HBO host Bill Maher ripped in Julián Castro for caring about the “Twitter mob” after saying during last week’s Democratic presidential debate that he supports abortion rights for transgender women.
“Honestly, the Democrats so often their own worst enemy. Still, you know, trying to get the Twitter mob instead of the 98% who can give a shit about Twitter,” Maher said Friday. “Julián Castro won the ‘Woke Olympics’ on the first night when he said, ‘Trans females should have the right to an abortion.’ I agree.”
“Now if only they had a uterus,” Maher joked. “Try selling that in the red states. ‘If a man identifies as a woman, then we stand with her right not only to imagine that she’s pregnant but to terminate that pregnancy which is not possible.'”
Castro, the former head of Housing and Urban Development, said during the Wednesday debate that he supports abortion rights for transgender women.
“What that means is that just because a woman, or let’s also not forget someone in the trans community, a trans female, is poor, doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have the right to exercise that right to choose,” Castro said.
Castro clarified after the debate he meant to say transgender men instead of women.
“Thank you, Charlotte! Last night I misspoke – it’s trans men, trans masculine, and non-binary folks who need full access to abortion and repro healthcare. And I’m grateful to ALL trans and non-binary folks for their labor in guiding me on this issue,” Castro said Thursday on Twitter.
I’m going to continue to use this platform to uplift the needs of the trans community—not just when talking about reproductive justice—but in many conversations where their needs aren’t always included. More importantly, I’m going to listen. Trans rights are human rights. (2/2)
— Julián Castro (@JulianCastro) June 27, 2019
