Rahm Emanuel tells Megyn Kelly a man can't become a woman
Rahm Emanuel, who is publicly mulling a presidential run, told conservative media host Megyn Kelly in a new interview that a man can’t become a woman, breaking with most Democrats on the divisive issue of transgender rights.
“Can a man become a woman?” Kelly asked Emanuel, former President Biden's ambassador to Japan, on her SiriusXM show.
“Can a man become a woman? Not — no,” the former Chicago mayor and Obama chief of staff replied.
“Thank you,” Kelly responded, adding later that Emanuel’s answer was “so easy.”
“Why don't more people in your party just say that?” she added.
“Because we're — I'm now going to go into a witness protection plan," he joked.
Following former Vice President Kamala Harris's loss to Trump in the 2024 election, Democratic policy and messaging toward transgender Americans have come under intense scrutiny both inside and outside the party.
Some moderate Democrats contend the party went too far in defending transgender rights, particularly when it comes to women's sports.
President Trump campaigned hard against Harris's past support for gender-affirming care for incarcerated people. Since returning to the White House, he has sought to curb access to gender-affirming health care and reinstate a ban on transgender troops in the military.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), Harris’s 2024 running mate, has said it's “a mistake” for some in the party to not defend transgender Americans against Trump administration policies seeking to restrict their rights.
LGBTQ rights groups have pushed the Democratic Party to “do more” on protecting gay and transgender Americans’ rights amid threats from the Trump administration.
“With increasing frequency and intensity, the LGBTQ+ community is being targeted substantively as well as rhetorically, in campaigns, state legislatures, Congress and from every corner of the Trump administration,” leaders of nine national and state LGBTQ advocacy groups said in a letter to the Democratic National Committee back in March.