PULSE SURVIVOR & VP HARRIS SPEAK OUT AGAINST HATE-FUELED VIOLENCE

In her speech about hate crimes at the United We Stand Summit, Vice President Kamala Harris invited Pulse Nightclub shooting survivor Brandon Wolf to open.

In her speech about hate crimes at the United We Stand Summit, Vice President Kamala Harris invited Pulse Nightclub shooting survivor Brandon Wolf to open as her keynote speaker.

The United We Stand summit began on Thursday as an effort by President Joe Biden to counter the devastating effects of hate-related violence. The summit’s website describes the conference as a “bipartisan conversation on countering hate-fueled violence, preventing mobilization to violence, and fostering unity.”

In her statement to the summit covered by the Advocate Channel, Harris was introduced by nationally recognized LGBTQ+ civil rights advocate and anti-gun violence proponent, Brandon Wolf.

Wolf is a survivor of the Orlando, Fla., Pulse Nightclub shooting. He currently works with the LGBTQ+ rights group Equality Florida.

On June 12, 2016, 49 people were killed and 53 were injured at Pulse, a gay nightclub, in Orlando during its “Latin Night.” Nearly all of the victims were LGBTQ+ and Latinx. It was the deadliest attack on queer people in U.S. history.

Wolf began his address by acknowledging his fellow survivors, and the courage they’ve shown in years since the massacre.

“It takes tremendous courage to get up and face the world every day,” he said. “I will never forget the night that hate-fueled violence turned my life upside down. The moment an ordinary night with friends became an extraordinary tragedy that rocked the entire globe.”

Wolf recounted the night of the tragedy, recalling how he was in the bathroom washing his hands when he first heard gunshots. While Wolf made it to an emergency exit, he shared that he lost two of his closest friends that day.

“My best friends -- our stolen loved ones – they’re not just numbers or statistics. They’re missing faces at birthday parties. They’re empty seats at dinner tables. They are the human cost of hate violence. Rejecting extremism, combating violence – those things are not partisan issues. They’re American issues,” he stated.

Since 2020, hate crimes in the United States have increased to their highest rate in over a decade. FBI statistics for the year show that 20 percent of hate crimes nationally were motivated by sexual orientation. Crimes motivated by gender identity were at 2.7 percent, up from 0.5 percent in previous years.

In her speech, Harris told Wolf: “Your courage, born out of such a violent tragedy, has been consistent and enduring. Long after the cameras left the scene of that horrific crime, you have used your voice to represent the voices of so many.  Consistently you have been doing this work.  You inspire so many of us, and I thank you for your leadership.”

Harris also invited Sarah Collins Rudolph, a survivor of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Ala., which occurred on the same day as Harris’ address 59 years prior. 

Harris announced a federal government response to the national increase in hate crimes where they will reach out to recently affected communities, such as Oak Creek, Orlando, Victoria, Pittsburgh, El Paso, Atlanta, Buffalo.

“I strongly believe no one should ever be made to fight alone — not on this,” Harris said. “We must stand together — students, parents, educators, faith leaders, business leaders, and law enforcement officials. And we must clearly say that a harm against any one of us is a harm against all of us. We are at an inflection point in our history and, indeed, in our democracy.”

SOURCE: ADVOCATE

💅🏽 SHANGELA BECOMES FIRST DRAG QUEEN TO ATTEND U.S. VICE PRESIDENT EVENT 🏳️‍🌈

Kamala Harris loves Shangie!

Shangela is halleloo-ing her way to Washington, D.C.!

First introduced as a “baby queen” on seasons two and three of RuPaul’s Drag Race and then seen as a frontrunner on All Stars 3, Shangela has come a long way in her extraordinary drag career.

On Tuesday, Kamala Harris threw an event at the U.S. Vice President's residence to celebrate Pride Month. Shangela was invited not only to go to the event but also to be a speaker – becoming the first-ever drag performer to attend an event held at the U.S. Vice President’s residence.

Shangie shared an Instagram video of her speech and wrote in the caption:

“Last night I had the honor of becoming the first drag queen in drag to ever attend an event at the residence of the Vice President of America. It was also the first time that an LGBTQ Pride Event had been held at the residence. MAJOR. Thank you [Madam Vice President] for being an authentic ally and for not only holding this LGBTQ event at your residence, but for also inviting me to make a few welcoming remarks. Wow. After laughing and sobbing on the phone with my Mom this morning, I took a sec to take this in. Me - the little, country gay kid from Paris, TX just helped introduce the highest-ranking female leader ever elected in our Country. And I did it standing in my Truth. Proudly representing my community. Here’s to all the dreamers. I’m doing it, and so can YOU. I might not have ever won a crown, but that has never stopped me from being a Queen. HALLELOO!”

