The former New York mayor has been criticized after yet another video emerged of him referring to a hypothetical trans woman as a man “wearing a dress,” as well as describing transgender people as “he, she, or it.”

The Democratic candidate, who is experiencing a surge in the polls in recent weeks, made the remarks during a forum hosted by the Bermuda Business Development Agency in New York on March 21, 2019, months before he announced his intention to run for president.

During the forum, Bloomberg described how Brexit and Donald Trump’s 2016 election victory are proof that the world is “against the establishment” and that people wanted to “throw the bums out.”

Bloomberg then warned that Democrats and liberals are focusing too much on issues that a majority of America cannot relate to.

“If you go to the middle of the country, people would say if your conversation during a presidential election is about some guy wearing a dress and whether he, she, or it can go to the locker room with their daughter, that’s not a winning formula for most people,” Bloomberg said.

“They care about health care, they care about education, they care about safety, and all of those kinds of things.

“And some of these social issues, and it’s not just the American government, the EU government does it as well, with focusing on a lot of things that have little relevance to people who are trying to live in a world that is changing because of technology and communications and things like that.”

“So you can understand where somebody like Trump comes from,” Bloomberg added.

“You can understand if you take a look at the Democratic Party, they are so far left, that two years ago, there was nobody on their side that would take these positions and today virtually all the candidates for president of the Democratic Party are so progressive, I don’t know what progressive means, they are in a place where some of the American public is, and it remains to be seen if the remainder of the electorate is.”

After the clip emerged, Alphonso David, president of the Human Rights Campaign, demanded Bloomberg apologize for the comments if he wants support from the LGBTQ+ community.

“Over the last decade, right-wing extremists have attacked transgender people, their humanity and their rights at every opportunity. And in 2019, at least 26 transgender and gender non-confirming people lost their lives to fatal violence,” David said.

“We expect pro-equality candidates, including Bloomberg, to create policy solutions to end the epidemic of violence our community faces, not use the same talking points our opponents use to dehumanize transgender people and justify their own hateful beliefs.”

David added that an estimated 57 million LGBTQ+ voters and their allies are looking for a candidate who can “undo the damage” done to the community by the Trump-Pence administration come November.

“Words matter and Bloomberg should apologize for using language that demoralizes and dehumanizes members of our community,” said David.

The clip of Bloomberg’s comments emerged as his team released a campaign video claiming he is the best democratic candidate for LGBTQ+ youth.

In a statement to Buzzfeed News, a Bloomberg campaign spokesperson said: “Mike understands that the transgender community has been under attack for decades and the advance of rights has not been equal.

“In April 2002, during his first year as mayor, Mike signed a sweeping transgender civil rights bill into law. His company provides comprehensive health care coverage for his transgender employees.

“As president, he has a comprehensive plan to secure rights for transgender Americans, including passing the Equality Act, ensuring transgender people have access to affirming health care and working to end the crisis of violence against transgender women.

“Mike is running to defeat Donald Trump and reverse the many policies he has implemented that attack the rights of the transgender community.”

This is the second time this month that a clip of Bloomberg using derogatory language against trans women has emerged.

During an event held at England’s Oxford University in December 2016, Bloomberg said that the “intelligentsia” are focusing too much on niche issues such as trans rights which have no appeal to middle America.

“If you want to know if somebody is a good salesman, give him the job of going to the Midwest and picking a town and selling to that town the concept that some man wearing a dress should be in a locker room with their daughter,” Bloomberg said.

“If you can sell that, you can sell anything. They just look at you and they say, ‘What on Earth are you talking about?’”

Bloomberg’s office has been contacted for further comment.