheds new light on the extent of the Trump critic-turned-running mate’s right-wing, anti-LGBTQ pivot.
In about 90 emails that the Detroit-based public defender shared with the New York Times, which were largely dated from 2014 through 2017, the Republican vice presidential nominee emerges as a thoughtful and respectful debate partner who, in one instance, took pains to apologize for inaccurately referring to Nelson as a lesbian in his memoir “Hillbilly Elegy.” “I hope that you recognize that the description came from a place of ignorance, when I first started writing [the book] years ago,” he wrote. “I hope you’re not offended, but if you are, I’m sorry!
Love you, JD.” The two ultimately fell out in 2021 over Vance’s endorsement of an Arkansas bill banning gender affirming care for patients younger than 18.
Then, as the author and attorney pursued his political ambitions, he firmly embraced the Republican Party’s anti-LGBTQ extremism.
