A Republican councilman in Indiana is going viral after writing on Facebook that he now identifies as a woman of color in an apparent effort to troll the left.
Ryan Webb, a father of five who is married to his wife, Brandy, is currently a councilman for Delaware County, Indiana, according to his official account.
But he raised eyebrows after he announced his gender transition on Facebook, in a move that some conservative commentators are interpreting as a joke. Webb himself has said that he is holding up a “mirror to the political left” to expose the contradictions in gender ideology.
“After much consideration I have decided to come out and finally feel comfortable announcing my true authentic self,” Webb wrote in a post from April.
FROM TRANSGENDERED TO ‘TRANSABLED’: NOW PEOPLE ARE ‘CHOOSING’ TO IDENTIFY AS HANDICAPPED
“It is with great relief that I announce to everyone that I identify as a woman and not just any woman but as a woman of color as well. I guess this would make me gay/lesbian as well, since I am attracted to women,” he added.
Webb explained that friends, fellow council members and people in the community can continue to address him as “Ryan or as Councilman Webb” and that he will also “retain” his pronouns of “He/Him.”
The announcement, Webb wrote, likely made him the “very first lesbian woman of color in the history of Delaware County to ever serve on the Delaware county council.”
Webb has since responded to some of the backlash that his gender reveal post has received online, writing that he had “no choice” but to accept an interview with Indiana news station I-Team 8.
“After declining every single interview request up until this point, the political left gave me no choice but to accept this one,” he said. “We cannot allow them to lie and create their own false narrative.”
He continued: “Going forward I will speak my truth and be open about who I am as a person, as well as how I perceive the complexity of my own gender identity. We cannot let bully’s [sic], racists, hateful and intolerant bigots silence our voices.”
The clip that Webb was responding to has picked up massive attention online, racking up over 7.4 million views and 35,000 likes on Twitter after it was posted on April 30.
Webb’s apparent trolling has outraged some progressives, with one transgender female telling the council last week that he was clearly ridiculing others.
“If he were serious, I’d sing his praises,” said Charlize Jamieson, according to The Star Press, an Indiana newspaper. “But instead, I know better. We all do. I know better because of his history of making hateful anti-trans statements on social media and disrespecting one’s pronouns. He has, purposely, and intentionally, misgendered me, ridiculing my own gender identity. That is not something transgender people do to one another.”
I-Team 8 reported that Webb has received “some support” but a lot of “backlash” after his announcement, with some even calling for his “execution.”
Webb told I-Team 8 that it was “unfortunate that I cannot simply be given the same space and respect to explore my identity that so many of those targeting me demand for themselves.”
“It’s possible I may change my mind down the road,” he added. “The process of identity exploration is complex and often times at the end of our personal journey we end right back where we started.”
Webb declined a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
