Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy once again revealed his talent for turning a hostile protester into a meaningful participant at one of his rallies.
This time Ramaswamy was met with an LGBT activist, who went from an agitator about to storm out of the event to an actual participant in a serious discussion. The activist even ended up giving the candidate a fist bump when it was all over.
Ramaswamy was speaking before a small crowd on Friday night in Iowa when a woman stood up and angrily began yelling about LGBT issues. While it isn’t clear on the recording what she was saying to kick off their encounter, Ramaswamy didn’t just ignore the woman and try to power through her disruption.
Instead, he opened up a dialogue with her on same-sex couples and transgenderism.
The candidate offered the activist his mic, which she refused, and she asked, “What is your stance on LGBTQ?”
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A protestor came to my event in Iowa last night. I gave her the mic. And then something surprising happened. pic.twitter.com/rKM1FPYPjS
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) December 23, 2023
Ramaswamy made an excellent point about how the left keeps moving the goalposts on these hot-button issues.
He noted that in years past, LGBT activists insisted that you were born gay and had your sexual preferences “hardwired” into you from birth. Yet, today they are claiming that you can become the opposite sex at will, change your pronouns repeatedly, and do whatever you feel at the moment about your gender.
He went on to say that he feels transgenderism is “a mental disorder.”
That set the woman off. She gave Ramaswamy the finger and started to walk out on him while saying, “It’s how they f***ing feel!”
But he wasn’t about to wash his hands of the protester and convinced her to come back and continue their dialogue.
He brought up the cases of many young people who were transitioned chemically and surgically when they were teens but who now have serious regrets in their 20s.
Ramaswamy said that as a society, we need to give aid to these people and deal with them with “compassion” and “dignity.”
“If you’re an adult, you’re free to live your life as you want as long as you’re not hurting someone else,” Ramaswamy told the skeptical woman.
“But kids are not the same as adults, and we have to protect them,” he added, referring to the cases of transitioning children.
Ramaswamy then criticized the left-wing cancel culture and said we are living in a “tyranny of the minority” that tells you to “shut up, sit down and do as you’re told.”
The woman then retorted that she knew she was a lesbian when she was a teen and had to hide her feelings living in her small town.
Ramaswamy said that in his opinion, adults are free to live their lives as they want as long as they are not hurting someone else. But he stressed that there really are limits.
“But that doesn’t mean we change the way men and women compete in sports,” he explained as an example.
This caused the agitator to become an ally of sorts. She ended up agreeing with Ramaswamy that men claiming to be women should not be allowed to play in women’s sports.
Did Vivek Ramaswamy handle this situation correctly?
“That’s different,” she said. Then the two fist-bumped in agreement. Ramaswamy then said that it was wonderful that through a dialogue they could find the things they agree on and added that if we can all agree that kids should not be treated as adults then we have a clear path forward on the issue.
Ramaswamy has been able to avert disruption on the campaign trail before by actually engaging with the protesters. He did so at the Iowa State Fair when a woman began yelling about same-sex couples.
He performed a similar feat in July when a woman began attacking him over the abortion issue, Red State reported.
