A female political candidate in Washington State removed LGBTQ rights from her website platform to avoid offending Muslim voters.
Posted by The Gerry Callahan Show, Checked
- Sources
- 4 support1 context
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 70%
The Gerry Callahan ShowAug 17, 2026
Melissa Chaudhry, a Democratic candidate in Washington's 9th Congressional District, left LGBTQ+ rights off her campaign website, and she told The Stranger she did so because "a lot of Muslims do not feel that way."
Our two reads of who says this, and how, disagree, so it counts as the post's own claim.
This claim is about the present, so it is judged as of the day it was checked.
What was said
… to dock in Egypt and Turkey, that they wouldn't allow, and he, he, he said, is that, is that okay with the people voting for, you know, Muslim extremists like El-Sayed, um? And he, and he pointed out that we don't do that here. That's not an American value. There's a, uh, woman running in, I believe, in Washington State, and she took down, she had all her platform on her website, included L B G T Q rights, and they took that down from the page, and she said she did that so to not offend Muslim voters. So she literally abandoned her position on gay rights so as not to offend voters and to make her, to help her get elected. …
The Gerry Callahan Show · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Supports. Multiple outlets report that Chaudhry's campaign website did not mention LGBTQ+ rights and that she said this was to avoid alienating Muslim voters.[1][2][3][4]
Supports. The Daily Mail quotes Chaudhry saying, "Because a lot of Muslims do not feel that way, unfortunately," when asked why LGBTQ+ issues were not on her platform.[4]
Contradicts. Chaudhry disputes the framing that she abandoned LGBTQ+ rights, saying she supports gay rights and that her platform covers them under pillars two and five; she later said she regretted the remark. These are her own statements and are not independently verified.[2][3]
Context. Sources describe the website as not mentioning LGBTQ+ rights rather than documenting a removal of previously posted content, so the word "removed" goes slightly beyond the record. The Washington State Stonewall Democrats publicly criticized the omission.[1][4][5]
Sources
5 sources: 5 not rated
- 1Democrats turn on congressional hopeful after 'hiding' ...yahoo.com · not rated · cited for: supports, context
- 2Muslim anti-Jew politician mum on LGBTQ+ supportthejewishstar.com · not rated · cited for: contradicts, supports
- 3Muslim Democrat Speaks Out Against Party's LGBTQ Silencedailysignal.com · not rated · cited for: contradicts, supports
- 4Woke Seattle lawmaker who's running for Congress says she doesn't publicly support gay rights because she wants to avoid upsetting MUSLIMSdailymail.com · not rated · cited for: supports, context
- 5Washington state congressional Dem challenger faces LGBTQ backlash over omissionreddit.com · not rated · cited for: context
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post
Related claims
- Muslims are winning elections in Michigan.True
- A bill in the Massachusetts State House would prioritize Muslims for state jobs.True
- Sharia law is being pushed in Michigan and Texas.Mixed
- In the November 2025 elections, 46 Muslims won statewide offices and 181 won local elections.False
- The Democratic Party in the United States has formed an alliance between communists, socialists, and Islamists.False