A drag queen who was included in a Trump campaign ad has suggested he may take legal action since he did not give the campaign permission to use the video of him.
The advertisement, released last week, highlighted Vice President Kamala Harris’ support for transgender people and features her saying in the 2020 campaign that she would support giving trans inmates access to gender affirming care. The ad also showed Harris posing for pictures with drag queen Pattie Gonia at a 2022 Pride month event.
“Kamala is for they, them,” a narrator says, referring to gender neutral pronouns commonly used by nonbinary people. “President Trump is for you.”
On Thursday, Pattie Gonia — whose real name is Wyn Wiley — posted a video on his social media accounts denouncing the ad.
“Is this seriously the best they’ve got?” Wiley said while dressed as the Statue of Liberty. “No, the Trump campaign did not have my permission to use my name or likeness. Yes, we are reviewing our legal options, and yes, I’m going to do what queer people always do, turn our pain into something positive.”
Wiley — who has over 690,000 followers on Instagram and 460,000 followers on TikTok — then directed his social media followers to an online fundraiser for two LGBTQ advocacy groups, Point of Pride and Trans Lifeline. It is unclear what legal action he is weighing. Wiley declined NBC News’ request for comment.
Mark McKenna, who is a professor at the UCLA School of Law and an expert in trademark law, said that he understands Wiley’s frustration but that it would be “very difficult” for him to sue for damages, for instance.
“If this were not a political ad, but a commercial ad, I would have no trouble saying this person has a very strong claim,” McKenna said. “But a political ad just gets a lot more leeway and normally we don’t give people claims to stop political speech unless the speech rises to the level of defamation.”
McKenna added that he does not believe the ad is defamatory.
A representative for the Trump campaign did not immediately return a request for comment.
Harris’ stance on whether trans inmates should be able to receive gender affirming care came to light during her debate with former President Donald Trump last month. The former president stated that Harris “wants to do transgender operations on illegal aliens who are in prison,” a claim that Harris did not address during the debate.
While Harris was attorney general of California, she tried to block a trans woman from receiving gender-affirming surgery in prison in 2015. Four years later, Harris, then a U.S. senator, said she backed trans inmates receiving gender affirming care, writing in a American Civil Liberties Union questionnaire that she “supports policies ensuring that federal prisoners and detainees are able to obtain medically necessary care for gender transition, including surgical care, while incarcerated or detained.” It is unclear where Harris stands on the issue today.
The Harris campaign did not immediately return a request for comment.
Wiley signed off of the video, encouraging his viewers to vote and to “make America gay again,” a play on the former president’s campaign slogan.
“You’re fired!” Wiley mouthed over audio of the former president’s famous catchphrase.
