Sun. September 22, 2019
Former Vice President Joe Biden, Senator Elizabeth Warren, and South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg were among the 10 Democratic presidential candidates who attended GLAAD's LGBT forum on Friday.
The event, co-hosted by GLAAD, One Iowa, The Gazette, and The Advocate, featured candidates discussing LGBT issues. Also in attendance were Senators Amy Klobuchar, Kamala Harris and Cory Booker, former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro, Representative Tulsi Gabbard, former Representative Joe Sestak, and author Marianne Williamson.
In his interview, Biden pledged to sign the Equality Act into law as president and ban therapies that attempt to alter the sexual orientation or gender identity of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. Biden also said he would reverse executive orders signed by President Donald Trump related to Obamacare and LGBT healthcare.
"Every LGBTQ person, as well as anyone else, should be able to have full healthcare without any limitation. No doctor can deny you. No hospital can tell you you can't get the service. It is simply against the law when I'm president," Biden said.
In his opening remarks, Buttigieg pledged to "end the war on trans Americans coming from this White House" and sign the Equality Act the moment it "hits" his desk.
He also suggested that Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson should be fired for comments he made about transgender people. On Thursday, during a visit to San Francisco, Carson, who has a history of opposing LGBT rights, cautioned against "big, hairy men" trying to infiltrate women's homeless shelters.
"Let me tell you, if anybody, let alone a cabinet member, in my administration spoke the way that the secretary of Housing and Urban Development spoke yesterday about trans people, that would be their last day in federal service on my watch," Buttigieg said.
Warren, in her opening remarks, named the 18 transgender women of color who have been murdered this year.
"Eighteen trans women of color who have been killed so far this year. It's time for a president of the United States of America to say their names," she said to a standing ovation.
CNN and HRC will host a prime-time LGBT presidential town hall on October 10.
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