Trump slams acceptance of trans people at Moms for Liberty event: ‘Our country is being poisoned’

Donald Trump spoke out against transgender people once again while speaking at an event hosted by anti-LGBTQ+ group Moms for Liberty.

The Republican nominee appeared at the annual gathering of Moms for Liberty, a national Conservative non-profit which opposes mentions of LGBTQ+ rights, race and ethnicity, and discrimination in schools, on Friday (August 30).

During the event, Trump lamented the growing acceptance of trans people in the United States as well as arguing that transgender women should not be allowed to play in women’s sports and said that gender-affirming health care should be restricted.

He also implied that schools are too quick to allow children to transition, which is patently false.

He said: “The transgender thing is incredible. Think about it, your kid goes to school and comes home a few days later with an operation. The school decides what’s going to happen with your child and many of these children, 15 years later, say ‘What the hell happened? Who did this to me?'”

Evidence suggests that less than 1% of transgender people who undergo gender-affirming surgery end up regretting it, while it is rare for anyone under the age of 18 to get gender-affirming surgery (though they may received puberty blockers and hormones).

Trump went on to discuss transgender women in sports, highlighting the controversy surrounding Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-Ting during the Olympics, when they were hit with a transphobic firestorm online despite both being cisgender women.

“Everyone’s afraid to talk about it. I don’t know how they get away with it. When you see these boxers came out, it was so ridiculous. It’s so demeaning to women. Women are working so hard to make a record but these records are now being set by people that transitioned will not be broken by a woman,” he continued.

Trump has previously said that he would revoke President Biden’s policies on gender-affirming care and would end all programmes that “promote the concept of sex and gender transition at any age”.

He once again railed against illegal immigration, to great applause from the Moms for Liberty attendees, claiming that “your schools and your children are suffering greatly” as a result of immigrants.

“Our country is being poisoned,” Trump said, adding that school boards across the country have become “like dictatorships” that are hostile to parental rights.

He then praised the “incredible” work that Moms for Liberty has done in supporting book bans and opposing mentions of LGBTQ+ identities and racism in schools. It says it plans to spend $3 million in battleground states ahead of the election.

The group also backs Project 2025, a Conservative agenda for the next Republican presidency that would expand presidential powers and imposed a conservative vision for the country.

Trump has distanced himself from Project 2025 but maintains strong ties to Moms for Liberty, which was labeled as an “extremist” and “anti-government” group by the Southern Poverty Law Center in 2023.