Shangie said during her speech at the event:

“Tonight, I am so thrilled to join the Madam Vice President in welcoming each of you to this momentous occasion. This is a celebration of who we are, as LGBTQIA+ people and allies. It’s so important to celebrate because, all across the country, there are so many things [that] need to be fixed. That’s why I’m dressed as Olivia Pope. Women’s rights are under attack. In Florida, you can’t say ‘gay.’ Across the country, there’s anti-trans legislation. In my home state of Texas, there are different conversations about trying to ban drag queens [from performing] in front of children. And I’m an uncle, I’m a proud Black person from Texas, and I’m a proud drag queen. I like to say that drag queens belong everywhere – especially in the residence of the Vice President.”

She then thanked Harris for inviting her to speak at the event and praised the Vice President for supporting LGBTQ+ visibility.

The Drag Race alum and A Star Is Born actress also shared a selfie with Vice President Harris on Instagram, writing:

“Celebrating LGBTQ Pride tonight alongside our Madame Vice President at her and the Second Gentleman’s residence in DC. Thank you for your words about activism and your commitment to standing together for Equality for all.”

RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 7 is now streaming on Paramount+.

SOURCE: OUT DOT COM

KAMAL HARRIS MAKES HISTORY AS FIRST VP TO JOIN AN LGBTQ+ PRIDE MARCH

Vice President Kamala Harris participated in a Washington, D.C Pride parade to show support for the LGBTQ+ community.

On June 12, Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff made an appearance at a Pride parade — a historic first for any Vice President.

Harris greeted attendees while wearing a slogan t-shirt that read “Love is Love” under a pink blazer. The pair joined Pride goers on their march to Freedom Plaza in Washington D.C.

After the march, Harris addressed the crowd and took the time to advocate for the Equality Act.

“There’s so much more to do,” Harris said in her speech.

“We celebrate all of the accomplishments – finally marriage is the law of the land. Now we need to pass the Equality Act, we need to make sure that our transgender community and our youth are all protected.”

She continued: “We need, still, 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.”

https://twitter.com/PeterVelz46/status/1403767943020810241?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1403767943020810241%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.gaytimes.co.uk%2Fculture%2Fkamala-harris-makes-history-as-first-vp-to-join-an-lgbtq-pride-march%2F

On social media, Harries shared a photo of herself wearing a pride jacket and a supportive message.

“Every June, we celebrate the contributions the LGBTQ+ community have made to our nation’s past, present, and future—but we must recommit ourselves to doing everything in our power to protect the community from discrimination and harm and deliver full and equal rights to LGBTQ+ Americans,” the post read.

SOURCE: GAY TIMES

PRESIDENT-ELECT BIDEN THANKS HIS “GAY, STRAIGHT & TRANSGENDER” SUPPORTERS IN HISTORIC VICTORY MOMENT

Finally able to give their election victory speeches last night, President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris made sure to note how historic, diverse, and groundbreaking their campaign for the White House has been.

“And to all those who supported us,” Biden said during his 15 minutes of remarks, “I am proud of the campaign we built and ran I am proud of the coalition we put together, the broadest and most diverse in history. Democrats, Republicans and Independents. Progressives, moderates and conservatives….Gay, straight, transgender.”

Biden’s speech is another precedent-setting first: he is the first President or President-elect to mention trans people in official remarks. It seems that the eventual 46th President is beginning to follow through with his campaign promise to trans people that he believes “that Trans Lives Matter,” as he wrote in an article for LGBTQ Nation last month.

The moment follows in the footsteps of Biden’s former partner, President Barack Obama, who was the first to mention gay people in a victory speech when he was elected to commander-in-chief in 2008.

Then, Obama explained that “questions [on] the power of our democracy” were answered with his victory, citing that change comes through people both “gay, [and] straight.”

In his speech, Biden continued on to thank his racially diverse supporters – “White. Latino. Asian. Native American. And especially for those moments when this campaign was at its lowest — the African American community stood up again for me. They always have my back, and I’ll have yours.”

“I said from the outset I wanted a campaign that represented America, and I think we did that,” the President-elect said. “Now that’s what I want the administration to look like.”

Biden once again renewed his request to Trump supporters and conservatives to give him a chance and allow him to lead the United States to “lower the temperature” so the people can “see each other again” and “listen to each other again.”

“To make progress, we must stop treating our opponents as our enemy. We are not enemies. We are Americans,” he reasoned. He also cited the Bible which declares that there is “a time to heal.”

Now, “this is the time to heal in America,” the President-elect declared.

Before Biden spoke, Harris also gave remarks on her momentous victory as the first Vice President-elect in United States history.

