Does candace owens like gay people and just not trans?
Executive summary
Candace Owens has repeatedly expressed hostile views toward transgender people and promoted claims counter to mainstream science and LGBTQ advocates; sources document her calling transgender rights an "erasing" of womanhood and labeling the broader LGBTQ+ community a "sexual plague" while pushing conspiracy theories about gay identity [1] [2] [3]. At the same time, some policy summaries and profiles indicate she has voiced support for certain gay-rights positions (e.g., same-sex marriage on iSideWith summaries), but reporting shows a pattern of antagonism especially toward trans people and nonbinary identities [4] [5] [1].
1. A contrast between policy summaries and public rhetoric
Profile and policy-collection sites list Owens’s stated positions on discrete issues — for example, iSideWith shows entries on same-sex marriage and LGBT adoption where her positions are summarized in 2025 listings — which can give the impression she “supports” some rights for gay people [4] [5] [6]. But these summaries do not capture the frequent incendiary commentary she makes in public fora; reporting from LGBTQ organizations and outlets documents repeated anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ statements that go beyond neutral policy positions [1] [2].
2. Clear evidence of anti-trans rhetoric
GLAAD and other outlets record Owens making explicit anti-trans claims: she has falsely said support for transgender people amounts to “erasing” womanhood and promoted tweets and commentary opposing trans inclusion [1]. Multiple reports note she targeted trans and nonbinary people in comments that advocacy groups categorize as transphobic, and these remarks have generated sustained criticism from LGBTQ organizations [1].
3. Accusations, conspiracies and inflammatory language toward LGBTQ people
Coverage in The Advocate, LGBTQ Nation and others documents repeated inflammatory framings: Owens has called LGBTQ people a “sexual plague” and promoted conspiracy-like assertions — for instance, claiming apps or cultural forces are “socially engineering” men to be gay — language that reporters frame as spreading misinformation and stoking moral panic [2] [7] [3]. These characterizations have led platforms to apply sanctions at times [8].
4. Platform responses and international consequences
Her statements about LGBTQ people are part of a broader pattern that prompted actions beyond U.S. commentary: Australian authorities cited her record on women’s and LGBTQIA+ rights among other controversial remarks when denying a visa, and Reuters reported that Australian officials concluded her comments could “incite discord” toward LGBTQ communities [9] [10]. YouTube and other platforms have issued strikes or suspensions connected to anti-LGBTQ content [8].
5. Is the simple claim “she likes gay people but not trans people” supported by reporting?
Available sources do not present a neat split in which Owens consistently endorses gay people while only opposing trans people. Instead, evidence shows she has at times expressed support for or acceptance of some gay-rights positions in policy summaries [4] [5], but her public rhetoric often targets LGBTQ people broadly and repeatedly singles out transgender and nonbinary people for criticism and false claims [1] [2] [3]. Therefore, the depiction that she “likes gay people” is oversimplified compared with the record in reporting.
6. Competing perspectives and motive-reading
Conservative outlets and supporters sometimes portray Owens as defending free speech or pushing back against what she calls “social contagion” or “gender ideology” [3] [7]. LGBTQ advocacy groups frame her remarks as misinformation and transphobic attacks that endanger vulnerable people [1]. Sources show both framings exist; the advocacy outlets emphasize harm and falsehoods while sympathetic outlets emphasize critique of cultural trends [1] [3].
7. Limits of the sources and what they don’t say
Available sources do not offer a comprehensive, line-by-line ledger showing every time Owens said something supportive of gay people versus critical of trans people; policy-collection pages summarize positions but lack context on rhetoric and frequency [4] [5] [6]. Court and government documents cited in reporting focus on the cumulative effect of her comments rather than isolating a consistent “pro-gay, anti-trans” stance [9]. For claims not directly documented here, available sources do not mention them.
Summary judgment: reporting consistently documents Candace Owens as actively hostile to transgender and nonbinary people and as someone who has used incendiary language about the LGBTQ community; isolated policy entries may suggest support on specific gay-rights questions, but the broader record in news and advocacy reporting portrays her rhetoric as antagonistic and sometimes conspiratorial toward LGBTQ people [1] [2] [9].