The office of JD Vance, Donald Trump’s pick for Vice President, has declined to deny that an old photo shows Vance in women’s clothing.
The photo spread on social media on Sunday after podcaster Matt Bernstein share it on X.
new: i have obtained a photo of jd vance in drag while at yale law school pic.twitter.com/jYf14Lwa4D
— matt (@mattxiv) August 11, 2024
Politics, but make it gay!
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It turns out it was sent to him by a former Yale student, Travis Whitfill.
Vance was born in Middletown, Ohio, in 1984. After graduating high school, he enlisted in the US Marines in 2003. He then attended Ohio State University fropm 2007-2009, and then Yale Law School.
Here are the receipts pic.twitter.com/MIrqAChuma
— Travis Whitfill MPH (@twhitfill) August 11, 2024
Whitfill says another student took the photo in 2012. He says it shows Vance at a Halloween party. The future Senator wears a long blonde wig and skirt. He’s already rocking some eyeliner.
The Daily Beast was among the first to report on the story.
“It’s from a group chat of Vance’s fellow classmates and is from a friend of a friend,” Whitfill told the outlet. “I believe it was grabbed from Facebook and was taken at a Halloween party.”
Vance’s opposition to LGBTQ+ rights
Many were quick to comment on Vance’s stance regarding LGBTQ+ rights. He has previously called opponents of “Don’t Say Gay” legislation “groomers”. Vance has opposed the US Census adding questions about gender identity and introduced a (failed) bill to ban ‘X’ gender markers on US passports. He also introduced a bill aimed at preventing minors from accessing gender-affirming care. GLAAD maintains a fuller list of Vance’s comments regarding LGBTQ+ rights.
I’ll stop calling people “groomers” when they stop freaking out about bills that prevent the sexualization of my children.
— JD Vance (@JDVance) April 6, 2022
Needless to say, when his college days photo emerged, the internet had a field day.
I’ll give JD Vance this- his eyeliner is totally on point in that photo.. so much better than whatever 90s boy band guy liner he’s got going on now.
— Hadley Sheley (@HadleySheley) August 11, 2024
He dressed up as Ivanka? Weird. 🤔
— Linda Stevens 🌎 (@Linda__Stevens) August 11, 2024
Trump seems kind of into drag. First Giuliani, then the beauty pageants where he was more than happy to allow drag participants, and now the JD Vance photo. pic.twitter.com/K0dKrvKclF
— Crazy Fenak (@CrazyFenaker) August 11, 2024
KITTARRAAAAAAA part deaux.
This explains why he’s so much better at eyeliner than I am.
— Squirrel Master (@kristiecsu) August 11, 2024
Ladies and gentleman, a picture of JD Vance in drag while attending Yale Law School. ⬇️
I don’t share this to shame those who do drag, but rather to shame those who attack drag while having a history of enjoying the art form themselves. 👠 pic.twitter.com/6oIbmbprYL
— Justice Horn (@JusticeHorn_) August 11, 2024
And then the suggestions for potential drag names rolled in. This one, liked over 110k times, appears to be the winner: Sofa Loren.
Yo, @JDVance you look slay mama.
What’s your drag name? Sofa Loren? pic.twitter.com/krIg5lnHKx— Plastic Martyr (@plasticmartyr) August 11, 2024
Let’s also not forget Linda Loveseat, Ashley Furniture, Rhea Polstered and Anita Cushion
Linda Loveseat
— Shav™ (@Shavghan) August 11, 2024
“Schoolyard bully stuff”
All the suggestions appear to play on the debunked internet rumor that a young Vance once made love to a sofa.
Vance yesterday appeared on CNN’s State of the Union with Dana Bush. It was before the photo of him in women’s clothing appeared. He took aim at Democrat attempts to portray him as “weird”.
“It drives home how they’re trying to distract from their own policy failures. I mean, look, this is fundamentally schoolyard bully stuff,” Vance said. “They can accuse me of whatever they want to accuse me of.
“I’m doing this because I think that me being vice president will help improve people’s lives, so I accept their attacks, but I think that it is a little bit of projection, Dana.”
JD Vance is happy to support Donald Trump, a convicted felon only too happy to come up with childish names for his opponents (“Sleepy Joe”, “Crooked Hillary”, “Ron DeSanctimonious”).
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