Tennessee Democrat U.S. Congressional candidate Aftyn Behn falsely claimed on a podcast episode in 2020 that men can give birth.
Behn, who is currently a Tennessee state representative for District 51 and is running for the U.S. Congressional seat left vacant by former Rep. Mark Green (R-TN), used the term “birthers” before clarifying “men and women who can give birth” while speaking on her podcast Grits. She made the comment before discussing a book by pro-abortion feminist Jenny Brown called Birth Strike, which argues that women should refuse to have children as a way to collectively bargain with the government and achieve their political aims.
“I think as an organizer and as an activist, we really have an opportunity here in this country to talk about what type of progressive policies we want to see as young women, and I think we have as birthers, as women who can give birth — men and women who can give birth — we can maybe leverage that as collective bargaining, which is the basis of this book that I’ve just started reading called “Birth Strike,” and how we can really leverage collective bargaining when it comes to having children in this country,” Behn said in a podcast episode called “The Plurality of ‘Pro-Life.’”
Behn also has a history of unabashedly supporting transgenderism and child sex changes.
For example, Behn lamented Supreme Court decision United States v. Skrmetti, in which the High Court upheld a Tennessee law banning minors from taking sex change drugs for gender dysphoria.
“The Supreme Court’s decision today to uphold Tennessee’s law banning gender-affirming care for minors is a gut punch to transgender youth and their families,” said Behn, who represents part of Nashville at the state House. “This 6-3 ruling only emboldens the far-right’s relentless attack on transgender rights, pushing us further into a dangerous future where politics — rather than science — dictates the lives of our most vulnerable.”
In a 2023 interview on Today’s Holler, Behn said, “I ran on an unabashed progressive campaign platform of standing up for trans kids and standing up for reproductive access. She later noted that she will “never compromise on values of abortion access or trans kids.”
Behn has also campaigned with a drag queen “who urged parents to bring their kids to one of his shows,” the Daily Wire reported.
After the deadly 2023 shooting at Nashville’s Covenant School, in which a transgender-identifying shooter killed six at the Christian school, Behn expressed sympathy for the transgender community.
“So, for those of you who don’t know, my partner has a trans son, and the month of April and the final week of March was incredibly upsetting for us,” Behn said in a July 31, 2023, candidate forum. “In the wake of the Covenant shooting, and the disclosure that the Covenant shooter was trans, I was pulled into a chat with other trans organizers and activists across the state that were fearful of their lives.”
Behn went on to say the shooting inspired her to run for political office so she could fight “every day” for “protections for trans kids and our trans communities,” the outlet reported.
“Every legislative session, I promise to carry a ‘trans bill of rights’ so that we can push back against the far-right narrative that is being emanated by Matt Walsh and The Daily Wire, who have set up their home in Nashville,” Behn said. “I promise to do that, and I promise to fight for the trans community.”
On June 1, Behn posted to Facebook for Pride month, “THESE COLORS DON’T BLEED. Remember, you come for my trans community, I come for you.”
Breitbart News reached out to Behn’s campaign for comment but did not receive a response by time of publication.
Behn is facing off against Republican Matt Van Epps for a House seat representing Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District. Van Epps, who is endorsed by President Donald Trump, is a former Tennessee Department of General Services commissioner.
Early voting is currently underway, and the special election is on December 2. Van Epps is widely anticipated to win the seat in a district that Trump won by 22 points in 2024 and Green won by 21 points against former Nashville Mayor Megan Barry (D). However, Democrats are dumping money into the race and hoping to capitalize on enthusiasm from recent wins in New York, New Jersey, and Virginia.
Republicans have a slim majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, 219 to 213 with three vacancies.
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.
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