US: 7 Takeaways From the LGBTQ Presidential Forum

In an ideal world, debate moderators would realize that roughly 10 million Americans identify as LGBTQ—and they would ask candidates important questions about issues like the transgender military ban or the Equality Act in front of a national audience. But instead, we have an imperfect world where moderators routinely fail to ask basic questions about LGBTQ topics whenever potential future presidents are on stage. Even in debates that are longer than The Lord of the Rings movies, LGBTQ issues go unaddressed. Sometimes it feels like we don’t even exist!

GLAAD President Sarah Kate Ellis took the media to task for those omissions in her opening remarks at Friday night’s historic LGBTQ Presidential Forum in Cedar Rapids, Iowa: “To date,” Ellis observed, “the 2020 Democratic debates have virtually left LGBTQ people and our issues out of the conversation. But that all changes tonight.”

But like any big change, this one won’t happen overnight. The forum, hosted by Pose actress and transgender activist Angelica Ross, was indeed a breath of fresh air, given our past erasure. For two hours, LGBTQ issues were front and center—and 10 Democratic presidential addressed them. No doubt this was a historic affair full of firsts. The candidates talked about LGBTQ topics ranging from discrimination in the foster care system to non-binary identity documentation to the FDA’s ban on blood donations from gay and bisexual men—all of which would be mere footnotes in other presidential debates, if they were brought up at all.

Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Elizabeth Warren, and Julián Castro were predictably impressive.

Senator Cory Booker talked passionately about the importance of PrEP, science-based sex education, and criminal justice reform. Mayor Pete Buttigieg shared a moving anecdote about realizing that—as a gay man and mayor of South Bend, Indiana—he couldn’t participate in his own annual blood drive, although he stopped short of promising to end the FDA’s ban on blood donations from men who have sex with men.

Senator Elizabeth Warren opened her remarks by reading the names of the transgender people who have been lost this year, announcing, movingly, “It is time for a president of the United States to say their names.” Warren went on to quote scripture in one of the more transfixing moments of the evening. And although Julián Castro might not be quite as powerful as an orator as these other three candidates, he spoke from a place of deep knowledge about important LGBTQ issues like asylum-seeking and homelessness. It’s clear that, for perhaps the first time in history, we have Democratic presidential candidates who have read up on the ins and outs of LGBTQ issues, and are eager to prove that they would best serve the community. Read more via NewNowNext