Gay members of Congress challenge Vance over the ‘normal gay guy vote’
In comments to the Washington Blade on Friday, two gay members of Congress rebuffed claims by the Republican vice presidential candidate, U.S.
Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, that he and former President Donald Trump have “the normal gay guy vote.” A poll of LGBTQ voters in August by the Human Rights Campaign showed the community overwhelmingly supports the Democratic ticket, led by Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov.
Tim Walz, by a margin of 74-7.5 percent. Nevertheless, Vance told podcaster Joe Rogan during an interview on Thursday that, “I wouldn’t be surprised if me and Trump won, just, the normal gay guy vote, because, they just wanted to be left the hell alone.” The senator continued, “Now you have all this crazy stuff on top of it that they’re like, ‘No, no, we didn’t want to give pharmaceutical products to 9-year-olds who are transitioning their genders.’” Openly gay U.S.
Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus, told the Blade “I don’t trust JD Vance on a lot of things, and I sure as hell don’t trust him to know what’s ‘normal.'” “JD has spent his time as both a candidate and Senator attacking the rights of the LGBTQI+ community, and he has no idea what “normal gays” go through because of bullies like him and Trump,” Pocan said.
