National Center for Transgender Equality Action Fund endorses Joe Biden for president
Transgender advocacy organization says Biden is "the advocate and president we need at this consequential moment"
The National Center for Transgender Equality Action Fund has endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden’s presidential bid.
The national advocacy organization representing the interests of transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals decided to endorse Biden, who has called transgender rights the “civil rights issue of our time,” due to his longtime advocacy for nondiscrimination legislation, open military service, and protecting access to health care. Biden has also denounced violence directed against transgender individuals, particularly transgender women of color.
“Joe Biden is the advocate and president we need at this consequential moment. He has the temperament, the experience and wisdom to lead our country,” Mara Keisling, the executive director of the NCTE Action Fund, said in a statement. “Throughout his career in public service, work as a private citizen through the Biden Foundation, and now his campaign to lead our nation, Biden has demonstrated his commitment to transgender people and the LGBTQ community.
“Biden has a strong agenda for addressing the issues that face transgender Americans, a record of getting big ideas done during his time as Vice President in the Obama-Biden administration and a history of ensuring that transgender people are protected, including protections for transgender women as part of the reauthorization of the landmark Violence Against Women Act he authored,” Keisling added. “With Joe Biden, we know we will be engaged, we will be seen, and we will not be erased.”
See also: Trump administration poised to rewrite Obamacare, without LGBTQ protections
Keisling says the endorsement decision was also based on Biden’s answers during NCTE Actions Fund’s “Transform the White House” candidate interview series.
“The idea that someone can tell you that you can’t be who you are in your heart and soul is just wrong,” Biden said during the interview.
NCTE also contrasted Biden’s record on LGBTQ issues with President Trump’s record on transgender rights.
“The Trump administration is really the discrimination administration,” Keisling said. “President Trump has attacked transgender health care, put transgender students unnecessarily at risk and led a consistent and unrelenting effort to rollback protections for LGBTQ Americans. Joe Biden is the clear choice for president of the United States, and the NCTE Action Fund is proud to endorse him.”
Reggie Greer, the LGBTQ+ vote director for the Biden campaign, said the candidate was “deeply honored” to have NCTE Action Fund’s endorsement.
“NCTE Action Fund has done trailblazing work to change the landscape of America, educate and lobby elected leaders, and empower and mobilize transgender people to ensure their voices are heard at the ballot box,” Greer said in a statement. “That record, and network to countless voters on the ground, is especially crucial in this time of uncertainty and upheaval.
“With six months until Election Day, this is an all hands on deck situation,” Greer added. “Now with the NCTE Action Fund standing by our side, we couldn’t be more equipped in our mission to build a diverse coalition of voters to take on, and beat Donald Trump this November.”
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