She opened with mention of the late Rep. John Lewis, the civil rights activist and longtime Congressman of the state of Georgia — where Biden and Harris unexpectedly won the vote for the state, the first time for a Democratic Presidential ticket in nearly three decades. She also name-checked her late mother, Shyamala Gopolan Harris, who emigrated to the United States at 19 from India.

“While I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last,” Harris declared, “because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities, and to the children of our country, regardless of your gender, our country has sent you a clear message — dream with ambition.”

The two spoke from Wilmington, Delaware, where Biden has resided for over 40 years, as the campaign awaited the election results to become clear for five days before declaring victory.

See Biden’s remarks below. His mention of gay and trans people is at approximately 5:25.

SOURCE: LGBTQ NATION

 

BY PICKING KAMALA HARRIS, BIDEN CHOSE A MAJOR LGBTQ ALLY & A FORMIDABLE WARRIOR AGAINST THE GOP

 

In choosing Sen. Kamala Harris as his running mate, Joe Biden has picked the safest candidate–if you can call putting the first black woman on a national ticket safe. And while all of Biden’s possibilities had strong LGBTQ records, Harris certainly stands out.

Harris checks all the boxes for a vice-presidential candidate. She’s a Senator, so she knows Washington. She ran her own presidential campaign, so she’s been through the media wringer. She’s even great on the attack, as anyone who has watched her during Senate hearings knows and Biden experienced first hand as a target himself. 

“You make a lot of important decisions as president. But the first one is who you select to be your Vice President. I’ve decided that Kamala Harris is the best person to help me take this fight to Donald Trump and Mike Pence and then to lead this nation starting in January 2021,” Biden wrote in an email from his campaign to supporters.

While no one could surpass Sen. Tammy Baldwin, the first out lesbian in the Senate and another rumored candidate, Harris has effectively been campaigning for the LGBTQ vote for years. Once she was admitted to the bar in 1990, she started a long career as a prosecutor, first as an assistant prosecutor in the Bay Area, then as San Francisco’s District Attorney and finally as the California State Attorney General.

As you’d expect with someone steeped in San Francisco politics, Harris has been a long-time proponent of LGBTQ rights.

As San Francisco’s district attorney, she created a special hate crime unit focused on crimes against LGBTQ children and teens. She pushed for legislation to ban a gay/transgender “panic” defense and to ban conversion therapy for minors.

She vigorously opposed Proposition 8, the state’s anti-marriage measure, and provided legal arguments against it cited by the Supreme Court when it was overturned. When Proposition 8 was finally struck down, Harris presided over the wedding of the couple who brought the suit against the initiative.

As a Senator, Harris made Brett Kavanaugh squirm during his confirmation hearings by questioning him intently on marriage equality.

During her presidential campaign, Harris made many of the same pledges that the other candidates did, including prioritizing passage of the Equality Act, reinstating Obama-era protections, and vigorously pursuing hate crimes. Perhaps her most newsworthy moment on LGBTQ issues came when she dismissed the idea of widespread homophobia in the black community as a “trope.”

“The reality is that, sadly and unfortunately in all communities, bias occurs, and in particular homophobia and transphobia,” she explained. “But to label one community in particular as being burdened by this bias as compared to others is misinformed, it’s misdirected and it’s just simply wrong.”

In picking Harris, Biden is sending a strong signal about the future of the Democratic party as younger and more diverse than the Republicans. He’s also setting Harris up as his potential successor. At age 78, Biden could well be a one-term president, and his vice president has a higher than usual chance of assuming office during the first term.

As all Biden’s choices did, Harris comes with baggage. Her campaign got off to a rousing start and then fizzled. She wasn’t the greatest campaigner, and her staff was riven by factions. 

Although she is multi-racial (her father was black and her mother Indian-American), progressive critics have hammered Harris for her past role as a prosecutor. Some older male Biden advisors, like former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, plainly dislike Harris, accusing her of being too ambitious–a bizarre and offensive claim to make about any politician, particularly a woman of color.

The symbolism of Harris on the national ticket can’t be underplayed. However, the practical effect of her nomination is an open question. It’s not like California is a battleground state.

At the margins, the choice of vice president doesn’t make as much difference as pundits suppose. The choice is seen as a reflection on the presidential nominee’s outlook; a bad choice, like John McCain’s elevation of Sarah Palin, can hurt. But even a lot of Democrats would have to take a few seconds to recall Hillary Clinton’s running mate. (It was Tim Kaine.)

Voters are generally looking to the top of the ticket and, in the case of the 2020 election, the performance of the incumbent. For example, Mitt Romney chose Rep. Paul Ryan as his running mate in 2012, in the belief that Ryan would help Republicans carry his native Wisconsin.

President Obama won the state by 7 percentage points.

 SOURCE: LGBTQ NATION