Bernie Sanders found himself in the middle of a firestorm after featuring a trans performer at his rally whose songs included vulgar references to God. Laura Jane Grace, a man who identifies as a woman, performed at Sanders’s “Fight Oligarchy” town hall series in Kenosha, WI with his song, “Your God.” The song includes extremely vulgar lyrics, including a reference to if God has a “big fat d—” and feeling like God is “f—ing me.” The rest of the lyrics make references to sodomy and genitalia. Sanders thanked Grace for the performance. Reports also state there were children present at the 3,500-person rally.

Grace, formerly known as Thomas James Gabel, came out as transgender in 2012. A profile of him by Rolling Stone showed that he had sought both divine and demonic help with his desire to be a woman. “Some days, he would pray to God: ‘Dear God, please, when I wake up, I want a female body.’ Other times he’d try the devil: ‘I promise to spend the rest of my life as a serial killer if you turn me into a woman,’” the article described. At the time of his transition, he was married to a woman named Hannah Hannoura, whose struggles of now being married to a woman are detailed in the article. “I’m not really a think-about-the-future kind of person,” she says. “I’m like, ‘Let’s see what happens, and we’ll just roll with it.’ My friends have been like, ‘What about you?’ But I’m fine. I just want him to be who he is, and for us to get on with phase two. You know. Just… charge!” she said in 2012. The couple divorced in 2014.

Social media erupted with outrage over the performance. Conservative commentator Robby Starbuck, who shared the song’s  full lyrics on X, called it, “pure evil.” “These people are insane. @BernieSanders is a lunatic and anti-Christian.” “BERNIE SANDERS PLATFORMED VILE ANTI-CHRISTIAN TRANS SINGER,” wrote Mario Nawfal. “This wasn’t some rogue act—Bernie invited it. The same party that screams about “tolerance” is now openly mocking Christianity in the most obscene way possible. This is who the Democrats are now—and they’re not even hiding it.” “Little Bernie boy has gone full Satan, right before our eyes!” wrote another user. “What kind of singer even writes this on paper let alone sings it in front of an audience? Transgenderism and liberalism are both officially mental illnesses, that obviously can’t be cured! Evil walks among us.”