POLITICS=
Biden Takes on LGBTQ Issues, Trump Defends QAnon
Dueling town halls replace debate with less than three weeks until November election
BY MATT TRACY
In one town hall, former Vice
President Joe Biden vowed
to unravel the anti-LGBTQ
actions of President Donald
Trump. In the other town hall,
Trump frantically claimed ignorance
about far-right conspiracy
theorists before letting it slip that
he knows specifi c details about
them and actually agrees with
them.
The pair of contrasting live
events on October 15 were intended
to replace the presidential debate
slated the same night, which was
scrapped after Trump refused to
participate in a virtual debate following
his diagnosis of COVID-19.
Over the course of a town hall
that spanned topics including foreign
policy, race, court-packing,
and more, Biden was asked two
questions on LGBTQ issues at the
National Constitution Center in
Philadelphia.
One of those questions came
from a mother with a transgender
daughter who laid out multiple
ways in which the Trump administration
has assailed the rights of
transgender and non-binary individuals
nationwide. She asked how
Biden, as president, would “reverse
this dangerous and discriminatory
agenda and ensure that the lives
and rights of LGBTQ people are
protected under US law.”
“I will fl at-out just change the
law,” responded Biden, who noted
that he would “eliminate” Trump’s
executive actions against queer
rights.
The former vice president then
segued into a story he has told on a
regular basis, though the anecdote
drifted away from the challenges
of transgender Americans. He recalled
a time during his youth
when he and his father witnessed
a same-sex couple hug and kiss
each other.
“My dad said, ‘Joey, it’s simple.
They love each other,’” Biden said.
Biden proceeded to express
some well-intended points about
respecting transgender individuals,
though he stumbled with offkey
Former Vice President Joe Biden enters the stage for a town hall at the National Constitution Center in
Philadelphia on October 15.
language that failed to affi rm
the reality that trans people typically
do not wake up one day and
“decide” to be transgender.
“The idea that an eight-year-old
child or a 10-year-old child decides,
‘You know, I decided, I want to be
transgender; that’s what I think I’d
like to be, it would make my life a
lot easier,’ there should be zero discrimination,”
Biden said.
But he notably went on to bring
attention to the alarming pattern
of deadly violence facing transgender
women of color across the nation
during a year that has already
broken records for murders of nonbinary
and transgender individuals.
PAUL SCHINDLER
__________________________
FOUNDING EDITOR-IN-CHIEF & ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER
GAY CITY NEWS
REUTERS/ TOM BRENNER
“What’s happening is too many
transgender women of color are being
murdered,” Biden said.
The Democratic presidential
nominee inaccurately guessed the
known death toll of transgender
individuals this year, saying, “I
think it’s up to 17.”
The woman who asked the question
reminded him that the number
is actually greater. The death
toll jumped up to 33 in the days
before the town hall.
“So I promise you there is no reason
to suggest that there should
be any right to deny your daughter
that your other daughter has a
right to be and do,” Biden said.
Biden informed the woman that
his late son Beau, who spent eight
years as attorney general of Delaware,
served at a time when the
state passed a transgender rights
law.
Another question during the
town hall came from a man who
asked the former vice president
about LGBTQ rights in the context
of the Supreme Court — a question
that holds particular relevance in
the midst of the confi rmation process
surrounding anti-LGBTQ
Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals
Judge Amy Coney Barrett.
Biden was asked, “What do you
say to LGBTQ Americans and others
who are very worried right now
about erosions of their rights and
our democracy as a whole?”
“I think there’s great reason to
be concerned for the LGBT community,
something I fought very
hard for, for a long time, to make
sure there’s equality across the
board,” Biden said in response.
Biden also used that answer to
emphasize that the conservativeleaning
imbalance on the Supreme
Court could pose a threat to the
Affordable Care Act in a matter of
weeks.
“I think that, also, health care
overall is very much in jeopardy
as a consequence of the president’s
going to go directly — after this
election — directly to the Supreme
Court within a month to try to get
Obamacare wiped out, after 10 million
people have already lost their
insurance from their employer and
wants to take 20 million people out
of the system as well, plus 100 million
people with preexisting conditions,”
Biden said.
Biden again mostly dodged
questions about whether he supports
packing the Supreme Court,
an issue that has loomed larger
over the political landscape in light
of the inevitable 6-3 conservative
majority on the Supreme Court
once Barrett is confi rmed.
Biden rambled about the issue,
fi rst saying if he answered
➤ DUELING TOWN HALLS, continued on p.7
October 22 - November 4,6 2020 | GayCityNews.com
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