A drag queen who appeared in a Trump campaign ad has threatened legal action because she did not give the campaign permission to use her video.
The ad, released last week, highlights Vice President Kamala Harris’ support for transgender people and echoes her 2020 campaign support for giving trans prisoners access to gender-affirming care. is featured. The ad also showed Harris posing for a photo with drag queen Patti Gonia at a 2022 Pride Month event.
“Kamala is for them, them,” the narrator says, referring to the gender-neutral pronouns commonly used by non-binary people. “President Trump is on your side.”
On Thursday, Patty Gonia (real name Win Wiley) posted a video on her social media accounts condemning the ad.
“Is this really the best thing they have?” Wiley said while dressed as the Statue of Liberty. “No, the Trump campaign did not have permission to use my name or likeness. Yes, we are considering legal options, and I will do what queer people always do. We’re going to turn our pain into something positive.”
Wiley, who has more than 690,000 followers on Instagram and 460,000 on TikTok, directed her social media followers to online fundraisers for two LGBTQ advocacy groups, Points of Pride and Trans Lifeline. It is unclear what forms of legal recourse is possible in this case, or what legal recourse he is considering. Wiley declined NBC News’ request for comment.
Representatives for the Trump campaign did not respond to requests for comment.
Harris’ position on whether trans prisoners should receive gender-affirming care was made clear during a debate with former President Donald Trump last month. The former president said Harris “wanted to perform transgender surgeries on illegal aliens in prison,” but Harris did not address this claim during the debate.
In 2015, when Harris was California’s attorney general, she tried to block trans women from undergoing gender reassignment surgery in prisons. Four years later, Harris, then a U.S. senator, said she supported trans prisoners receiving gender reassignment treatment, writing: In an American Civil Liberties Union survey, she said she “supports policies that would ensure that prisoners and detainees in federal prisons receive the medical care necessary for gender reassignment, including surgical treatment, while incarcerated or detained.” Answered. It is currently unclear where Harris stands on this issue.
Harris’ campaign did not respond to requests for comment.
Wiley signed the video, encouraging viewers to vote and “Make America Gay Again,” a play on the former president’s campaign slogan.
“You’re fired!” Wiley uttered the former president’s famous catchphrase.
