Melania Trump ‘transvestigated’ by right-wingers after expressing support for abortion
Melania Trump is being accused of being trans, for supporting abortion (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
In a move that is as unsurprising as it is bonkers, right-wingers are now transvestigating Melania Trump after she appeared to express support for access to abortion.
Users on X/Twitter have been sharing photographs of the former first lady, circling and pointing arrows at parts of her body which they believe “prove” that she is secretly transgender.
The conspiracy comes after Melania, whose husband Donald Trump is looking to win back the White House for the Republicans, spoke out on social media on Thursday (3 October) following reports that her upcoming memoir will contain pro-choice passages, apparently putting her at odds with the former president’s anti-abortion platform – he has claimed the credit for the rolling back of the landmark abortion case Roe vs Wade.
Despite not saying the word “abortion” in a video clip, Melania, who became the third Mrs Trump in 2005, said: “Individual freedom is a fundamental principle that I safeguard [and there is] no room for compromise when it comes to this essential right, that all women possess from birth, individual freedom. What does ‘my body, my choice’, really mean?”
The less-than-30-second clip comes after The Guardian published an excerpt from a review copy of Melania: A Memoir, which touts her support for access to abortion.
“It is imperative to guarantee that women have autonomy in deciding their preference of having children, based on their own convictions, free from any intervention or pressure from the government,” she wrote. “Why should anyone other than the woman herself have the power to determine what she does with her own body?
“A woman’s fundamental right of individual liberty, to her own life, grants her the authority to terminate her pregnancy if she wishes. Restricting a woman’s right to choose whether to terminate an unwanted pregnancy is the same as denying her control over her own body. I have carried this belief with me throughout my entire adult life.”
In response to the revelation, right-wingers have reprised old conspiracy theories that Mrs Trump is secretly trans, which is why she is pro-choice.
“He would say that,” one user wrote, the “he” supposedly being Mrs Trump.
Transvestigating, a combination of the words “trans” and “investigating”, refers to conspiracy theories that claim individuals, typically cisgender female celebrities and notable figures, are secretly transgender and are hiding their “true” gender identity from the public.
The theory normally appears on platforms such as X and YouTube, with proponents claiming that the likes of Taylor Swift, Madonna, Serena Williams and Michelle Obama are transgender because they display vaguely defined, purportedly male characteristics – a belief rooted in misogyny, transphobia, and, sometimes, racism.
In a bizarre twist earlier this year, anti-trans campaigners went as far as to say trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney was actually born a cis woman, was forced to transition to male as a child before transitioning back in adulthood.
Melania Trump has previously been accused of being trans in threads on Quora and in a video on Odysee.
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