WASHINGTON (AP) — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz praised Vice President Kamala Harris’ record in defending LGBTQ rights Saturday night and promised a supportive crowd that she would advance their cause if elected president.
Walz, the Democratic vice presidential candidate, headlined the Human Rights Campaign’s national dinner, which he hailed as “the best party in the nation.” He entered the massive ballroom of 3,500 people to John Mellencamp’s “Small Town” and a rousing standing ovation from members of the country’s largest LGBTQ+ organization.
He noted that Harris worked with President Joe Biden to issue executive orders to protect the rights of LGBTQ+ people in health care, the military and education.
“And the reason she did that was pretty simple. Kamala Harris believes in equal justice under the law, and that means proper, complicated, equal justice under the law. There’s no arguing about that,” Walz said. “It’s not that difficult.”
Transgender youth and adults face increasing restrictions in Republican states. Last year, the Human Rights Commission declared a state of emergency for LGBTQ+ people in the U.S. because of a growing number of state laws restricting their rights. Republican Donald Trump has said he would adopt some of these restrictions at the federal level if elected.
Shortly after Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race and endorsed Harris, HRC announced it would endorse her as well. The organization also applauded her choice of Walz as her running mate, citing his longstanding support of LGBTQ+ youth and his support of same-sex marriage.
On Saturday night, Walz recounted how he taught social studies and coached football at a Minnesota high school in the 1990s – and was unexpectedly approached by a student who asked him to serve as an academic adviser to the Gay-Straight Alliance.
He also outlined a list of Harris’s achievements on LGBTQ+ issues, recalling an incident in which, as California’s Attorney General, she had to personally call an official in Los Angeles who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
“‘You have to start the weddings immediately,'” Harris told the officer, according to Walz. “At that point, she had the best line ready. She said to the officer, ‘Have a nice day. It’s going to be a fun day.'”
He urged the crowd to rally behind Harris’ election and outlined what could happen if Trump wins a second term in the White House. Trump’s policy proposals would “limit freedom, victimize this community and demonize vulnerable children,” Walz said.
Trump has made attacks on transgender people a focus of his campaign rhetoric as he seeks his second term, a reversal for Trump, who in his speech to the Republican National Convention in 2016 called on the party to protect LGBTQ+ people.
If re-elected, Trump has promised in his political platform to stop public schools from “promoting gender reassignment” and to cut federal funding to any school that teaches “radical gender ideology.” In a video posted online last year, Trump also said he would punish doctors who provide gender-affirming treatment to transgender youth by stripping them of Medicare and Medicaid, as well as teachers who “suggest to a child that they may be trapped in the wrong body.”
At a Moms for Liberty event last week, Trump attacked Algerian boxer Imane Khelif and continued to spread misinformation that the Olympic gold medalist is transgender and has an unfair advantage over her competitors. He then made the absurd claim that gender reassignment surgery is performed in public schools.
“Your child goes to school. And comes home a few days later with surgery,” Trump said at the group’s national summit. He repeated that statement at a rally on Saturday. Transgender youth rarely undergo gender reassignment surgery anywhere.
When asked about the comments, campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt could not provide any examples to back up his claim, but pointed to reports that thousands of elementary and secondary schools have policies that prohibit teachers from informing parents if their child wants to apply pronouns that differ from those on their birth certificate.
“President Trump will ensure that all Americans are treated equally under the law, regardless of race, gender or sexual orientation,” Leavitt said, adding that the former president does not believe children should be allowed to undergo “permanent sex mutilation surgery.”
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