Kamala Harris joined a march for LGBTQ + pride in Washington

The Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris surprised walkers in LGBTQ + pride month this Saturday by joining their ranks for part of the trip, as well as advocating for better protection of transgender people in the country.

Dressed in a pink jacket and a T-shirt with the slogan “Love is love”, Harris joined the pride march organized by a local Washington organization with her husband, Doug Emhoff.

The two walked among the participants for a few meters, and greeted those who cheered them from the sidewalks in the center of the capital, where Pride Month inspires many celebrations every year.

“Happy (pride) month!” Harris exclaimed to the enthusiastic crowd, before stopping and delivering a more elaborate message.

“We need to make sure our transgender community and our youth are protected. We still need employment and housing protections. There is still a lot of work to be done, and I know that we are committed ”, he underlined.

The Vice President spoke this way shortly after US President Joe Biden made a statement on the fifth anniversary of the worst attack on the LGTBQ + community in US history, the shooting that killed 49 in the Press of Orlando Florida gay nightclub).

In his statement, Biden called for increased gun control and highlighted the “particular impact of gun violence on LGTBQ + communities,” in addition to condemning “the epidemic of violence and hatred against transgender women. , especially transgender women who are not white ”.

At least 44 transgender or non-binary gender people were shot or killed by other means in the United States in 2020, the deadliest year for this group in the past decade; and 28 others have similarly died so far in 2021, according to the Human Rights Campaign (HRC).

Biden asked the Senate to “swiftly” approve the equality law, already passed by the House of Representatives last February and which would ban “discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation and gender identity” in public spaces and in social programs funded by the federal government. fundss.

The Biden administration has emphasized diversity in the federal government, and the White House noted on Tuesday that 14% of all presidential appointments were identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was the first openly gay cabinet secretary confirmed by the Senate, and Dr. Rachel Levine, Deputy Secretary of Health at the Department of Health and Human Services, was the first openly transgender federal official confirmed by the Senate.

Biden’s perspective on gay rights has evolved over his decades. While in the ’90s he voted for the Defense of Marriage Act, blocking federal recognition of same-sex marriages, and for cutting federal funds to schools that taught acceptance of homosexuality, as vice president, he was the most senior Democrat who initially supported same-sex marriage in 2012, revealing his position in a TV interview. In fact, he is credited with pushing President Barack Obama to voice his support for same-sex marriage days later.

Biden’s decision to support same-sex marriage, after years of saying he believed marriage was between a man and a woman, was seen as a turning point for the country’s leaders on LGBTQ issues.

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