Surprise! J.D. Vance Didn’t Used to Be Anti-Trans
Leaked emails from a transgender former friend of Vance show the vice presidential nominee used to hold more pro-LGBTQ positions.
A former friend of J.D. Vance shared email messages that show the Republican vice presidential nominee had previously held views that would be considered affirming of LGBTQ identity.
According to The New York Times, Vance held a years-long correspondence with Sofia Nelson, a classmate and friend whom he had met at Yale Law School.
After Nelson underwent gender-affirming surgery, Vance reportedly visited her in person, bearing gifts of homemade baked goods.
“[He said] ‘I don’t understand what you’re doing, but I support you,'” Nelson, a public defender in Detroit, told the Times. “And that meant a lot to me at the time, because I think that was the foundation of our friendship.”
Vance wrote about Nelson in his 2016 memoir Hillbilly Elegy, referring to her as “an extremely progressive lesbian” — something he later apologized for in an email, saying he hoped Nelson wasn’t offended by the characterization.
“I recognize now that this may not accurately reflect how you think of yourself, and for that I am really sorry,” he wrote. “I hope you’re not offended, but if you are, I’m sorry! Love you, JD.”
Nelson emailed back the same day, calling Vance “buddy” and thanking him for “being sweet.”
“If you had written gender queer radical pragmatist, nobody would know what you mean,” she said. Nelson asked for an autographed copy of the book, signing off with, “Love, Sofia.”
Vance inscribed a copy of his book to Nelson, the message reading, “To Sofia, a good friend, a fellow Midwesterner, and, despite being a godless liberal, a great person.”
Vance’s correspondence with Nelson is a far cry from the image he projects to the political world, frequently criticizing leftists for being overly sensitive or politically correct, and implying that transgender identity is neither real nor valid.
He has even reportedly gone so far as to block U.S. ambassadors who were supportive of LGBTQ rights or supported pro-LGBTQ personnel policies.
Nelson shared with the Times approximately 90 emails and text messages between her and Vance over a three-year period, from 2014 to 2017. The emails reveal Vance’s past supportive comments on LGBTQ issues, and illustrate his dislike for Trump, criticism of former conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, and distrust of police — all positions on which he has since reversed course, leading some to question whether his recent shifts in political positions are sincere.
Other emails uncovered by the Times show Vance criticizing his now-running mate Donald Trump for “racism,” calling him a “morally reprehensible human being.”
At times, Vance and Nelson would correspond infrequently. Other times, they would send messages back and forth, especially when discussing current events such as protests against police violence, the massacre of Black churchgoers in Charleston, S.C., and the latest developments in the 2016 presidential campaign.
They bonded over their Midwestern roots, their skepticism of the political status quo, and their cynical views of Ivy League elitism. The two even flirted with the idea of doing a podcast together — with Vance suggesting they call it “The Lunatic Fringe.”
In 2014, a year after graduating from law school, Vance told Nelson he was planning to buy a house in Washington, D.C., with his wife, Usha, whom he had met at Yale.
In that email, he noted that his wife had interviewed for a clerkship at the Supreme Court, but feared that her reputation for appearing politically neutral might harm her chances. She eventually ended up clerking for Chief Justice John Roberts.
“[Antonin] Scalia and [Elena] Kagan moved very quickly,” Vance noted in an email. “But she was just not going to work out for Scalia.”
“His homophobic screeds are hard to believe in 2014,” Nelson replied, to which Vance said, “He’s become a very shrill old man. I used to really like him, and I used to believe all of his stuff about judicial minimalism was sincere. Now I see it as a political charade.”
In June 2015, while living in the San Francisco Bay Area — working as a venture capitalist in the technology industry, he wished Nelson a “Happy Pride.” “I’m thinking of braving the crowds in S.F. just to people watch,” he wrote of the city’s Pride parade, which he later reported “felt more like a frat party than I expected. But still nice to see a lot of happy people.”
Later that year, Vance analyzed Trump’s appeal to Republican voters, noting that the Republican was polling strongest on the economy.
“If the response of the media, and the elites of both right and left, are to just say ‘look at those dumb racists supporting Trump,’ then they’re never going to learn the most important lesson of Trump’s candidacy,” he said. He also said he understood part of Trump’s appeal, in that he was standing up to distrusted institutions like mainstream media outlets and was unbowed by criticism from Wall Street elites.
“If he would just tone down the racism, I would literally be his biggest supporter,” he wrote at the time.
He also criticized the anti-LGBTQ rhetoric of Republican candidates for the presidency, including former Texas Gov. Rick Perry.
In another email a month later, Vance called Trump a “disaster,” adding, “He’s just a bad man.”
The friendship disintegrated in 2021, when Vance, who had moved back to Ohio and was running for an open U.S. Senate seat, came out in favor of an Arkansas law banning youth from accessing gender-affirming care.
Then-Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a Republican, vetoed the measure, saying it was a form of government overreach, only to have his fellow Republicans override his veto.
Noting a shift in Vance’s rhetoric around LGBTQ issues, Nelson texted him to ask him if he supported the bill.
“I do,” Vance responded. “I recognize this is awkward but I’ll always be honest with you. I think the trans thing with kids is so unstudied that it amounts to a form of experimentation.”
Nelson wrote back, saying that his position “deeply saddens me.”
“I know I can’t change your mind but the political voice you have become seems so far from the man I got to know in law school,” Nelson wrote.
“I will always love you, but I really do think the left’s cultural progressivism is making it harder for normal people to live their lives,” Vance replied.
The two have since ceased corresponding.
Nelson told the Times that Vance “achieved great success and became very rich by being a Never Trumper who explained the white working class to the liberal elite. Now he’s amassing even more power by expressing the exact opposite.”
Luke Schroeder, a spokesman for the Vance campaign issued a statement in response to the Times story.
“It’s unfortunate this individual chose to leak decade-old private conversations between friends to The New York Times. Senator Vance values his friendships with individuals across the political spectrum. He has been open about the fact that some of his views from a decade ago began to change after becoming a dad and starting a family, and he has thoroughly explained why he changed his mind on President Trump. Despite their disagreements, Senator Vance cares for Sofia and wishes Sofia the very best.”
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