White House DHS adviser says transgender people lead a “horrible existence”
Frank Wuco also joked about claiming to be transgender to access the women's shower at a gymm
A senior adviser to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) apparently made numerous anti-LGBTQ statements on a right-wing radio show during the 2016 election, including saying transgender people lead “a horrible existence.”
Frank Wuco, senior White House adviser to the DHS, made the comments on The Reality Check, Media Matters reports.
Speaking to host Charles Butler, who used “faggots” twice during Wuco’s appearances and called President Barack Obama an “immoral bastard,” Wuco said that societies with “no moral center” have “suffered greatly.”
After Butler slammed transgender people, saying “these people are sick…. transgenders are sick people,” Wuco responded by calling it a “malady,” adding, “I wouldn’t want to spend five minutes inside their heads,” and calling it a “horrible existence.”
“How many of them made this transformation and all of a sudden they’re happy?” Wuco continued.
“I’ve never seen a homosexual that was happy,” Butler responded. “I’ve never seen a transsexual that was happy…. These are some angry, sad, devious, deceitful people.”
In another appearance on Butler’s show, Butler and Wuco joked about claiming to be transgender so that they could enter a women’s restroom or shower.
“I said to this woman in my club the other day…I was coming out of the bathroom, she was going into the ladies’ restroom, I said, ‘I feel transgender today. I think I’ll come in the ladies’ restroom,'” Butler said. “And she said, ‘Ah, ah, ah, ah, uh, ah!’ I said, ‘I’m just kidding. I’m just kidding.'”
“What a great thing this can be if transgender can just be, rename it just whimsical transgender,” Wuco later responded, “and one day on a whimsy, you’re at the [YMCA], or you’re at the gym, and you just, ‘I feel like, I feel like being a woman today, I’m going to go into the women’s shower.'”
Wuco, who previously worked as a United States Navy intelligence officer and hosted his own radio show, is no stranger to anti-LGBTQ rhetoric. A CNN investigation found he had mocked LGBTQ rights a number of times, including opposing the end of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, which Wuco said would “burden” straight members of the military.
“The burden now falls on the straight member of the military to be, you know, stable, steady, mature enough to handle the very likely possibility that that he is going to be the object of another man or a woman’s desire while he is, you know, sharing you know, shower facilities,” Wuco said in 2011.
Support Metro Weekly’s Journalism
These are challenging times for news organizations. And yet it’s crucial we stay active and provide vital resources and information to both our local readers and the world. So won’t you please take a moment and consider supporting Metro Weekly with a membership? For as little as $5 a month, you can help ensure Metro Weekly magazine and MetroWeekly.com remain free, viable resources as we provide the best, most diverse, culturally-resonant LGBTQ coverage in both the D.C. region and around the world. Memberships come with exclusive perks and discounts, your own personal digital delivery of each week’s magazine (and an archive), access to our Member's Lounge when it launches this fall, and exclusive members-only items like Metro Weekly Membership Mugs and Tote Bags! Check out all our membership levels here and please join us today!
You must be logged in to post a comment.