Sun. June 13, 2021
Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff joined revelers at an LGBTQ Pride march in Washington, D.C.
Harris and Emhoff, both wearing white 'Love is Love' t-shirts under their blazers, greeted march participants yelling “Happy Pride” along the way.
Thousands of marchers headed toward Freedom Plaza for the Pride rally.
Harris, trailed by a black Chevrolet Suburban Secret Service convoy, stopped to address a crowd.
She advocated for the U.S. Senate to finally pass the Equality Act—a law that would add federal LGBTQ protections to the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
“We need to make sure that our transgender community—and our youth—are all protected,” the Vice President said.
“We still need protections around employment and housing. There is so much more work to do. And I know we are committed and we understand the importance of this movement, and our roles of leadership in this ongoing movement,” she continued.
Harris was one of the first California politicians to advocate for marriage equality, and even officiated some of the first same-sex marriages on Valentine's Day 2005 in her role as San Francisco district attorney.
The weddings were invalidated by the California Supreme Court that year.
As California Attorney General, she forwarded a letter to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to end the state's same-sex marriage ban.
However, more activist LGBTQ members decry her role as a chief prosecutor in San Francisco and later the entire state of California—upholding and advocating for the criminalization of sex work (even lobbying for the passage of the controversial FOSTA-SESTA laws that took away tools sex workers use to keep themselves safe), and famously thwarting an imprisoned transgender woman from receiving gender affirming health care interventions.
Harris, herself, acknowledged those failing in her campaign and promised to do better—especially on transgender issues.
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