“We must continue to fight for the LGBTQ+ community, who have faced discrimination for far too long simply because of who they are and whom they love,” stated Biden’s VP Nominee Kamala Harris on her policy page when she ran for the Democratic presidential nomination last year.
More from “Kamala’s LGBTQ+ Plan To Provide Equality And Dignity For All; here:
We must speak truth: Homophobia and transphobia are real in this country, and they’re being fueled by an Administration that openly attacks Americans based on who they are or who they love.
We’re at an inflection point in our struggle for equality, and Kamala won’t leave anyone to fight alone. Together, we’ll fight for the equality of the LGBTQ+ community in all of its diversity.
That’s what Kamala has done her entire career. As District Attorney in 2004, she established an LGBT hate crimes unit. And when many Democrats supported civil unions, Kamala was marrying same-sex couples at San Francisco City Hall. As Attorney General, Kamala led efforts to abolish gay and transgender “panic defenses” in criminal trials that were used to excuse violence against LGBTQ+ people, and refused to defend California’s discriminatory Prop. 8 in court, setting the stage for nationwide marriage equality. As Senator, Kamala led the charge against President Trump’s anti-LGBTQ+ judicial nominees, and sponsored legislation to ensure LGBTQ+ Americans are properly counted in the census and to prevent the use of religious beliefs as a justification to discriminate against LGBTQ+ people.
As president, Kamala will fight to pass the Equality Act to provide the LGBTQ+ community explicit and comprehensive protection from discrimination in all facets of life, including employment, schools, and public accommodations. While she wages that fight, she will immediately reinstate President Obama’s LGBTQ+ equality executive actions to protect federal workers and prohibit discrimination by federal contractors, in federally funded housing programs, and by hospitals participating in Medicaid and Medicare. Kamala also supports placing a third gender option on federal identification cards and documents. She will roll back Trump Administration rules that allow individuals to use their religious beliefs as a justification to discriminate against LGBTQ+ Americans.
But LGBTQ+ people don’t just face discrimination: too often in America today, they face violence as well. We can’t ignore it, and we must address it. As president, Kamala will appoint an Attorney General who makes investigating and prosecuting hate crimes a priority and invest in law enforcement training on interactions with LGBTQ+ individuals.
Kamala believes we also must fight for equality around the globe by making LGBTQ+ rights an integral part of our foreign policy approach. That starts with America living by the values we preach. On day one Kamala will reverse President Trump’s immoral ban on transgender servicemembers in the Armed Forces.
Kamala’s message is simple: Our America is one where everyone is afforded equal rights, and that’s the America we will fight for together.
