Biden Condemns Anti-Trans Violence, Discrimination
Former veep touts Democrats LGBTQ platform, decries Trump attacks on community
BY MATT TRACY
Democratic presidential
nominee Joe Biden
posted a written statement
on his campaign
website October 17 doubling down
on his calls to end nationwide violence
and discrimination facing
transgender individuals, criticizing
President Donald Trump for
his administration’s attacks on the
LGBTQ community, and outlining
some of his own plans to improve
the lives of queer Americans.
Biden used the statement to
expand on some of the points he
made when answering a pair of
questions about queer issues at an
October 15 town hall event during
which he vowed to undo Trump’s
multiple executive actions targeting
trans and non-binary Americans
and acknowledged the rising
death toll of transgender women of
color.
The 33 recorded deaths this year
already represent the the most on
record for transgender or non-binary
Americans, and the victims
have disproportionately consisted
of Black transgender women. The
previous annual record was 32
deaths in 2017.
“These deaths don’t exist within
a vacuum,” Biden said on his campaign
➤ DUELING TOWN HALLS, from p.6
the question directly then it would
draw attention, then saying he is
“not a fan” of it, before fi nally giving
a long-winded answer explaining
that “it depends on how this turns
out, not how he wins, but how it’s
handled… it depends on how much
they rush this.”
When pressed by ABC moderator
George Stephanopoulos whether
he is open to expanding the
court if a Barrett vote is held before
the election, he said, “I’m open
to considering what happens from
that point on,” and he vowed to offer
a more defi nitive answer ahead
of election day.
Meanwhile, Trump’s town hall
event in Miami did nothing to quell
Former Vice President Joe Biden is calling attention to the violence and discrimination facing transgender
individuals, especially Black transgender women.
website. “Dehumanizing
government actions and rhetoric
as well as a failure to address risk
factors like domestic and intimate
partner violence, underemployment
and unemployment and poverty,
housing insecurity and health
disparities, put this community at
risk.”
The former vice president continued,
“From banning transgender
the fears of voters who have been
horrifi ed by his refusal to condemn
white supremacy.
With a tone of exasperation,
the president — badly in need of
some momentum with less than
three weeks until election day —
got defensive when asked about
that issue by moderator Savannah
Guthrie as he abruptly blurted
out, “I denounce white supremacy,
okay?”
That reprieve from extremism
didn’t last long. Shortly thereafter,
Trump was asked to disavow
QAnon, the far-right conspiracy
theory that falsely warns of some
Satanic child-traffi cking ring out
to get President Trump.
“I know very little,” Trump said.
REUTERS/ TOM BRENNER
patriots from serving their country,
to attempting to limit transgender
people’s access to health
care in the midst of a pandemic,
to literally erasing the word transgender
from government websites,
President Donald Trump and Vice
President Mike Pence have fueled
the fl ames of transphobia in our
nation while refusing to acknowledge
the epidemic of violence.”
“You told me, but what you tell me,
doesn’t necessarily make it fact. I
hate to say that. I know nothing
about it. I do know they are very
much against pedophilia. They
fi ght it very hard. But I know nothing
about it.”
He then pivoted, adding, “I’ll tell
you what I do know about. I know
about Antifa, and I know about the
radical left, and I know how violent
they are and how vicious they are.
And I know how they are burning
down cities run by Democrats, not
run by Republicans.”
Trump then returned back to
QAnon, saying, “What I do hear
about it, is they are strongly against
pedophilia. And I agree with that.
I mean, I do agree with that and I
POLITICS
Biden also elaborated on some
of his own plans to help improve
the lives of transgender Americans
following four years under Trump,
whom he described as unfi t to take
on the epidemic of deadly transgender
violence because he does
not “recognize it as a fact” and fails
to “believe in the humanity and
dignity of transgender people.”
“As President, I will put forward
comprehensive solutions to help
empower the transgender and
gender non-conforming community
and prioritize the prosecution
of anti-transgender violence,”
Biden added. “My administration
will enact the Equality Act to end
legal discrimination against LGBTQ+
people, expand economic
opportunities for LGBTQ+ people,
reform our treatment of transgender
and gender non-conforming
individuals in our criminal justice
system, ensure access to accurate
identifi cation documents, and improve
government data collection
to better track violence against the
transgender community.”
He concluded his statement with
a simple message of solidarity with
transgender Americans.
“I believe that Trans Lives Matter
and, as president, I will fi ght on
behalf of every vulnerable person
in this country,” Biden said.
agree with it very strongly.”
The Trump town hall also featured
perhaps the line that will
best be remembered from the 2020
campaign. When asked to explain
why he retweeted a ludicrous conspiracy
theory that Biden was involved
in a cover-up of the “faked”
killing of Osama bin Laden, the
president said, “I’ll put it out there,
people can decide for themselves.”
NBC’s Savannah Guthrie responded,
“I don’t get that. You’re
the president — you’re not like
someone’s crazy uncle who can
just retweet whatever!”
Biden and Trump are slated to
face off in the fi nal presidential
debate at 9 p.m. on October 22 in
Nashville, Tennessee.
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