POLITICS
Dems Talk LGBTQ Issues in Substantive Town Hall
On CNN, most candidates comfortable discussing queer causes; Biden, hosts stumble
BY MATT TRACY
Former Vice President Joe
Biden talked about gay
bathhouses, Senator Kamala
Harris of California
shared her preferred personal
pronouns, and out gay South Bend
Mayor Pete Buttigieg opened up
about his own coming out experience
during an eventful, nationally
televised CNN town hall dedicated
to LGBTQ issues on October 10.
The town hall, hosted in conjunction
with the Human Rights Campaign,
marked the second time in
as many months that Democratic
presidential candidates participated
in a question-and-answer
session specifi cally about queer issues,
but this was notably the fi rst
one amplifi ed to a broad national
audience.
The discussion represented a
rare occasion when Americans
in every part of the country were
exposed to LGBTQ issues and offered
a glimpse into some aspects
of queer life that are seldom visible
in the mainstream, such as
one moment when out gay CNN
host Anderson Cooper explained
to viewers that U=U means those
with undetectable viral loads cannot
transmit HIV. But the town
hall also became a refreshing platform
for transgender activists who,
on multiple occasions, utilized the
spotlight to amplify anger and frustration
about the violent targeting
of black trans women and the general
marginalization of trans folks
just one day after it was revealed
that 29-year-old Itali Marlowe became
the 19th known transgender
woman to be murdered in America
this year.
At one point, Blossom C. Brown,
a black trans woman who fi rst expressed
her frustration on Twitter
that black trans folks were being
excluded from the unfolding discussion,
grabbed a microphone
and said, “I don’t want to take this
away from you, but let me tell you
something. Black trans women
are being killed in this country
and CNN you have erased black
trans women for the last time... I
Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, seen here with CNN’s Dana Bash, talked about racial disparities in
HIV rates and treatment during his time onstage.
Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, interviewed by CNN’s Chris Cuomo, showed her sense of
humor when she said that a man who opposes same-sex marriage should “just marry one woman…
assuming you can fi nd one.”
am tired. I am just so tired. It’s not
just my black trans women; it’s my
black trans brothers, too. And I’m
going to say what I’m going to say.”
And, in yet another revealing
sign of how rarely trans issues
are discussed in the mainstream,
CNN hosts had moments they’d
like to forget: Chris Cuomo responded
to Harris indicating her
preferred pronouns by jokingly
saying, “She, her, and hers? Mine
too,” and on a separate occasion,
Anderson Cooper referred to trans
folks as “transgendered.” (Cuomo
later apologized for making light of
Harris’ comment.)
Nonetheless, many of the candidates
CNN
CNN
appeared to be more comfortable
than ever when discussing
the issues of the night. Buttigieg
offered personal stories about
coming out, describing it as a “civil
war… because I knew I was different
long before I knew I was gay.”
He also underscored the discriminatory
nature of the Food and
Drug Administration’s ban on gay
men from donating blood when he
said “my blood is not welcome” in
the United States.
Senators Cory Booker of New
Jersey and Elizabeth Warren of
Massachusetts appeared relatively
prepared for their questions, and
Warren even sprinkled in some
lighter moments, like when she responded
to a question about marriage
equality by saying that men
who oppose same-sex nuptials
should “just marry one woman.
I’m cool with that — assuming you
can fi nd one.” Without hesitation,
she admitted that she was wrong
when she said in 2012 that genderaffi
rming surgery for a prison inmate
would be a poor use of taxpayer
dollars. She did not, however,
directly answer a question about
the issues that disproportionately
affect LGBTQ people of color.
Booker, on the other hand, did
just the opposite: He illustrated racial
disparities that have negatively
impacted communities of color
in the fi ght against HIV/ AIDS.
When the New Jersey senator was
asked a question about PrEP, he
mentioned that he lives in a “lowincome
black and brown community”
and stressed that communities
of color, where preventive
treatment is most needed, have
the greatest diffi culty accessing
it. While he was once criticized for
taking money from big pharma, he
voiced a tough stance toward the
pharmaceutical industry, saying
that it is “unacceptable” that drug
companies “are going to profi t in
this way.”
Biden, meanwhile, drifted far off
track when asked about racial disparities
in HIV/ AIDS. He veered
into talking points about LGBTQ
acceptance nationwide and said,
“Remember, Anderson, back 15 or
20 years ago we talked about this
in San Francisco, it was all about
gay bathhouses, it was all about
round-the-clock sex, come on,
man. Gay couples are more likely
to stay together longer than heterosexual
couples.”
The context of those words leaves
much to the imagination.
Harris, who earned praised for
announcing her pronouns, repeated
a story she has often told about
her time as district attorney of
San Francisco when she brought
prosecutors from around the nation
there to train them on how to
➤ CNN LGBTQ FORUM, continued on p.5
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