Kmele Foster vs. transgender people

Kmele Foster is an American telecommunications entrepreneur, podcaster, and anti-transgender activist. Foster is co-host of the podcast The Fifth Column, which has featured a disproportionate number of anti-trans guests. Foster is a critic of identity politics and is a prominent figure in the “anti-woke” movement, particulary around how issues of “race” are discussed. Foster is a partner and content leader at the digital media company Big Think Media / Freethink.

Background

Kmele Anthony Tulloch Foster was born on October 31, 1980 in Washington, DC. Foster’s Jamaican immigrant parents split up. Kmele’s birth parent and a new stepparent parented Kmele starting around age 3.

According to a ZoomInfo profile that pulled data from a deleted LinkedIn account, Foster attended University of Maryland, College Park. That account stated “undergraduate degrees – Government & Politics and Economics” but did not include a date. This information about earning “undergraduate degrees” has not been independently confirmed. Foster is married to marketer and entrepreneur Tracy Foster. In a 2021 interview, Tracy Foster said “My husband, Kmele, also started his own technology company at 19 years-old while we were dating and in undergrad at the University of Maryland.” Foster co-founded telecommunications consultancy TelcoIQ in 2001.

Foster co-hosted the Fox Business Network program The Independents. Foster served as chair of America’s Future Foundation (now America’s Future), a non-profit network founded in 1995 for “young conservatives and libertarians.” Foster is an an editor-at-large at Tangle.

Kmele and Tracy Foster have a child, Lia, born in ~2018.

Anti-transgender activism

Foster serves on the board for anti-trans nonprofit Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression and was the MC at their inaugural event. Foster is on the advisory board for anti-trans group Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism. Foster was a signatory on the 2020 Harper’s Letter and the 2023 Westminster Declaration.

Podcasts and events

Foster co-hosts The Fifth Column with Michael Moynihan and Matt Welch. They have had as guests a disproportionare number of anti-trans guests, including Ross Douthat, David French, Jonah Goldberg, Katie Herzog, Megyn Kelly, Greg Lukianoff, Douglas Murray, Christopher Rufo, Jesse Singal, Andrew Sullivan, and Bari Weiss.

Foster has also been a guest on a number of anti-trans podcasts, including shows hosted by Brendan O’Neill, Bill Maher, Bari Weiss, Yascha Mounk, Glenn Loury, “Michael Malice,” Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying, Coleman Hughes, and Andrew Sullivan.

Foster was one of several anti-trans hosts for Richard Dawkins’ 2024 “Final Bow” tour. Foster was at the 2024 Free Press election might party.

References

Saul, Isaac (May 14, 2025). We just hired Kmele Foster to the Tangle team. Tangle https://www.readtangle.com/otherposts/tangle-hires-kmele-foster/

Green, Emma (June 5, 2023). Is It Possible to Be Both Moderate and Anti-Woke? New Yorker https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-activism/is-it-possible-to-be-both-moderate-and-anti-woke

Banks, Sara (June 19, 2021). Inspired By Tracy Foster – Founder, Mother, Intentionalist. Steamline Luggage https://steamlineluggage.com/blogs/news/inspired-by-tracy-foster

Gillespie, Nick (July 20, 2020). Kmele Foster on Why He Opposes Cancel Culture and the Anti-Capitalist Side of Black Lives Matter. Reason https://reason.com/video/kmele-foster-on-why-he-opposes-cancel-culture-and-the-anti-capitalist-side-of-black-lives-matter/