In a bizarre rant, Donald Trump accused Texas Rep. and Democratic senate nominee James Talarico of having “six Genders.”
“The Democrat running in Texas, James Talarico, turns out to be a FRAUD!” the president wrote in a post on his social media platform, Truth Social. “It showed after the Election when he beat Low IQ Candidate Jasmine Crockett (No relation to Davy Crockett!).”
He continued: “He’s got six Genders, insults to Jesus, only vegan food, was wearing a mask in 2023 and 2024, and is a weak, ineffective guy who we ‘allowed’ to win prior to releasing the avalanche of information we had on him because, as bad as Crockett was as a Candidate, this guy is worse!”
Trump’s “six Genders” comment is likely a reference to a comment that Talarico made in April 2021, when Texas’ House of Representatives held a committee debate of a bill that sought to force student athletes to compete according to the sex “stated on the student’s official birth certificate” (The state later banned trans athletic participation in both K-12 and college sports).
During the Texas House’s 2021 committee debate, Talarico asked the bill’s author, Rep. Cole Hefner, how it would impact intersex children.
“Modern science obviously recognizes that there are more than two biological sexes — in fact, there are six, which, honestly, Representative Hefner, surprised me, too,” he said. “The point is that biologically speaking, scientifically speaking, sex is a spectrum and oftentimes it can be very ambiguous.”
Although people are typically born with two sex chromosomes, they can sometimes be born with more or less chromosomes — in fact, there are nine documented X&Y chromosome variations, according to Children’s Hospital Colorado.
Despite the president's claim, Talarico also isn’t vegan himself. However, in 2022, he told the animal rights group Texas Humane Legislation Network that his statehouse campaign was a “non-meat campaign” that was “only buying vegan products from our local vegan businesses” in order to fight climate change.
Some right-wing figures have since jumped on this years-old comment in an attempt to smear Talarico’s name with Texas voters. In a March 17 post on X, senator Ted Cruz used the sound bite to falsely claim that Talarico “wants to BAN BBQ.”
Dr. Oz Tried to Pressure Medical Societies to Oppose Trans Youth Care The former daytime talk show host tried to get the American Medical Association on board with Trump’s policies.
Since 2021, Talarico has remained steadfast in his support for the trans community. In 2023, a TikTok clip of the politician opposing a Republican bill attempting to mandate Texas public schools to display the Ten Commandments went viral.
“Why is having a rainbow in a classroom indoctrination and not having the Ten Commandments in a classroom?” he said. “Every time on this committee that we try to teach students values like empathy and kindness, we’re told we can’t because that’s the parents’ role… But now you’re putting religious commandments — literally commandments in our classroom, and you’re saying that’s the state’s role.”
During a recent interview on MS NOW, formerly known as MSNBC, Talarico called out some media outlets’ focus on trans athletes over issues like “the cost of prescription drugs” and “the price of housing.”
“We are all focused on the wrong 1%,” he said. “Trans people aren’t taking away our healthcare. Undocumented people aren’t defunding our schools… It’s the billionaires and their puppet politicians. And so we need not only the media, but all of us, to focus on the real problem at hand.”
Get the best of what’s queer. Sign up for Them’s weekly newsletter here.