Elon Musk’s Complete Track Record on LGBTQ Issues
The world’s richest man and Trump’s “First Buddy” is no ally to the LGBTQ community.
Elon Musk, the richest person in the world and the entrepreneur behind PayPal, Tesla, SpaceX and X, has become one of the most powerful—and polarizing—figures in American politics. Since Trump took office, Musk has ascended to the (self-titled) position of “first buddy” and is now seen by many as the second person in charge of the nation.
While Musk still holds the title of senior advisor to Trump and the de facto head of the Department of Government Efficiency, Trump has recently told his inner circle that Musk will leave soon.
Despite this, Musk’s power and influence remain massive. Here’s his complete track record on LGBTQ issues.
CEO Elon Musk
Oct. 19, 2017
Jorge Ferro, a former assembly line worker at Tesla, sues the company for wrongful termination. He alleges that the Musk-owned company ignored his reports of homophobic harassment at work and that his firing was retaliatory. Ferro says a manager told him to “watch [his] back” after telling him his clothing was “gay tight.”
After Ferro files a second harassment report, he says an HR representative took his badge, saying that he had “an injury” that prevented him from working and that there’s “no place for handicapped people at Tesla.” In response, Ferro’s attorney describes the decision as “revolting” and says that “this is classic ‘blame the victim.’”
Tesla asserts that third-party companies hired both Ferro and the manager involved and that Tesla took appropriate action to separate the two individuals.
During the same month, Tesla is sued by three Black former employees for racial harassment and discrimination. The three men claim their time at Tesla was like a “scene straight from the Jim Crow era.”
July 24, 2020
Elon Musk posts various tweets that mock the use of pronouns, writing, “Pronouns suck.” He follows this up on Dec. 14, 2020 by posting a meme that suggests people who post their pronouns in their bios are oppressive.
After receiving backlash to his posts, Musk tweets: “I absolutely support trans, but all these pronouns are an esthetic nightmare.” He later reposts a Tesla tweet from 2020 that says the company is “Very proud to have scored 100/100 for the fourth year in a row in LGBTQ equality,” in reference to the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index.
June 21, 2022
At 18 years old, Musk’s daughter, Vivian Jenna Wilson, files a petition with the Los Angeles County Superior Court in Santa Monica to change her name and receive a new birth certificate so that she may legally transition. At this time, she begins publicly distancing herself from Musk, saying she no longer wants to “be related to [her] biological father in any way, shape or form.”
Oct. 11, 2022
Musk blames his estrangement from Wilson on “neo-Marxist” influences from his daughter’s university. In an interview with the Financial Times, he says, “It’s full-on communism … and a general sentiment that if you’re rich, you’re evil. … [The relationship] may change, but I have very good relationships with all the other [children]. Can’t win them all.”
Musk Buys Twitter
Nov. 1, 2022
Montclair State University publishes a study that compares hate speech on Twitter before and after Elon Musk buys it. In the week leading up to Musk’s acquisition of the company, tweets using hateful terms including insults on race, religion, ethnicity and sexual orientation never rise above 84 instances an hour. But in the first twelve hours after Musk acquires the company, these terms are posted nearly 400 times an hour.
Oct. 30, 2022
When Paul Pelosi, the husband of former Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, suffers a fractured skull after being attacked in his San Francisco home by a hammer-wielding man, Musk tweets unfounded allegations about the incident to his 112 million followers. "There is a tiny possibility there might be more to this story than meets the eye,” he tweets, implying that Pelosi and the perpetrator are gay lovers. In the post, Musk cites the Santa Monica Observer, a far-right news outlet that regularly publishes false and misleading information. Musk has since deleted the post.
In an interview with CNN, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi criticizes Musk’s rhetoric, saying, "It's really sad for the country that people of [such] high visibility would separate themselves from the facts and the truth in such a blatant way. It is traumatizing to those affected by it. They don't care about that, obviously, but it's destructive to the unity that we want to have in our country."
Nov. 21, 2022
Musk reinstates X accounts previously banned for engaging in antisemitic, homophobic, transphobic and racist harassment campaigns. This includes Andrew Tate, a manfluencer who has compared gay people to invasive, poisonous aliens and said the only way to avoid the normalization of trans people is a draft for WWIII. It also includes Alex Jones, who, in a now-deleted post from 2015, said that the Supreme Court’s marriage equality ruling “opens the door for pedo politicians.”
December 2022
Musk falsely suggests that Yoel Roth, a gay Jewish man who was Twitter’s former head of trust and safety, promoted pedophilia in his academic research.
These claims trigger a wave of homophobic harassment and threats against Roth. Fox News’s Laura Ingraham claims Roth stood “with the deviancy,” while Ben Shapiro falsely alleges Roth encouraged Grindr access for teens.
The harassment escalates to the point where Roth and his family flee and sell their home after the Daily Mail publishes that they live in San Francisco.
June 21, 2023
In a post on X, Musk labels “cis” and “cisgender” as slurs. He adds that “repeated, targeted harassment against any account will cause the harassing accounts to receive, at minimum, temporary suspensions.”
Shortly after Musk’s post, X begins restricting accounts attempting to post the terms and notifies them of the following: “This post contains language that may be considered a slur by X and could be used in a harmful manner in violation of our rules.”
July 22, 2024
In an interview with Jordan Peterson for the right-wing media outlet The Daily Wire, Musk deadnames and misgenders his transgender daughter, claiming he was “tricked” into letting her get gender-affirming medical care as a teenager and referring to her as “dead.”
He says this is why he “vows to destroy the woke mind virus.” In response, Wilson tells NBC News that Musk is lying about her upbringing and says he was an absent father who harassed her for being too feminine. “He was cold. He’s very quick to anger. He is uncaring and narcissistic. … I was in fourth grade. We went on this road trip … and he was constantly yelling at me viciously because my voice was too high. It was cruel.”
Special Government Employee and Trump’s “First Buddy”
Dec. 28, 2024
Musk writes an op-ed for the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag, where he expresses support for the country’s far-right party, Alternative for Germany (AfD). The party is deeply anti-LGBTQ: opposing same-sex marriage and gender-affirming care for trans people; supporting abolishing the position of a federal government commissioner on queer rights; and voting for bans on the use of gender-neutral language in schools. “Only the AfD can save Germany,” Musk writes.
March 6, 2025
The Department of Government Efficiency, run by Musk, announces the termination of a handful of research grants by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), many of which fund scientific research related to gender-affirming healthcare, HIV prevention and studies focused on AIDS. One researcher is notified in an email from NIH that says the agency no longer supports “research based on gender identity.”
March 2025
In an interview with Teen Vogue, Wilson criticizes her father for mischaracterizing her in Walter Isaacson’s biography as being an angry, rebellious child influenced by Marxism.
She clarifies that she is not a Marxist, reveals she has not spoken to her father since 2020, and describes him as “a pathetic man-child.”
Musk indirectly responds to the Teen Vogue interview by baselessly and repeatedly claiming transgender people are violent due to hormone replacement therapy.
In direct response to Musk deadnaming her on X, Vivian uses a popular quote from RuPaul’s Drag Race, stating, “I look pretty good for a dead bitch.”
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