More than 1,000 LGBTQ political leaders, celebrities and social media influencers announced their support for Vice President Harris’ White House bid Wednesday in an open letter aimed at uniting the community and mobilizing voters.
“As advocates, elected officials, organizations and community leaders serving millions of LGBTQ+ Americans and our allies across the country, we ask that you join us in this historic moment to advance equality by supporting Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign to president”, the letter statesorganized by LGBTQ organizations including the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), Advocates for Transgender Equality, and the National LGBTQ Task Force.
Signatories include actors Sophia Bush and Wilson Cruz; Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.); Democratic Reps. Ritchie Torres (N.Y.), Mark Takano (Calif.), and Becca Balint (Vt.); and community leaders Jim Obergefell and Judy Shepard.
Organizers of the letter will hold a “call for unity” Thursday night via Zoom, they said.
“The community is sending a message loud and clear: we are united in support of experienced, tough, pro-equality Vice President Kamala Harris and will do whatever it takes to defeat Donald Trump and JD Vance,” said the president of HRC, Kelley Robinson, on Wednesday. in a statement. “We have an opportunity to not simply vote against the Trump 2025 Project for America agenda in November. We have the opportunity to vote for the future we want.”
The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, a roadmap for the next conservative administration, calls for dismantling federal non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people and supports a “Biblically based” definition of family, which some fear could endanger couples’ rights. homosexuals. The plan, which former President Trump recently tried to distance himself from, also equates being transgender with pornography, which it seeks to ban.
Wednesday’s letter praises Harris as “a galvanizing trailblazer” and longtime advocate for LGBTQ rights, highlighting her accomplishments as California attorney general, U.S. senator and vice president.
“For decades, Vice President Kamala Harris has dedicated her life to working toward this future for America by combating hate crimes, supporting LGBTQ+ families and advancing justice for all,” Robinson said.
LGBTQ voters played a key role in President Biden’s victory over Trump in 2020, according to a Washington Post analysisand nearly 70 percent of likely LGBTQ voters surveyed by the LGBTQ media advocacy group GLAAD in January said they preferred Biden to Trump.
While it’s unclear whether support for Biden, who abandoned his re-election campaign this week, will translate into enthusiasm for Harris, polls show that most LGBTQ voters reject anti-LGBTQ policies and rhetoric and are less likely to vote for candidates who campaign against transgender people. rights.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
