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He was answering a question about fixing Bronx schools.
In a bizarre and troubling Fox & Friends segment taped on Thursday at Knockout Barber in the Bronx, former PresidentDonald Trump escalated his anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric by falsely asserting thattransgender children pose a “threat to democracy.” The appearance, part of a Fox News production, saw Trump repeat a baseless and debunked claim that children are transitioning genders at school without parental consent.
“They take your kid. There are some places your boy leaves the school, comes back a girl without parental consent,” Trump falsely claimed during the segment aired on Monday. Trump was responding to a question about improving “failing” schools in the Bronx. “When they talk about a threat to democracy, they’re a threat,” Trump said of trans kids. Acknowledging the far-fetched nature of his statement, Trump added, “At first, when I was told that was actually happening, I said, it’s an exaggeration. No, it happens. It happens.”
It is not actually happening.
LGBTQ+ advocates condemned the remarks. GLSEN executive director Melanie Willingham-Jaggers called Trump’s comments “blatantly false” and “dangerously irresponsible” in a statement to The Advocate.
“To label transgender youth as ’a danger to democracy’ is beyond reckless—it’s a direct and harmful attack on their humanity,” Willingham-Jaggers said. “This kind of rhetoric actively endangers LGBTQ+ youth, fueling hostility and violence.”
A spokesperson for the Harris-Walz campaign did not immediately respond to The Advocate’s request for comment.
Trump’s statements are part of a larger political strategy in the final days of the 2024 election, as he increasingly focuses on transgender issues to rally his base. In recent weeks, Trump hasspent millions on inflammatory attack ads targeting transgender individuals, including a hypocritical attack on Vice PresidentKamala Harris for supporting healthcare access for transgender inmates.
This is just one aspect of the broader far-right agenda reflected in Project 2025, a policy blueprint crafted by the Heritage Foundation, which calls for the rollback of LGBTQ+ rights. The plan includes censoring discussions of LGBTQ+ topics in schools, banning transgender students from using restrooms aligned with their gender identity, and criminalizing librarians who provide access to LGBTQ+ literature.
“Education is the cornerstone of our democracy, where the next generation learns to value every individual’s dignity. Every student deserves a learning environment where they can be who they are, free from fear and fueled by hope, not hate,” Willingham-Jaggers said.
Trump first began lying about transgender kids in September, when he made the absurd claim at a Moms for Liberty event that children were going to school and getting surgeries without parental consent only to return a different gender.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, in a September interview with The Advocate, responded to Trump’s previous false claims, calling them a desperate attempt to weaponize marginalized communities. “It is what these guys do. It’s part of their cultural war. They’re rewriting history, censoring historical facts… attacking vulnerable communities,” Newsom said. “So few people are impacted by this. To make it a big campaign issue says a lot about this campaign.”
Gay CaliforniaDemocratic U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia also addressed Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric during thePhiladelphia presidential debate in September. “Insane,” Garcia told The Advocate. “He’s putting out so many falsehoods and lies and insults about the LGBTQ+ community, about trans families. It’s insane.”
