J.D. Vance Declares That He and Trump Can Win the 'Normal Gay Guy Vote'
The bold comment, made on Joe Rogan's podcast on Oct. 31, comes after Vance spent his first two years as a senator targeting LGBTQ+ rights
J.D. Vance, who has opposed same-sex marriage, believes that he and Donald Trump could win the "normal gay guy vote" in next week's presidential election.
"I wouldn't be surprised if me and Trump won just the normal gay guy vote," the Republican vice presidential nominee told podcaster Joe Rogan on Thursday, Oct. 31. "They just want to be left the hell alone and now you have all this crazy stuff on top of it."
Vance, 40, has a history of opposing LGBTQ+ rights during his short political career and received a score of 0 on the Human Rights Campaign's congressional scorecard.
During his Senate campaign in July 2022, Vance told Mission America that he would oppose the Respect for Marriage Act, which would enshrine federal marriage protections for same-sex and interracial marriages, NBC News reported. The bill ultimately passed and became law before Vance was sworn in January 2023.
The Ohio native has also faced criticism for his comments on transgender rights, according to CBS News. In addition to a bill that would bar the State Department from allowing the gender marker "X" on passports, he sponsored legislation that would ban access to gender-affirming care for minors.
Vance touched on his anti-LGBTQ+ stances during his three-hour conversation with Rogan, saying that transgender identities are a “cult and a religion, but with one big difference," per The Daily Beast. Vance then reportedly said the difference is that “woke stuff” doesn’t have “forgiveness and redemption.”
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The senator also seemed to explain why he was against transgender women playing in sports but felt Americans "don’t really care who you sleep with."
“They’re pretty open-minded about most lifestyle choices," he said. "But when you talk about having a biological male compete with their teenage girl, right, in competitive sports, Americans are saying, no, no, no, no. Yeah. This is crazy. You’re causing injury to my kids. We have to stop this.”