Walz touts Democrats’ record on LGBTQ+ rights, says Harris will advance cause if elected

WASHINGTON – Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz touted Vice President Kamala Harris’ record on LGBTQ+ rights Saturday night, promising a supportive crowd that she would advance their cause if elected president.

Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, headlined the Human Rights Campaign’s national dinner, which he called “the best party in the country.” He entered the sprawling ballroom of 3,500 to the sounds of John Mellencamp’s “Small Town” and thunderous applause from members of the nation’s largest LGBTQ+ organization.

He highlighted how Harris worked alongside President Joe Biden to issue executive orders protecting the rights of LGBTQ+ people in health care, the military and education.

“And the reason she did it was pretty simple. Kamala Harris believes in equality before the law, and that means fair, complex, equal justice before the law. That’s not up for debate,” Walz said. “It’s not that hard.”

Transgender youth and adults face increasing restrictions in Republican states. Last year, the HRC declared a state of emergency for LGBTQ+ people in the United States due to the proliferation of state laws restricting their rights. If elected, Republican Donald Trump has said he would replicate some of these restrictions at the federal level.

Shortly after Biden withdrew from the 2024 presidential race and endorsed Harris for president, HRC announced that it, too, would support her. The organization also praised Walz’s choice as a running mate, citing his own long history of supporting LGBTQ+ youth and 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 asking him to serve as a faculty adviser to the Gay-Straight Alliance.

He also outlined a litany of Harris’ accomplishments on LGBTQ+ issues, recalling an episode when, as California attorney general, she had to personally call a Los Angeles clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

“You need to start the weddings immediately,” Harris told the clerk, according to Walz. “She had the best line then. She told the clerk, ‘Have a nice day. This is going to be fun.’”

He urged the crowd to work to help elect Harris, highlighting what could happen if Trump wins a second term in the White House. Trump’s policy proposals “would restrict freedoms, would intimidate this community, would demonize vulnerable children,” Walz said.

Trump has made attacks on transgender people a pillar of his campaign rhetoric as he seeks a second term. It’s a reversal for Trump, who in his 2016 speech at the Republican National Convention called on the party to protect LGBTQ+ people.

If re-elected, Trump has made it part of his policy agenda to prevent public schools from “promoting gender transition” and to strip federal funding from any school that teaches what he calls “radical gender ideology.” In a video posted online last year, Trump also said he would punish doctors who provide gender-affirming care to transgender youth by denying them Medicare and Medicaid coverage, as well as teachers who “suggest to a child that they might be trapped in the wrong body.”

At a Moms for Liberty event last week, Trump lashed out at Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, continuing to spread false information about the Olympic gold medalist’s transgender status as an unfair advantage over her competitors. He then made the outlandish claim that public schools perform gender reassignment surgery.

“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 claim at a rally Saturday. Transgender youth rarely undergo sex-reassignment surgery anywhere.

Asked about the comments, campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt could not provide any examples to support her claim. But she pointed to reports that thousands of elementary and secondary schools have rules prohibiting teachers from informing parents if their child asks to use pronouns different 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. She added that the former president did not believe children should be allowed to undergo what she called “permanent genital mutilation surgeries.”

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