Walz highlights Democratic support for LGBTQ rights, slams Virginia
WASHINGTON — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz touted his and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris’ advocacy for LGBTQ rights while delivering the keynote address at the Human Rights Campaign’s annual gala on Saturday night. Criticized the remarks of his Republican opponent, the school’s Senator J.D. Vance.
“It’s a fact of life, some people are gay,” Walz said in his speech. “But you know what’s not a fact of life? Our kids need to be shot in school. There was a school shooting in Georgia on Wednesday. apalachee high schooltwo students and two teachers were killed.
Vance, when asked “I don’t like it. I hate to admit it. I don’t like it’s a fact of life. But if you are, if You are a psycho and want to make headlines and you realize that our schools are soft targets and we must increase security in our schools.
School shootings have renewed calls from Democrats to ban assault weapons, push for safe gun storage and enact red flag laws that would allow courts to temporarily remove guns from individuals deemed to be a threat to themselves or others.
“Our children should be free to go to school without being shot in the halls,” Walz said Saturday night.
In his speech, Walz praised Vice President Harris for her long-standing support for LGBTQ rights, including officiating some of the first marriages in California after the U.S. Supreme Court in 2015 upheld same-sex marriage as a legal right.
“This is the most LGBTQ+ administration in American history,” Walz said of Harris and President Joe Biden, noting Respect marriage laws, This will make sureRegardless of future U.S. Supreme Court rulings, marriages between same-sex and interracial couples will continue to be recognized.
When Harris selected Walz as her running mate in early August, the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ advocacy group, applauded the decision.
“Coach Walz embraces not only the fabric of our community, but the fabric of our society, something that uplifts us, strengthens us, and connects us all,” Human Rights Campaign President Kelly Robinson said before introducing Walz. explain.
Walz has long supported LGBTQ rights. A teacher and coach, he said he agreed to serve as an adviser to the gay-straight alliance at the high school where he taught after concerns emerged in the late 1990s that queer students were being bullied.
“I understand what it means to be an older, straight, white football coach,” he said. “It’s easy to be an ally when it’s easy to be an ally. What really matters is knowing who will be there for you and stand up for you when times get tough.
Congressional propaganda
Walz said that while running for Congress in 2006, he was asked in a debate whether he supported same-sex marriage.
“My marriage to my wife, Gwen, is the most important thing in my life. I love her deeply. Why should I stop other people from marrying the people they love?” he said. “It doesn’t make sense.” “
He highlighted his work in Congress as an early supporter of same-sex marriage and told how vote to repeal The military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy for lesbian, gay and bisexual service members.
“No one should be praised for doing the right thing,” he said. “For God’s sake, the threshold for treating people as human beings is too low here. Everyone is equal before the law, and the threshold is not high.
Waltz talks about his work experience Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009a bill that expands federal hate crimes laws to include crimes motivated by the victim’s sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. Matthew Shepard was a student who was tortured and murdered in Wyoming in 1998 for being gay.
Walz said he traveled to the U.S. Capitol with Matthew’s mother and the sheriff who found Matthew’s body for the final vote on the bill.
“I remember walking with a mother who had lost her son and hearing the sheriff tell me the only place that wasn’t bloody was where Matthew had tears in his eyes, and I looked at a mother and the incredible pain that I just couldn’t stand. “It’s impossible to even imagine losing a child in this way and walking with your head held high to make sure the rest of us don’t have to get a call from someone else,” Walz told the crowd.
Walz said when he was elected governor, Minnesota took control of both chambers of the state Legislature for the first time in more than a decade and moved quickly to pass Democratic legislation.
“You don’t get elected to office to accumulate political capital so you can be re-elected,” Walz said. “You get elected to office to burn political capital and improve your lives as quickly as possible.”
As governor, Walz signed an executive order protecting transgender people’s access to health care and a “trans refugee” bill that protects transgender people and their families from seeking health care in Minnesota. Legal implications.
He also signed a law banning conversion therapy for children and adults.
“In Minnesota you are seen, heard, loved, respected and safe,” he said of LGBTQ rights.
Banned books, school shootings
Walz harshly criticized Republicans who have led the wave of book bans by LGBTQ authors and advocated for laws banning transgender student athletes and limiting transgender people’s access to health care.
He noted that Minnesota passed a law prohibiting book bans.
“That’s what these people have been focused on their entire lives, like reading about two male penguins in love is somehow going to turn your child gay, and that’s what you should be worried about,” he said.
Walz’s speech stood in stark contrast to the Republican presidential campaign and former President Donald Trump’s false claims about transgender people.
During Trump’s first term, the administration Roll back Obama-era regulations Make health care a civil right for transgender patients under the Affordable Care Act. Trump also enacted a ban on transgender people serving in the U.S. military, but the Biden administration has rescinded that policy.
Walz called it a “stupid, paranoid policy.”
“If you want to serve this country, you should be allowed to do that, and what we should do is respect that service,” Walz said. “They should not be subject to an attack by a commander in chief that attacks their basic dignity, their humanity and their patriotism.”
When Trump announced Vance as his running mate, the Human Rights Campaign and the national LGBTQ media advocacy group GLAAD expressed concerns about Vance’s past comments about LQBTQ people.
“When people stop freaking out about bills that would prevent the sexualization of my children, I will stop calling them ‘beauticians,'” Vance written on X,2022, formerly known as Twitter.
At a campaign rally in Mosinee, Wisconsin, on Saturday afternoon, Trump accused Walz of signing a bill that would require menstrual products such as tampons to be made available in boys’ bathrooms, but that would not be required by the 2023 law.
Legal requirementsSchool districts or charter schools provide free menstrual products to students in fourth grade through high school graduation. It does not specify which bathrooms must provide access to the product.
“He’s a weirdo,” Trump said of Walz.
Trump also continues to perpetuate false right-wing claims that children are undergoing surgeries in schools and having their gender changed.
“Keep critical race theory and trans madness out of our schools,” Trump said.
Cheney endorsement
In other campaign developments, former Republican Vice President Dick Cheney on Friday AgreeHarris is running for president. His daughter, former Republican U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, also endorsed Harris.
Harris, who is preparing to debate Trump in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, said on Saturday that both Republicans put country before party.
“People are tired of division and attempts to divide Americans, and I think it was brave of them to come out and make this public statement,” Harris said, according to the White House report.
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