A few of the Democratic presidential candidatesU.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris, as well as openly gay South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigiegreleased their LGBTQ+ platforms, coinciding with the LGBTQ+-focused CNN town hall that took place Oct. 10.
Warrenwhose campaign page is entitled "Security LGBTQ+ Rights and Equality"said she would fight to pass the Equality Act; "prevent the weaponization of religion to discriminate against or harm LGBTQ+ people;" work to expand affirmative civil rights testing for anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination; and aim to ban discrimination against sexual orientation and gender identity in our adoption agencies and child welfare system, among other items.
Harris' platform, per her campaign website, starts with a condemnation of current President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, "who has a clear record of promoting hate and discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community." Among the LGBTQ+-related goals she stated were ensuring that questions about the LGBTQ+ community are included in the census; enforcing federal civil rights laws that protect LGBTQ+ individuals; and, intriguingly, establishing a chief advocate for LGBTQ+ affairs in the White House.
Buttigieg released his plan, "Becoming Whole: A New Era for LGBTQ+ Americans," a policy that aims to bring people together to break down the walls of exclusion and secure full equality for the LGBTQ+ community. Buttigieg's plan covers issues of equality, health, youth and families, community, justice, honor and leadership.
Among other things, his platform would end conversion therapy; end youth homelessness as part of a comprehensive housing agenda; ban medically unnecessary surgeries on intersex infants and children; and celebrate LGBTQ+ history and culture, including by expanding the representation of LGBTQ+ people and history in our National Parks System.