JD Vance accused lesbian of being childless and ‘brainwashing’ kids

Republican vice-presidential candidate JD Vance once ranted about how a lesbian, who is a stepmother and the head of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), is a person “without kids, trying to brainwash the minds of our children”.

Vance, who holds well-documented and contentious views about people who do not have biological children, is heard delivering the comments in a resurfaced audio clip from a Center for Christian Virtue forum in 2021.

“Our conservative idea is that parents and families should determine what children learn, what values they are brought up with,” Donald Trump’s running mate said.

“You know, it’s so many of the leaders of the left, and I hate to be so personal about this, but they’re people without kids trying to brainwash the minds of our children. That disorients me, it really disturbed me.”

The junior senator from Ohio has previously said that people who have biological children should be allowed more votes than those who do not, calling women who had not given birth “childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices they’ve made, so want to make the rest of the country miserable, too”.

Childless Americans have “no physical commitment to the future of this country”, he went on to claim.

Vance has aimed the “childless cat ladies” dig at Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, who is stepmother to husband Doug Emhoff’s two children, Cole and Ella, and left-wing New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

But he doesn’t limit the “cat ladies” insult to women.

Also in 2021, he took aim at a renowned professor of economics, tweeting: “Paul Krugman is one of many weird cat ladies who have too much power in our country. We should change this,” The Independent reported.

Pete Buttigieg, who made history when he became the first openly gay US cabinet secretary, adopted twins with his husband in 2021 was also branded “childless”.

Responding at the Democratic National Convention earlier this month, transportation secretary Buttigieg said: “Someone who said that if you don’t have kids, you have, quote: ‘No physical commitment to the future of this country’, you know, senator, when I deployed to Afghanistan, I didn’t have kids then.

“Many of the men and women who went outside the wire with me didn’t have kids either. But let me tell you, our commitment to the future of this country was pretty damn physical.”

In the recently unearthed audio, Vance went on to call out Randi Weingarten, who has been AFT president since 2008.

“Randi Weingarten, who’s the head of the most powerful teachers’ union in the country, she doesn’t have a single child. If she wants to brainwash and destroy the minds of children, she should have some of her own and leave ours the hell alone,” he said.

In response to the clip, Weingarten posted on X/Twitter that his comments were “insulting to millions of modern families and teachers, including Catholic nuns, none of whom should be targeted for their family decisions”.

Following this, she issued a statement on the AFT website where she said parents, children and teachers do not want “political attacks in our classrooms”.

They want us to be engaging and nurturing students, creating a safe and welcoming environment, particularly as the new school year begins, Weingarten went on to say.

“It sure seems like Vance lacks an empathy gene, thank goodness he’s not a teacher. He doesn’t get that you don’t have to be a parent to care about kids, our neighbours, our communities and our country,” she wrote.

“While Vance plays the culture-war card, which is just a corrosive form of politics, AFT educators all across the country are solution-driven, giving books away to children – 10 million to date – implementing free breakfast and lunch programmes in schools, standing up for community schools and social services, to help all children find academic success and, just this year, creating career and technical education pathways in advanced manufacturing and healthcare to prepare and train students for well-paying jobs and professions.

“If he spent any time representing Ohio, Vance would have seen this work in action from Cleveland to Medina to Toledo to New Lexington to Cincinnati.”

Teachers “want what children need” and while she was “blessed to be a mom by marriage”, it is “irrelevant to whether any of us care about children”, she insisted.

“This week, as teachers are digging into their pockets to pay for school supplies and welcoming kids and parents into their classrooms, we should all be celebrating the hope and promise of a new school year, not trashing it with gross, ridiculous comments like Vance’s.

“Vance should devote his energy to helping educators and school staff support students. Instead, he is making it harder for teachers to teach and children to learn. Shame on JD Vance.”

This is not the first time Weingarten’s status as a parent has been brought into question by right-wingers

In April 2023, hard-line Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene lashed out at Weingarten during a House Select Subcommittee which sought to address school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“People like you need to admit that you’re just a political activist, not a teacher, not a mother and not a medical doctor,” the Georgia representative said.

Weingarten hit back, saying: “What [Greene] did, it’s just this dehumanisation that you see autocrats do, and you see people who don’t want to solve problems do. What’s unfortunate is that it’s so venal and so mean … I can take it, I’m a public figure.

“I felt I was taking one for the team. But the vile, homophobic nature of it was pathetic and the undermining of families was pathetic.”

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