Who is Cornel West? Where does he stand on LGBTQ+ issues?

Though Cornel West is best known for being a tireless racial justice activist, he has also advocated for LGBTQ+ rights and the dignity of all marginalized communities during his recent presidential campaign. He supports marriage equality and anti-discrimination protections, but he has expressed some hesitation about transgender athletes competing against cisgender opponents. Nevertheless, he has styled himself as a champion for underdogs, especially in this modern age of income inequality and economic exploitation.

Cornel West At a Glance

• Location: New York City, New York
• Party Affiliation: Green Party
• Race/Ethnicity: African-American
• Gender Identity: Male
• Sexual Orientation: Straight
• Pronouns: He/His
• LGBTQ+ Ally: Yes

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Biography

Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma on June 2, 1953 and raised in Sacramento, California, West graduated from Harvard College with a degree in Near Eastern languages and civilization in 1973, and from Princeton University with a philosophy Ph.D. in 1980.

West began teaching as an assistant professor at New York City’s Union Theological Seminary in 1977. He taught at Yale Divinity School in 1984 and at the University of Paris in 1987. After returning to Union Theological Seminary for a year, he began teaching religion and African-American studies classes at Princeton University from 1988 to 1994. Afterward, he taught at Harvard University and Harvard Divinity School until 2001, at which point he resumed teaching at Union Theological Seminary.

While West’s work has focused largely on race, he has also criticized oppressive social systems and mainstream politics of both Democrats and Republicans, often incorporating aspects of Black liberation theology, democratic socialism, and left-wing populism into his critiques. He has done activist work in the fields of racial justice, economic inequality, animal cruelty, modernized slavery, human trafficking, peace, environmentalism, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

West appeared as a council member in transgender directors Lilly and Lana Wachowski’s 2003 sci-fi sequels The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions. He has also appeared on the political talk show Real Time with Bill Maher, the TV comedy series 30 Rock, and made appearances in various other TV shows, movies, and political documentaries. He has published over 20 books — including Race Matters in 1993 and Democracy Matters in 2004 — and released three spoken-word albums.

West announced his 2024 presidential campaign in June 2023.

West’s stance on LGBTQ+ issues

West’s consistent advocacy for the dignity of marginalized people has been the foundation for his support of LGBTQ+ equality. While he hasn’t articulated a clear approach to the issue of trans people in sports, he has criticized policies that exclude and endanger marginalized people of all genders.

Same-sex marriage

In a July 2012 Facebook post, West criticized then-President Barack Obama for using marriage equality in his re-election campaign when “we have the highest level of poverty rates, decrepit schools, AIDS/HIV devastation, high unemployment, and so on.”

“Sad,” he wrote. “We have a profound crisis of Black leadership.”

However, in a February 2014 interview, West stated that he was “with” and “for” same-sex marriage activism. “When they (Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton) came out for same-sex marriage, I was for that,” West said. “I think it should have been a federal affair, not just an affair of the states. So, for sure, I’m for that.”

Trans children in sports

In a July interview with Fox News hostess Laura Ingraham, Ingraham asked West about his stance on “biological men” competing against women in women’s sports,” particularly in professional sports (as opposed to children on school teams).

West replied, “I am committed to the dignity of precious trans folk because they are so vulnerable, and I just hate to see them insulted and attacked.” When Ingraham commented that he sounded like he was siding with trans people, West said, “I am willing to learn and listen to any argument because I think it depends on case-to-case and context-to-context. I just want to make sure that the most vulnerable are never ever trashed.”

When asked about the same issue in an August interview on The Karen West Show, West responded, “For me, I think it’s probably best to have three different categories so you make sure you have fairness in terms of the competition…. You want to make sure that you treat everybody with dignity — that’s very important.”

Don’t say gay/LGBTQ+ discussions in schools

It’s unclear whether West has commented specifically on laws banning instructions on LGBTQ+ issues in schools. However, in a September interview on The Stephen A. Smith Show, West criticized the education policies of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).

West’s criticisms were in response to DeSantis’ education department stating that slavery helped Black slaves develop beneficial skills, “What [DeSantis] is dealing with, with the culture wars and all of this, it’s not nuanced. It’s just flat-footed. It’s not dealing with the deeper issue: that a lot of students, some of them not even interested in reading, don’t make no difference what books you have. And we know that the educational curriculum that was in place, they never told the full truth anyway. So he’s just adding more lies to some of the lies that had already been there. But he can’t even say that. He’s got to pit one group against the other.”

Transgender access to public bathrooms

In February 2017, a reporter from the celebrity and entertainment news site TMZ asked West if then-President Donald Trump’s repeal of Obama-era protections for trans people using bathrooms matching their gender identity was part of “our modern struggle for civil rights.”

West responded, “I think it’s even more intense (than the original Civil Rights movement) because Trump is ushering in a neo-fascist era that affects everybody. In the 1960s, we had to struggle against American apartheid, Jim Crow, but it really primarily affected Black people. Trump has a violation of rights, immigrants rights, across the board. So it’s much more ugly in that sense because it affects the whole country…. We have to be very clear about our language. Neo-fascism can be very real in America. We don’t think it can be, but it can be very real.”

Discrimination protections

In his September 2017 talk at the University of Virginia, West said, “There have been patriarchal attacks on women; attempts to strip lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people of their humanity.” He added that he was an “old-style Christian who believes we are all made in the image of God.”

In a July interview with Fox News hostess Laura Ingraham, West said, “The two-party system stands in the way for the empowerment of precious poor people and precious working people. And I am fundamentally committed to the plight of the least of these, not just here but around the world…. I’m against the routinized indifference to the vulnerable, no matter what color they are, no matter what gender, no matter what sexual orientation…. I don’t downplay the vicious attacks on my gay brothers and lesbian sisters and trans.”

West’s career

• Graduated from Harvard College with degree in Near Eastern languages and civilization in 1973
• Graduated from Princeton University with philosophy Ph.D. in 1980
• Taught at Yale Divinity School in 1984
• Taught at University of Paris in 1987
• Taught at Princeton University from 1988 to 1994
• Taught at Harvard University and Harvard Divinity School until 2001
• Appeared in various films and TV shows throughout early 2000s
• Released several books and spoken word albums

In conclusion

Despite West’s uncertainty about trans athletes in competitive sports, he has spent his career advocating for marginalized people to have access to social spaces and democratic institutions that could help spur equal rights and lasting change for all.

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