More than 25,000 LGBTQs and allies from across the country raised over $300,000 for Vice President Kamala Harris' presidential campaign in a virtual rally Thursday organized by the Human Rights Campaign that included a who's-who of out leaders.
In other news, Harris received the coveted endorsement of former President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, early Friday morning and released her first campaign ad. The one-minute ad, titled "Freedom," uses the Beyoncé song from her 2016 "Lemonade" album and includes a shot of people waving rainbow flags in a nod to the LGBTQ community.
It also showed a mugshot of her rival, Republican former President Donald Trump and headlines from his conviction on 34 felony counts as she says, "No one is above the law." Republicans nominated Trump as their presidential candidate for a third time at their recent convention in Milwaukee.
The HRC virtual rally, dubbed "Out for Kamala Harris LGBTQ+ Unity Call," featured dozens of speeches from celebrities, elected officials, and a couple of young trans kids who, even as they acknowledged they would not be old enough to vote in the November 5 election, nevertheless voiced support for Harris.
In addition to the money raised, HRC reported that it had signed up 1,500 campaign volunteers.
Harris became the presumptive Democratic nominee last Sunday, July 21, after President Joe Biden announced he was withdrawing from his reelection campaign and endorsing her. Since then, Harris has lined up endorsements from hundreds of Democratic officeholders and has secured enough verbal commitments from delegates to clinch the nomination. The Democrats will hold their nominating convention beginning August 19 in Chicago, though there is expected to be a virtual nomination for Harris — and her as yet undetermined running mate — by August 7.
On the call, HRC President Kelley Robinson, a queer Black woman, highlighted the importance of mobilizing for Harris.
"This moment matters," she said. "Because in this time, we're not just choosing between two candidates. We are choosing between two different futures for our country. Two different futures for our kids. ... In this moment, we're going to ensure that love triumphs over hate. That hope triumphs over fear. That joy is available to every single one of us."
Mawuli Tugbenyoh, a gay man who's co-chair of the Alice B. Toklas LGBTQ Democratic Club in San Francisco, spoke on the call and told viewers that the club was the first to endorse Harris back in 2003 when she ran for district attorney. That race featured a runoff between Harris and incumbent DA the late Terence Hallinan, which Harris won.
"We've known Kamala Harris for a long time," Tugbenyoh said, noting her work as DA to end the gay/trans panic defense in criminal cases. As California's attorney general, Harris refused to defend Proposition 8, the anti-same-sex marriage law that voters passed in 2008. It was eventually ruled unconstitutional by federal courts, a ruling that the U.S. Supreme Court let stand, and same-sex marriage returned to the Golden State in 2013, with Harris performing the first one at San Francisco City Hall.
"When she talks about defending reproductive rights, I believe her," Tugbenyoh said. "When she says she'll defeat Donald Trump and Project 2025, I believe her."
Project 2025 is an authoritarian blueprint drafted by Trump's supporters at the Heritage Foundation that would take the country back to the 1950s. Its language demonizes LGBTQ people and would roll back many rights if its proposals were implemented, critics contend. Trump has tried to distance himself from the document but many of his former officials had a hand in preparing it.
Rufus Gifford, a gay man who's a former ambassador to Denmark, is the finance chair of the Harris campaign. (He also served as finance chair for the Biden campaign until Biden dropped out.) He acknowledged that he and others were struggling over the last few weeks as Biden's campaign hit a rough patch following his disastrous debate performance against Trump June 27. That all changed with Biden withdrew and decided to "pass the torch" to Harris, he said.
"I saw the unprecedented surge in support Sunday to Tuesday night," he said.
Gifford said he would not release current campaign finance figures, other than to say that $130 million had been raised in those first couple of days, as has been reported. He was confident that with events like the HRC call and similar large online calls that have occurred with Black women, Black men, and white women, combined with numerous other donations and the Biden campaign's war chest, the Harris campaign would be competitive.
"We're going to be well-funded," he said.
U.S. Senator Laphonza Butler (D-California) also spoke. "It's incredible what's happening across the country," she said.
Governor Gavin Newsom appointed Butler, a lesbian, after the death last fall of senator Dianne Feinstein (D). She is the second Black woman to represent the Golden State in the U.S. Senate — Harris was the first — and the first LGBTQ person to do so. Butler subsequently decided she would not seek election to a full six-year term and will serve until early January when the new Congress is seated.
She thanked Biden for his leadership. "He should be an inspiration — to put personal egos aside and put people ahead," she said. "His full-throated endorsement of California daughter Kamala Harris shows the kind of person he is."
