Former Fox News and NBC News personality Megyn Kelly was criticized after she claimed many of her gay and lesbian friends don't think transgender people should be part of the LGBTQ+ community.
Kelly made the remarks during a conversation with far-right extremist Steven Crowder, who she'd invited onto her SiriusXM show. Crowder claimed there is a “slippery slope” of transgender civil rights and equality if leftist activists "get their way."
Kelly claimed her friends don't "get" why transgender people are included as part of the larger LGBTQ+ community, expressing her belief gays, lesbians and transgender people have divergent interests.
You can hear her remarks in the video below.
Kelly said:
“I’ve talked to a lot of gay and lesbian friends who have said, ‘I don’t totally get why the T is at the end of LGBT,’ and the Q and all. The interests aren’t necessarily aligned."
"In fact, if you look at like the trans activists – like the crazy trans, not like normal – whatever, the crazy trans activists are so vicious, and they, they’re basically kind of doing conversion therapy on young gay men."
She proceeded to to mock these "crazy trans activists," suggesting that they are trying to convince gay men that it's better "to just say that you're a girl, then you can get rid of that whole gay thing."
She added:
"And we're seeing more and more of this. There is a question if the interests of the gay community are aligned, the way that GLAAD would have us believe."
Kelly's remarks were swiftly criticized.
Kelly's remarks came as Crowder complained that the left wing is okay with "biological men beating the hell out of women in their own sports."
In recent months, Republicans across the country have sponsored a wave of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, much of it directed at transgender people.
The legislation is a further example of how transgender issues have recently galvanized the far right, taking a spot at the forefront of attacks conservatives have directed toward the LGBTQ+ community in what has become one of the more defining elements of the culture wars.
Earlier this month, Kentucky Republicans enacted a law that would require parents to show birth certificates for their children to participate in school sports, the latest in a wave of similar legislation.
Crowder also suggested that leftists are putting "children on puberty blockers" against their willl, a claim that goes against established medical science and studies showing that transgender adults with access to puberty blockers as teens were less likely to have suicidal thoughts.
