Moulton said in an interview with the New York Times he has two daughters and doesn’t “want them getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete, but as a Democrat, I’m supposed to be afraid to say that.”

Democrats quickly rebuked Moulton’s comments, with Massachusetts Democratic Party Chairman Steve Kerrigan saying they “do not represent the broad view of our party.”

Kerrigan also said the party is “proud to stand with the LGTBQ+ community, especially our transgender friends, neighbors, and loved ones across the Commonwealth.”

DEMOCRATS WEIGH CHANGE IN STRATEGY TO AVOID MIDTERM AND 2028 DEFEATS

Salem, which is in Moulton’s district, has especially taken concern.

“The Salem School Committee and district leaders denounce, in the strongest possible terms, the comments made by Congressman Seth Moulton regarding children’s athletic participation,” Mayor Dominick Pangallo and Salem School Committee members said in a message to families about his remarks.

“Congressman Moulton’s comments with respect to trans and non-binary children do not reflect our values,” the officials added.

However, since the criticism and the resignation of Moulton’s campaign manager, Moulton has defended his remarks.

“I was just speaking authentically as a dad about one of many issues where I think we’re just out of touch with the majority of voters, and I stand by my position,” Moulton said Sunday during an MSNBC appearance. “The backlash I’ve received proves my point that we can’t even have these discussions as a party.” 

“And we’ve got to be able to have these debates,” he added. “But, instead, we have a wing of our party that shames us, that tries to cancel people who try to even bring up these difficult topics, and, frankly, shames voters.” 

Moulton isn’t the only Democrat questioning whether the party should realign its stance on transgender people in sports. Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY), who represents a Long Island swing district, told the New York Times last week that the party should change its stance on the matter.

“I don’t want to discriminate against anybody, but I don’t think biological boys should be playing in girls’ sports,” he said, adding that “Democrats should be saying this.”

He added the next day that “we failed as a party to respond to the Republican weaponization of anarchy on college campuses, defund the police, biological boys playing in girls’ sports, and a general attack on traditional values.”

Other lawmakers have pointed to the fact that the party may not understand working-class voters the way they thought they did.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said, “It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them …. Will the big money interests and well-paid consultants who control the Democratic Party learn any real lessons from this disastrous campaign?”