U.S. Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) speaks at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
Written correspondence between U.S. Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) and transgender attorney Sofia Nelson, a former friend and Yale Law School classmate, sheds new light on the extent of the Trump critic-turned-running mate’s right-wing, anti-LGBTQ+ pivot.
In about 90 emails that the Detroit-based public defender shared with the New York Times, which were largely dated from 2014 through 2017, the Republican vice presidential nominee emerges as a thoughtful and respectful debate partner who, in one instance, took pains to apologize for inaccurately referring to Nelson as a lesbian in his memoir “Hillbilly Elegy.”
“I hope that you recognize that the description came from a place of ignorance, when I first started writing [the book] years ago,” he wrote. “I hope you’re not offended, but if you are, I’m sorry! Love you, JD.”
The two ultimately fell out in 2021 over Vance’s endorsement of an Arkansas bill banning gender-affirming care for patients younger than 18. Then, as the author and attorney pursued his political ambitions, he firmly embraced the Republican Party’s anti-LGBTQ extremism.
In 2022, Vance came out against the Respect for Marriage Act, a law supported by 12 GOP senators that codified legal protections for married same-sex and interracial couples. Shortly after he took office the following year, when far-right U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) proposed a nationwide gender affirming care ban with criminal penalties for healthcare providers of up to 15 years in prison, Vance introduced the companion bill in the Senate.
The senator has also espoused anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, including in campaign appearances with Trump. On social media, he endorsed the “groomer” slur against opponents of laws criminalizing classroom discussion of matters concerning sexual orientation and gender identity.
Along with his vocal criticism of former President Donald Trump, which was well documented before he officially joined the 2024 GOP ticket on July 15, Vance’s positions on policy matters as reflected in the exchanges with Nelson stand in stark contrast with those espoused since his campaign for and election to the Senate in 2022.
For instance, Vance voiced support for “anything that puts cops back in the mindset of service and protection instead of control and coercion,” proclaiming “I hate the police. Given the number of negative experiences I’ve had in the past few years, I can’t imagine what a Black guy goes through.”
As Trump campaigned on proposals to stem immigration from Muslim countries in 2015, Vance told Nelson “I worry most of all about how welcome Muslim citizens feel in their own country.” Americans have always been susceptible to “demagogues willing to exploit the people who believe crazy shit,” he lamented.
In another exchange about the former president, he wrote “the more white people feel like voting for Trump, the more Black people will suffer. I really believe that.”
“These revelations are more proof of who JD Vance really is: a bully and a coward, whose only allegiance is to power and ambition, and who will betray those closest to him in order to be accepted as a MAGA clone,” Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson said in a statement on Tuesday.
“This election is not just about two presidential tickets, it is about two fundamentally visions of America,” she said. One is led by a convicted felon, who will stop at nothing to destroy democracy and impose his dystopian Project 2025 agenda, and his opportunist sidekick, who cast his own friends aside when power came calling. The other vision is led by Kamala Harris, a champion of unity and accountability, who means it when she says freedom and justice for all.”
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