‘People are energized’: LGBTQ+ rights groups and voters are lining up behind Harris

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The moment that President Joe Biden offered his endorsement to Vice President Kamala Harris’ historic run for the White House, LGBTQ+ organizations and voters hit the ground on her behalf.

Kim Hunt, a veteran LGBTQ+ rights advocate from Chicago, was at brunch when the news broke that Biden was ending his reelection campaign and throwing his support behind Harris. Hours later, Hunt was on a Zoom call with 40,000 other Black women mobilizing support for Harris.

“The mood is completely different in LGBTQ communities, in people of color communities, for women's rights organizations,” Hunt said. “It's different now. People are energized.”

Harris’ candidacy has electrified many Black LGBTQ+ voters — and queer voters in general — who see fresh hope as the community faces unprecedented legislative attacks, particularly against transgender Americans. Others are grappling with Harris' complicated history on transgender issues, both as a member of the Biden administration and previously as a California prosecutor. But, they say, she’s shown growth over time.

Like Hunt, David Johns, executive director of the Black queer advocacy organization National Black Justice Coalition, also sprang into action. Within hours, he was on a call with more than 53,000 other Black men. They raised more than $1 million for Harris in four hours.

“There are clear indications of a new kind of interest and energy,” Johns said of the Harris campaign.

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation’s largest LGBTQ+ rights organization, pivoted its endorsement from Biden to Harris.

“Vice President Kamala Harris is a trailblazer and has been a champion for LGBTQ+ equality for decades: from leading the fight in San Francisco against hate crimes and her work in California to end the so-called gay and transgender ‘panic defense’ to her early support for marriage equality and her leadership serving as our Vice President,” said HRC President Kelley Robinson in a statement.

“Her leadership promises to fortify and enhance the efforts to address and meet the needs of transgender people, ensuring continued progress in our nation's history of civil rights,” said the nation’s largest trans organization, Advocates for Transgender Equality, in a statement.

Harris boasts some of the earliest support for LGBTQ+ rights of any of her Washington peers. On Valentine’s Day 2004, she became one of the first elected officials to publicly back marriage equality when she officiated same-sex weddings in California.

As San Francisco’s district attorney in 2008, she refused to defend Proposition 8, which barred marriage equality.

Equality California Executive Director Tony Hoang and Nevada’s Silver State Equality State Director André Wade said in a statement that Harris had exemplified what it means to be an ally throughout her career.

“We have seen her commitment to LGBTQ+ equality firsthand,” including her work in the U.S. Senate to enact a federal lynching ban and expand access to HIV prevention medications PrEP and PEP, they said.

Harris, however, has also faced difficult questions in the past from LGBTQ+ leaders. As attorney general in California in 2015, she opposed gender-affirming care for an incarcerated transgender woman. Harris has since apologized, gaining praise from some organizations like HRC who say she is a candidate able to learn and grow.

Others have expressed hesitancy about her history as a prosecutor in a system that disproportionately incarcerates people of color and queer people.

Jennifer Love Williams is the vice chair of the national LGBTQ+ prison advocacy organization Black and Pink. She is also a formerly incarcerated Black trans woman. She acknowledges that Harris’ history may be tough for some.

“I know that she did a job, and what I have to give her is the grace to show me what she would do for us as a country,” Williams said. “What other choice do we have? If we go for [former President Donald] Trump, I know all my rights will be going.”

Life for queer Americans over the last four years has grown increasingly fraught as anti-LGBTQ+ legislation floods state houses and hate crimes on queer Americans have climbed year over year. In the last two years, states have considered 1,197 anti-transgender bills. Of those, 129 have been passed into law.

Before Biden exited the race, some advocates questioned if he was willing to use the bully pulpit of the presidency to truly go to bat for transgender youth, who have faced limits on their access to gender-affirming care and participation in sports, among other attacks.

Biden repeatedly told transgender Americans he has their backs, and his administration has made significant moves in advancing LGBTQ+ equality, including reinstating health care protections for transgender Americans and reversing Trump’s ban on transgender military service. The administration was also the first to issue gender-neutral passports. Biden’s Department of Justice stepped in to support a transgender woman incarcerated with men.

In contrast, LGBTQ+ organizations have condemned Trump as among the most anti-LGBTQ+ presidents in history. Media advocacy organization GLAAD totaled 210 attacks Trump’s administration made against queer Americans during his time in office.

Anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric has grown so extreme in recent years that some in the community have expressed fear that a second Trump presidency would usher in the end of marriage equality. Ostensibly to ease those fears, the RNC’s new Trump-backed platform scraps language limiting marriage to “a man and a woman.”

However, a number of RNC speakers used their time at the convention in Milwaukee to verbally attack transgender Americans.

The Biden-Harris administration also found itself ensnared in controversy in early July when the White House stated it opposed gender-affirming surgery for transgender youth. The White House later hedged that stance in comments to the Advocate, acknowledging that surgeries on young people are only offered in extreme cases, a practice the administration said it supports.

The Harris campaign did not respond to a request to comment for this article.

Raquel Willis, a nationally-renowned transgender writer and advocate, still has reservations about Harris.

“I think that we are living in a time where Democratic leaders, including the Biden-Harris administration, have been coasting on toothless platitudes around their beliefs on trans rights,” Willis said. “I will always carry the knowledge that [Harris] wasn't as fierce of an advocate for particularly trans people in and around access to gender-affirming care.”

Willis said this mixed track record sits oddly with transgender Americans. She believes Harris will inherit some of the disappointment and anxiety queer Americans felt about Biden’s response to anti-transgender legislation as well as his handling of the ongoing crisis in Gaza which has alienated many LGBTQ+ voters.

“This is a prime time for accountability, for Harris to be a better candidate that we all desire,” Willis said.

Other leaders agree. So much about Harris, particularly on LGBTQ+ rights, remains unknown. Leaders are curious and eager to hear from her.

“Harris has been a mystery in some ways, but there is lots online showing her support for LGBTQ folks,” said Hunt. “So I feel good about that, certainly feel way better than the alternative.”

The 19th is an independent, nonprofit newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy.