A week before election, Missouri Democrat Busch Valentine stumbles on LGBTQ rights

In a television interview aired Monday, Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Trudy Busch Valentine was asked whether she supported a law that prohibited instruction about gender identity and sexual orientation for students between kindergarten and third grade.

The question was based on a Florida law that bans such instruction and which opponents say creates a chilling effect for teachers in Florida’s public school system, where gay teachers may be afraid of mentioning their sexuality or having a photo of their partner in the classroom because of the risk they may be fired or the school district would be sued.

Busch Valentine had been asked a similar question by The Kansas City Star in April and said she’d “have more later.”

It was later.

She started by talking about critical race theory, an academic theory taught in some law schools about systemic racial inequities. Conservatives have used the term to attack classroom discussions about racial issues in K-12 schools.

“I think there are so many things out there, including critical race theory, that just tries to take away the history of our country and the good things we’ve done and the bad things we’ve done,” Busch Valentine said on KMOV in St. Louis.

Then she proceeded to say she supported the equality of all people.

“I think that’s talks between parents and their children and I think we have to respect equal rights for all people and we have to respect the dignity of all people,” she said.

She eventually said she thinks it should be left up to teachers.

Aside from the fact that she offered a conservative talking point on a racial justice issue unprompted — it was a confusing answer to an important question to the Democratic base at a time when the LGBTQ community has increasingly been the subject of political attacks.

In Congress, Democrats are attempting to pass legislation to protect same-sex marriage, amid fears that the U.S. Supreme Court could overturn the landmark Obergefell v. Hodges decision that gave same-sex couples the right to marry.

Conservatives have proposed and passed laws throughout the country targeted transgender youth — either the sports they can play, the bathrooms they can use or the medical care they can receive — and whether schools can talk about gender identity and sexual orientation in the classroom.

But with a week to go in the Democratic primary, Busch Valentine has struggled articulating her answers about LGBTQ issues, as she appears to be attempting to find a middle ground between assuaging the LGBTQ community and courting voters who may have conservative views on LGBTQ rights.

In an earlier video posted on Twitter, Busch Valentine struggled over an answer about healthcare for transgender youth.

“A woman is a woman, but in this transgender thing, that’s a different issue,” she said. “And that’s an issue that people have to come to on their own. They need the guidance of parents. They need doctors’ intervention. I don’t think anything should be done until they’re adults that lasts forever.”

Actress Susan Sarandon responded to the video by calling Busch Valentine a TERF, an acronym that stands for trans-exclusionary radical feminist. It’s someone who identifies as a feminist but excludes transgender women from the push for women’s rights.

She also struggled with an answer about transgender rights at a Democratic meeting for St. Louis’ 8th Ward, according to a video posted July 23 by the ward’s committeewoman.

“I only would say, wait until 18, when a person is an adult, to do everything that wouldn’t allow going back to maybe being the sex that you were, but I totally, totally support transgenders without a doubt,” she said.

The debate around healthcare for transgender youth has become politicized, but standard practice for most medical associations is to provide gender-affirming care for transgender youth like puberty blockers and hormone therapy. Often, those treatments follow a mental health assessment to determine whether medical intervention is necessary. The 2012 guidelines from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, which are in the process of being updated this year, advised delaying gender-affirming surgery until the patient is older than 18.

When asked what Busch Valentine is doing to educate herself about the LGBTQ community, her campaign responded with a list of policy positions on LGBTQ issues, including opposition to conversion therapy and efforts to punish parents who seek gender affirming care for their children.

“Trudy Busch Valentine is a steadfast ally of the LGBTQ community,” said Anjan Mukherjee, her spokesman. “In the Senate, she will co-sponsor the Equality Act and fight to protect marriage equality, because every single person, regardless of whom they love, should be treated equally under the law.”

He also gave a Rorschach test of an answer about her stance on critical race theory, saying “Trudy believes that every child should learn age-appropriate, accurate education about our nation’s history.”

Busch Valentine was ahead of her opponent Lucas Kunce by four percentage points (39% to 35%) in a poll conducted by Emerson College on behalf of The Hill. The poll showed that 22% of Democrats were still undecided.

Her campaign is running an ad criticizing Kunce for his opposition to gay marriage during his 2006 campaign for Missouri House. Kunce’s campaign sent a cease and desist letter about the ad and has said he supports gay marriage and gender affirming care for transgender youth.

“As a queer man in politics, it’s always upsetting to see Democrats who don’t even try to understand our community,” said Connor Lounsbury, Kunce’s deputy campaign manager. “Trudy’s answers on gender affirming care for trans youth aren’t just uneducated, they’re dangerous.”