Abdul El-Sayed refuses to back down on trans rights in combative 60 Minutes clash
Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed (Getty Images)
Michigan US Senator Abdul El-Sayed defended trans rights, arguing that parents trying to stop children learning about what they may find disagreeable “because of school” is “so profoundly outdated” in the smartphone era.
The exchange, on 60 Minutes, aired 1 November and has been widely recirculated as the Democrat has now beat Republican Mike Rogers to win the US midterm Senate race.
Conservative columnist Ross Douthat pressed El-Sayed on whether his faith created tension with “a very socially liberal and culturally liberal party”, listing “abortion, same-sex marriage, transgenderism”.
El-Sayed rejected the framing, saying: “I believe in rights. And even though somebody might use rights that you don’t understand, you never mean to use yourself, you still got to show up and fight for those rights.”
He also warned against giving the government any opening to strip rights from one group, adding: “The minute you ascent to government taking anybody’s rights, whether you use them or you don’t, you are assenting to government taking everybody’s rights.
“So whether people are trying to take your rights to put your face on the ground 34 times a day at a mosque or people are taking away your rights to love who you love, I think we all have got to come together and, ‘No, no no. We are not going to allow government to take rights, because that’s what the Constitution protects.’”
What did Abdul El-Sayed say about trans kids and schools?
Pressed on “the rights of parents” and questions around trans kids in schools and sports, El-Sayed argued that the idea of shielding children from information no longer matches reality.
“The notion somehow that you are going to prevent your child from being exposed to something that you may find disagreeable, and that that is going to be because of school, is so profoundly outdated, because of course you have all the information and they have all the information,” he said.
El-Sayed added that “the free flow of information is actually a beautiful thing”, and argued that parents should engage with their children about beliefs and choices rather than trying to block what they might see.
How did he respond on trans athletes and ‘rights in conflict’?
When Douthat suggested “rights are in conflict” on issues like trans athletes’ participation in sports, El-Sayed pushed back: “I think we manufacture these social issues.”
He also tried to pull the conversation back to what he said he was actually running to do. “I’m not running to govern sports,” El-Sayed said.
The 60 Minutes segment is one of the latest times the programme has faced criticism over its handling of trans issues. In 2021, Laverne Cox spoke out after condemning a 60 Minutes segment she said was “fundamentally dehumanising” to trans people.
