Democrat Tim Walz square off during the CBS News vice presidential debate moderated by CBS Evening News anchor and managing editor Norah O’Donnell and Face the Nation moderator and chief foreign affairs correspondent Margaret Brennan. Photo: Jack Gruber, Jack Gruber / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Yesterday, Democratic vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz defended transgender rights at length during his appearance on the We Can Do Hard Things podcast.
During the discussion, co-host Abby Wambach discussed Walz’s sponsorship of a gay-straight alliance while he worked as a school teacher in the 1990s. She said, “Well, thank you Governor Walz so much for protecting, even in the late ’90s, queer kids. And so I have to ask, what will a Harris-Walz administration do to protect our queer kids today?”
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Walz promptly responded by discussing possible actions that he and Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris could take, such as advocating for LGBTQ+ people, opposing hate crimes, and increasing education. He also talked of judges.
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“We need to appoint judges who uphold the right to marriage, uphold the right to be who you are, making sure that’s the case, uphold the right to get the medical care that you need,” Walz said. “We should not be naive. Those appointments are really, really important. I think that’s what the vice president is committed to.”
“We see it now: The hate has shifted to the trans community,” Walz said. “They see that as an opportunity. If you’re watching any sporting events right now, you see that Donald Trump’s closing arguments are to demonize a group of people for being who they are.”
“We’re out there trying to make the case that access to healthcare, a clean environment, manufacturing jobs, and keeping your local hospital open are what people are really concerned about,” he continued. “They’re running millions of dollars of ads demonizing folks who are just trying to live their lives.”
He then talked about the struggles of coming out for queer kids and how that can entirely change a family’s politics.
“Look, you’re reaching a lot of folks in hearing this, and for some people, [their anti-LGBTQ+ prejudice is] not even out of malice and it’s not a pejorative; it’s out of ignorance,” he said. “They maybe have not been around people. You’ve all seen this, however it takes you to get there. But I know it’s a little frustrating when you see folks have an epiphany when their child comes out to them.”
Harris made a similar though shorter defense of trans people in her recent interview with Fox News’ Brett Baier. He had pressed her on the issue of trans rights, but she pivoted to talk about how she’ll enforce current laws protecting trans people and added that most Americans do not care about trans issues, making them a distraction from more pressing topics.
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