"The vibe of what is taking place is electric," Butler added. "This is our moment; this is our time. LGBTQs are going to make the difference."
She also referenced her choice not to seek election. "When I made the decision not to run I made a commitment to the people of California, even knowing my time was 14 months, to not count the days but make the days count. Make every minute count. Move this country to its next level of excellence."
Celebrities speak out
The call also featured numerous LGBTQ celebrities. George Takei, of "Star Trek" fame and a gay longtime leader, joined the call with his husband, Brad.
"We were dedicated to supporting Joe Biden," Takei said. "When he made that magnanimous decision to pass the baton to his vice president, we were enthusiastically supporting her."
At the end, he gave the famous "live long and prosper" line and the Vulcan salute, which was the beginning of a mini "Star Trek" theme with two other speakers.
Gay actor Zachary Quinto, who played Spock in several "Star Trek" films, also did the salute at the end of his comments.
"I'm so excited for this moment and so aware of what we're facing," Quinto said. "I think about all our coming out stories. For me, this is a moment of rising above fear."
Gay Latino actor Wilson Cruz, who was in "Star Trek Discovery," appeared with HRC call co-hosts Brandon Wolf, national press secretary, and Nik Harris, vice president of strategic outreach. Cruz said he had just arrived from the vice president's residence where he was attending a Latino event that had been planned before Harris entered the presidential race.
"It's going to take all of us," he said. Everything is on the line. I'm voting for Kamala Harris because she sees us. She talks about us in rooms we're not in."
"Live long and prosper," he added.
Queer actor Sophia Bush and her girlfriend, former pro soccer player Ashlyn Harris, phoned in from Paris, where it was 4 a.m. and they were preparing to attend Olympics events. Hope Giselle, a transgender woman and author, also joined the call, saying she supports Harris because of "freedom."
Don't forget other races
Several speakers pointed to the need for voters not to forget about down ballot races. In addition to keeping control of the Senate, Democrats need to pick up a handful of seats to flip control of the House of Representatives. That would give Harris the means to implement her policies if she's elected, the speakers noted.
Lesbian comedian Dana Goldberg quipped that she was a "childless cat lady" — a reference to 2021 comments by GOP vice presidential running mate Senator JD Vance (Ohio) in which he said the country was run "via the Democrats, via our corporate oligarchs by a bunch of childless cat ladies." Harris was among those he identified, even though she has two stepchildren. Gay Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was also named. In an interview with CNN, Buttigieg said that at the time of Vance's comments, he and his husband, Chasten, had just "been through a fairly heartbreaking setback in our adoption journey."
"He couldn't have known that, but maybe that's why you shouldn't be talking about other people's children," added Buttigieg, who's reportedly being considered to be Harris' running mate. Buttigieg and his husband are now the parents of 3-year-old twins.
Goldberg then got serious.
"As a white woman, we've got to support our Black sisters," she said. "Vote down ballot for a pro-equality House and extend the lead in the Senate."
Lizette Trujillo and her son Daniel, 16, who is trans, joined the call from Arizona.
"I'm hopeful and fired up," Lizette Trujillo said. "Vote down ticket."
Daniel Trujillo said he was grateful to HRC. He came out at age 9, and said he's excited about the Harris campaign and hopes she wins.
Delaware state Senator Sarah McBride (D), a transgender woman who's running for Congress and would make history as the first out trans member if elected, has been close to the Biden family for 15 years. She had worked on the campaign of Biden's son, the late Beau Biden, when he was Delaware attorney general.
"I thank Joe Biden. He ran in 2020 to save democracy and is passing the torch to Kamala Harris," McBride said.
She explained this is a "critical moment" for the LGBTQ community.
"Donald Trump and JD Vance's Project 2025 seeks to manufacture culture wars," she said.
And she was critical of the Republicans' efforts prior to their convention to hint that the country would be seeing a "new," gentler Trump as the confab took place just days after the assassination attempt on him in Butler, Pennsylvania.
"He's the same old trust fund baby," she said, adding he governed by pettiness during his first term.
McBride also noted the long-stalled Equality Act, which would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to add anti-discrimination protections for sexual orientation and gender identity.
"Choose freedom over fear," McBride said, "and build on the progress of the Biden-Harris administration. Keep the Senate and flip the House to pass the Equality Act and finally get it to the president's desk."
The recording of the call can be viewed on HRC's YouTube channel.
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