James David Vance, commonly known as J.D. Vance, is an American venture capitalist, author, and politician. He first gained widespread recognition with his memoir Hillbilly Elegy, which delves into the struggles of white working-class Americans in Appalachia. Vance’s journey from a troubled childhood to Yale Law School and beyond captivated many readers, propelling him into the public eye.
He was elected as U.S. Senator from Ohio in 2022. He is also the Republican Party’s nominee for vice president in the 2024 election, running alongside former President Donald Trump. Vance also shares some of Trump’s anti-LGBTQ+ views.
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J.D. Vance at a glance
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Full Name: James David Vance
Born: August 2, 1984, in Middletown, Ohio
Current Role: United States Senator from Ohio
Political Affiliation: Republican
Known For: Author of “Hillbilly Elegy,” venture capitalist
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Vance’s stance on LGBTQ+ issues
J.D. Vance’s position on LGBTQ+ rights has been a topic of scrutiny and debate. Below is an overview of his stance on various issues:
Same-sex marriage
While Vance has repeated the Republican line that the Supreme Court’s decision that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide, Obergefell v. Hodges, is “the law of the land,” he said he would vote against the Respect for Marriage Act, legislation that requires state and federal governments to recognize legal same-sex and mixed race marriages.
“I would vote no on that legislation,” he said, adding, “The religious liberty piece of this is very bad.” He said the bill didn’t guarantee the rights of churches or nonprofits to operate according to their values.
When asked again about the legislation, he said, “We’re arguing about rights that have already been granted by the Supreme Court. It seems like a bizarre distraction for a country that actually has much, much deeper and more serious crises.”
Vance has also used terms like “crazy gender theory” and “far-left gender ideology” and has argued for a binary view of gender, showing his opposition to trans identities altogether. He referred to gender identity as a “harmful ideology” and “unscientific and untrue,” which contradicts basically every major American medical and psychological association.
On April 6, 2022, Vance expressed his support for so-called “Don’t Say Gay” laws prohibiting discussions of sexual orientation and gender identities in schools, writing, “I’ll stop calling people ‘groomers’ when they stop freaking out about bills that prevent the sexualization of my children.”
His use of the “groomer” slur — often used by right-wingers to claim that LGBTQ+ and allies want to sexually abuse children — and his claim that merely educating kids on queer issues “sexualizes” them both echo the anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric of “parents rights” groups like Moms for Liberty.
I’ll stop calling people “groomers” when they stop freaking out about bills that prevent the sexualization of my children.
“This is about parental rights,” he told now-former Fox News host Tucker Carlson in April 2022. “What kind of a country do we want to live in? Where families control what values their children grow up in or where Joe Biden and pharma companies do that.”
Discrimination protections
Vance spoke out against laws protecting LGBTQ+ people from discrimination following the 2020 Supreme Court Bostock v. Clayton County ruling, which found that anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination is a form of sex-based discrimination. Vance criticized the legal reasoning behind the decision, stating it had resulted in a “betrayal of social conservatives and traditionalists.”
He also opposes the Equality Act, legislation to include sexual orientation and gender identity in federal anti-discrimination laws.
Like Trump, Vance supports measures that allow businesses and organizations to operate according to their religious beliefs, even if it impacts LGBTQ+ protections.
Gender-affirming care for trans youth
Vance introduced the “Protect Children’s Innocence Act” in the Senate, legislation that would ban gender-affirming healthcare for trans youth.
“The act includes an array of far-right, anti-transgender buzzwords and ‘bans’ a variety of medical procedures, none of which are a part of transgender healthcare for minors,” GLAAD wrote. The act would punish doctors with a Class C felony penalty and from 3.5 to 15 years in prison for providing these “imagined procedures,” GLAAD added.
Additionally, the legislation would ban all taxpayer funds from being used to support gender-affirming care, would “prohibit institutions of higher education from providing instruction on ‘gender-affirming care,’” and would make professionals who have rendered such care to minors ineligible for visas or admittance to the United States.
“Under no circumstances should doctors be allowed to perform these gruesome, irreversible operations on underage children,” said Vance, who is not a medical professional. Most major medical and psychological associations consider gender-affirming care as safe, effective, and essential to trans minors’ overall well-being.
Other LGBTQ+ issues
He proposed the “Passport Sanity Act,” which would prohibit the use of “X” gender markers on passports and limit gender options to only male or female.
Vance once co-authored a letter to the U.S. Census Bureau objecting to the addition of gender identity questions in the American Community Survey.
He has opposed the military’s LGBTQ+-inclusion efforts as well as its efforts to root out white supremacists from its ranks. His campaign website claims that American political leaders are “using America’s military as a social justice side project. Our troops don’t need to focus on diversity or equity or any other progressive buzzword.”
He has also claimed Biden supports Ukraine defending itself against Russia’s invasion because Russian President Vladimir Putin is anti-trans. “We did not serve in the Marine Corps to go and fight Vladimir Putin because he didn’t believe in transgender rights, which is what the U.S. State Department is saying is a major problem with Russia,” he said.
He once said that the term “Two-Spirit,” a word some LGBTQ+ Native Americans use to describe someone with male and female spirits within them, was a fake and made-up concept. “Would love if progressives just stopped inventing words,” he wrote on X in February 2021.
Military Service: Served in the Marine Corps from 2003 to 2007, including a tour in Iraq.
Education: Graduated from Ohio State University in 2009 and from Yale Law School in 2013.
Law Clerk: Worked for Republican Senator John Cornyn and served as a law clerk (2013-2014).
Private Practice: Transitioned to private legal practice after law clerkship (2014-2016).
Venture Capitalist: Joined the tech industry as a venture capitalist (2016-2022).
Author: Published the memoir Hillbilly Elegy in 2016, which became a bestseller and was adapted into a feature film in 2020.
U.S. Senate: Elected to the U.S. Senate in 2022, representing Ohio.
Political Prominence: Became a prominent figure in the Republican Party, known for conservative stances on social issues (2022-present).
Trump Supporter: Established himself as a staunch supporter of Donald Trump (2021-present).
Vice Presidential Nominee: Nominated as the Republican Party’s vice-presidential candidate in the 2024 election, running alongside Donald Trump.
In conclusion
Vance is a prominent public figure whose views and policies on LGBTQ+ rights reflect his broader conservative ideology. While he has shown some recognition of existing legal frameworks, his advocacy often aligns with traditional and religious perspectives that are definitely anti-LGBTQ+.
