WASHINGTON — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Queens and Bronx Democrat, criticized members of her party for backing away from transgender issues while campaigning for Maine Senate candidate Troy Jackson. She also described herself as a “girls’ girl” during the event.
At a town hall in Portland, Maine, a student who identified as transgender accused Democrats of abandoning the transgender community. In response, Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., sharply rebuked fellow Democrats who have softened their positions.
“First and foremost, I want to just let you know how shameful and sorry I am that there are people out there that scare so easily after an election,” Ocasio-Cortez told the student.
“I think it’s what people hate most about politics, which is politicians who will jump on this side or that side of the line at a moment’s notice,” she said. “The moment you compromise the rights of a trans person in America, you compromise the rights of every citizen in America.”
Democrats have revisited their approach to transgender policy after Republicans attacked the party over transgender athletes competing in women’s sports and gender-transition procedures involving minors.
Ocasio-Cortez, who is viewed as a potential 2028 presidential candidate, removed she/her pronouns from her biography on X shortly after President Trump won the 2024 election.
“There’s plenty of people who may not understand or the conversation about gender may be very new to them, depending on who they are or where they live,” she said. “However, our basic rights shouldn’t have to matter.”
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“I don’t support the rights of trans people just to protect my own rights, but I support the rights of trans women because I’m a girl’s girl,” she added with a laugh.
The wide-ranging question-and-answer session was held with Jackson, but most audience members directed their questions to the “Squad” lawmaker rather than the Maine Senate hopeful.
At another point, Ocasio-Cortez condemned the Trump administration over the raid on the Washington, D.C., home of fellow “Squad” member Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., as part of an investigation into Omar’s citizenship status.
She urged Democrats to use congressional committees to intensify investigations into the Trump administration.
“We’ve known the Department of Justice has also been weaponized in its absolutely groundless indictments of everyone from Tish James to Jerome Powell and so on and so forth,” she said.
“Day one, we need to be opening investigations into the head of every single one of these agencies, and we need to hold them accountable. I’m talking subpoenas, I’m talking investigations,” she added. “Everyone must be held to the same standard and rule of law, and we will never get our country back.”
“If we allow criminals to have cabinet seats in the United States of America.”
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