LGBTQ advocates warn of ‘enormous disrespect’ if Trump and Biden aren’t asked about policy

Advocates are calling on President Biden and former President Trump to answer for their LGBTQ records and policy proposals at Thursday night’s debate.

The debate, organized by CNN in Atlanta, is the first to take place during LGBTQ Pride month, which is recognized every year in June. A second debate is scheduled for September 10, organized by ABC.

“It will be a huge slight to our community if LGBTQ issues are not raised during this debate,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of the LGBTQ media advocacy organization GLAAD. “Our community is deeply affected by the position of these candidates.”

In a letter Tuesday, Ellis pressed moderators Dana Bash and Jake Tapper to ask Trump and Biden about their past statements and policies and their plans to advance the rights of LGBTQ people if they are elected in November.

“The safety and freedom of LGBTQ people depends on your engagement with candidates and your ability to inform voters about their records and proposals,” Ellis wrote in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Hill.

Moderators of last year’s Republican primary debates, in which Trump did not participate, largely avoided LGBTQ issues, despite Republicans seizing on transgender rights during the campaign. A question posed to the candidates by moderator Megyn Kelly during the fourth and final GOP presidential debate in December asked whether parents should support gender-affirming surgeries for minors, the guidelines for which were established by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, a professional association non-profit focused on transgender people. health care, I don’t recommend it.

Ellis said he would like to see Trump and Biden questioned on Thursday about marriage equality, rising anti-LGBTQ hate and extremism, gender-affirming health care and the Equality Act — federal legislation that would make sexual orientation and gender identity protected classes.

LGBTQ voters turned out in droves in 2020, making up as much as 8% of the overall electorate and playing a key role in Biden’s victory over Trump that year, according to one study. Washington Post Analysis of electoral research.

LGBTQ voters surveyed by GLAAD in March said they are highly motivated to vote in the November election, with 83 percent indicating they are “definitely” voting. When asked about their level of motivation to participate in this year’s elections, on a scale of zero to 10 points, 88 percent of LGBTQ voters rated themselves between seven and 10.

“We are poised to be the decisive voting bloc in the 2024 election, which is what we were in the 2020 election,” Ellis said. “So we have to be part of that conversation.”

“I certainly hope the moderators bring up the LGBTQ community and LGBTQ issues because there is a stark contrast between the two candidates,” said Annise Parker, president and CEO of the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund, which works to elect more LGBTQ people to public office. . desk.

Trump has promised to enact at least a dozen policies aimed at members of the LGBTQ community if he is re-elected, including a national ban on transgender student-athletes competing according to their gender identity and a federal law that recognizes only two genders. The former president also promised to punish doctors who administer gender-affirming care to minors, roll back new protections for LGBTQ students instituted by the Biden administration and cut federal funding for schools that accommodate transgender students.

Trump, at a campaign event last year, promised to restore the ban on transgender people serving in the military, a policy that was reversed by Biden in 2021.

Biden, who often calls his administration the most pro-LGBTQ in history, has expanded federal non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people and condemned violence and threats made against the community. In 2022, Biden signed legislation safeguarding marriage equality.

However, the president has failed to deliver on some promises he made to LGBTQ voters, including a pledge to safeguard access to gender-affirming health care as more Republican-led states move to ban treatment for minors.

“I hope we see a substantive conversation about these two men’s track records in fighting for a more equal society,” Brandon Wolf, press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign, which supported Biden in the race, said of Thursday’s debate. “Because, make no mistake, equality is a winning issue.”

“The vast majority of people in this country support an America that treats people with dignity and respect; they support an America that prevents people from suffering discrimination and harm simply for being who they are,” Wolf said. “That’s largely where the American people are, and I hope we have an opportunity on that stage to see the contrast between these two candidates.”

Even though Trump and Biden are asked about LGBTQ issues on Thursday night, it remains to be seen whether their answers will change the tide. Presidential debates typically happen much later in the cycle and voters may not yet be paying attention.

“I’ve been in the November election 11 times,” said Parker, the former mayor of Houston. “Nobody pays attention until after Labor Day — unless you have a reason to be scared or excited. I think there are a lot of reasons to be scared.”

This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story