Biden Campaign Ramps Up LGBTQ Outreach
Former veep aims to use digital tools to rally queer support ahead of November election
BY MATT TRACY
Former Vice President Joe
Biden’s campaign has assembled
an LGBTQ steering
committee, fl eshed
out its queer platform, and fortifi ed
its get-out-the-vote effort in a bid to
ensure the community turns out
for him come election day — especially
in pivotal swing states.
The campaign’s renewed turnout
push coincides with a wave of
fi erce resistance to President Donald
Trump on display during protests
calling for major change following
the police killing of George
Floyd in Minneapolis, but also
restrictions on public gatherings
that have forced the campaign to
make adjustments.
A key piece of a new campaign
announcement on LGBTQ issues
is a “digital toolkit” to facilitate
“Out for Biden” virtual gatherings.
The kit encourages folks to create
a list of on-the-fence friends, family
members, and co-workers, and
connect with them through video
chat platforms to rally support
for Biden. The toolkit also offers
templates for social media posts,
emails, and text messages; “I’m
on Team Joe” Pride avatars; and
other Biden Pride graphics. The kit
invites supporters to “share your
#OutforBiden story.”
“Out for Biden is a national
GOTV get out the vote initiative
aimed at engaging LGBTQ+ and
pro-equality voters, identifying
and registering LGBTQ+ voters in
key battleground states,” the campaign
website states.
➤ SCOTUS RALLY, from p.6
ing While Trans” ban in the upper
house, and out lesbian former City
Council Speaker Christine Quinn.
Importantly, even the Gay Liberation
Front — which capitalized
on the momentum of the Stonewall
Uprising and led the formation of
the 1970 Christopher Street Day
Liberation March — was represented
with a sign that read “GAY
LIBERATION FRONT.”
Former Vice President Joe Biden, speaking this month in Delaware, hopes that LGBTQ voters can be a
pivotal and unifi ed bloc in helping ensure his victory in November.
The Biden campaign also posted
an LGBTQ policy page playing
up the former vice president’s accomplishments
on queer issues,
including his announcing support
for marriage equality days before
President Barack Obama himself
decided to voice his own endorsement
in 2012. While Biden supports
many queer rights initiatives,
he has a mixed record overall: He
once backed the implementation of
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and on an issue
that has caught on dramatically
among activists, he does notsupport
decriminalization of sex work
— an issue that disproportionately
affects trans women of color.
But Biden supports the Equality
Act, a comprehensive LGBTQ nondiscrimination
The rally attracted a crowd of
queer folks and allies alike, including
those who rolled in on
bicycles and others who brought
their dogs.
Some other folks in the audience
brought signs, too, and nearly everyone
donned face coverings to
prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Max Chen, who was looking
on from the Christopher Street
sidewalk, said he wanted to go to
REUTERS/ JIM BOURG
measure, wants
to drop the ban on transgenders
troops imposed by Trump, and intends
to reinstate protections for
homeless individuals, students,
and incarcerated folks who are
trans. Among other key pledges, he
would eliminate laws criminalizing
HIV-positive people for sexual conduct
and include trans folks in entrepreneurial
training programs.
Biden is also vowing to “improve
access to quality healthcare” and
“ensure coverage for comprehensive
care for LGBTQ+ Americans,”
though that is complicated by his
opposition to single-payer Medicare
for All at a time when many Americans
continue to struggle to afford
even basic healthcare needs.
Stonewall so he could celebrate the
landmark ruling alongside other
LGBTQ folks.
“It’s awesome, though it’s still
crazy that equality is a thing that
is political in 2020,” Chen told Gay
City News. “It should have happened
a long time ago.”
On the other side of the crowd,
neighborhood resident Bruce Poli
said he wanted to drop by Stonewall
to witness history for a second
time.
ELECTION 2020
And, of course, Biden will face off
against an incumbent Republican
who has attacked the LGBTQ community
on a broad range of fronts,
including the ability to serve in the
military, protections for LGBTQ
students, student-athletes, and
transgender Americans generally,
religious carve-outs from anti-bias
protections, and Trump’s position
— contrary to this week’s Supreme
Court ruling — that sexual orientation
and gender identity are not
protected classes under the 1964
Civil Rights Act.
The campaign unveiled a steering
committee consisting of a nationwide
slate of elected offi cials
and leaders, with several of them
hailing from key swing states.
The list includes Wisconsin Senator
Tammy Baldwin, Florida State
Representative Shevrin Jones,
Pennsylvania State Representatives
Malcolm Kenyatta and Brian
Sims, Virginia State Delegate
Danica Roem, New York Congressmember
Sean Patrick Maloney,
and Minneapolis City Council Vice
President Andrea Jenkins. Others
on the list include Human Rights
Campaign president Alphonso
David, National Center for Transgender
Equality executive director
Mara Keisling, and TransLatin@
Coalition CEO and president Bamby
Salcedo.
Biden has gained ground on
Trump recently, padding his lead
among registered voters in multiple
polls in the last month. A June
9 New York Times analysis of a
half-dozen polls indicates continued
sliipage by the president.
“I was down here and gave a
big hug to Don Lemon on the day
when marriage passed,” Poli said.
“This, though, was an enormous
surprise and decision. The fact
that Supreme Court Justice Neil
Gorsuch, a conservative, would do
this now, is remarkable, because
this actually affects people’s lives
in huge ways.”
He added, “Against everything
that’s happened, fi nally, something
positive.”
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