Bay Area's own Kamala Harris accepts Dem nomination for president

  • by John Ferrannini, Assistant Editor
  • Friday August 23, 2024
Share this Post:
Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, second from left, her vice presidential running mate Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, and their spouses, Doug Emhoff, left, and Gwen Walz, clasped their hands in a unity message after Harris' speech at the Democratic convention in Chicago August 22. Photo: From C-SPAN
Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, second from left, her vice presidential running mate Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, and their spouses, Doug Emhoff, left, and Gwen Walz, clasped their hands in a unity message after Harris' speech at the Democratic convention in Chicago August 22. Photo: From C-SPAN

Vice President Kamala Harris reintroduced herself to the American people as a daughter of the Bay Area and defender of the country's values as she accepted the Democratic nomination for president at the closing day of the party's convention in Chicago August 22.

As expected, she included support for the LGBTQ community in her acceptance speech. While she never said the words gay or transgender, Harris voiced her support of marriage equality while listing a number of rights she vowed to protect as president.

"In this election, many other fundamental freedoms are at stake. The freedom to live safe from gun violence — in our schools, communities, and places of worship. The freedom to love who you love openly and with pride," said Harris. "The freedom to breathe clean air, drink clean water, and live free from the pollution that fuels the climate crisis. And the freedom that unlocks all the others. The freedom to vote."

Harris, California's former junior U.S. senator, California attorney general, and San Francisco district attorney, also used her speech to recount her remarkable journey to this moment; she'd be the first Black woman, first South Asian, and first woman president if elected.

It was the culmination of a surprising turn of events that started just a month ago, when President Joe Biden withdrew from his reelection campaign and endorsed Harris to succeed him. She quickly gathered support, as party members rallied around her.

"It was mostly my mother who raised us," Harris said. "Before she could finally afford to buy a home, she rented a small apartment in the East Bay. In the Bay, you either live in the hills or the flatlands. We lived in the flats, a beautiful working-class neighborhood of firefighters, nurses, and construction workers — all who tended their lawns with pride."

Harris said it was there that she learned "community, faith, and the importance of treating others as you would want to be treated — with kindness, respect, and compassion."

When a school friend named Wanda confided in the future vice president that she'd been sexually abused by her stepfather, Harris offered Wanda to come live with her. It was that moment that inspired Harris to become a prosecutor, she said.

"Every day in the courtroom, I stood proudly before a judge and I said five words: 'Kamala Harris, for the people,'" Harris said. "And to be clear — and to be clear, my entire career, I've only had one client: the people."

Harris contrasted her experience with former president and Republican nominee Donald Trump.

"Just imagine Donald Trump with no guardrails," Harris said. "And how he would use the immense powers of the presidency of the United States not to improve your life, not to strengthen our national security, but to serve the only client he has ever had: himself."

Harris, a longtime advocate for LGBTQ rights, promised to protect "the freedom to love who you love openly and with pride." She also pledged support for voting rights reform, the bipartisan border deal scuttled by Republicans earlier this year, a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, codifying Roe v. Wade, and largely continuing Biden's foreign policy.

"I will never hesitate to take whatever action is necessary to defend our forces and our interests against Iran and Iran-backed terrorists," she said. "I will not cozy up to tyrants and dictators like Kim Jong Un, who are rooting for Trump — who are rooting for Trump because, you know, they know — they know he is easy to manipulate with flattery and favors. They know Trump won't hold autocrats accountable because he wants to be an autocrat himself. ... I know where I stand and I know where the United States belongs."

Harris' speech was widely praised by LGBTQ delegates and others from the Bay Area who were in attendance. The Bay Area Reporter has been following their convention journeys.

Lesbian Carolyn Wysinger, an El Cerrito city councilmember and convention delegate, stated in an email to the B.A.R. August 20 that "as a Black LGBTQ working class woman who was raised in the Bay Area by a single mother, nothing will top seeing a Black woman accept the nomination of a major party for president. A Black woman from Oakland took the most unlikely of paths to gain the support of the entire Democratic Party and has the chance to hold the highest office in the land."

Wysinger, one of only a handful of LGBTQ Black female officeholders in the Bay Area, added that this contrasts with those who've told her Black women aren't electable.

"The political community of the Bay Area and beyond is always telling Black women, you talk too much, you are too aggressive, you can't raise money and every other reason they can think of to remind us we aren't electable," Wysinger stated. "Instead our entire party coalesced behind a Black woman and she WILL become the 47th President of the United States."

Bisexual delegate South San Francisco Mayor James Coleman praised Harris' speech.

He wrote in an email that Harris "portrayed herself as a strong, capable, and empathetic candidate, as opposed to Trump's unserious Republican Party."

"It was emphasized that much of Trump's actions — killing their own conservative immigration bill, inciting violence on Jan. 6 [2021], and refusing to act on gun violence — is as unserious as it is dangerous," Coleman added. "The election of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz to the White House will undoubtedly be a big leap forward for the entire country, and especially for the LGBTQ community."

Walz, the Democratic governor of Minnesota, was selected by Harris to be her vice presidential running mate. He gave his own powerful acceptance speech August 21.

Perhaps the most memorable part of his remarks was the reaction of his 17-year-old son, Gus, applauding in the audience and yelling, "That's my dad!" Gus is neurodivergent and his parents have talked about what they call his "superpower."

"Hope, Gus, and Gwen, you are my entire world and I love you," Walz said to his children and wife after discussing fertility issues solved by use of treatments.

"I'm letting you in on how we started a family because this is a big part about what this election is about: freedom," Walz added. "When Republicans use the word freedom, they mean that the government should be free to invade your doctor's office. ... But when we Democrats talk about freedom, we mean the freedom to make a better life for yourself and the people that you love."

A video introducing Walz said that when he was a teacher and football coach, he elected to be faculty adviser to the school's gay-straight alliance as a way to combat prejudice.

A powerful moment just before Walz took the stage was the emergence of members of the high school football team he coached to a state championship — complete with the men wearing their old jerseys.

Nancy Tung, current chair of the San Francisco Democratic Party and a former colleague of Harris' at the DA's office, stated to the B.A.R. August 23 that she "thought the vice president's speech brought home all of the themes that were woven through the last four days — hope, optimism, kindness, the importance of character, and how she will work for the American people. She was clear and precise with her delivery, and presidential."

Honey Mahogany, a Black queer trans delegate who until earlier this year was chair of the San Francisco Democratic Party, stated August 22 that "there is clearly a lot of love in the house, and we are excited to see VP Harris become our first woman president."

Mahogany is now the director of the San Francisco Office of Transgender Initiatives.

LGBTQs, Californians make their case for Harris

Local and LGBTQ politicians made their mark in the closing days and hours of the convention. Lateefah Simon, a longtime friend of Harris' who's on the BART Board of Directors and is running to represent Oakland in the U.S. House of Representatives, was given a prime-time speaking slot August 21.

"I saw Kamala Harris holding the hands of sexual-assault survivors," Simon, an ally, said. "I saw scores of mothers who lost their babies to gun violence, lining up day after day at the courthouse, waiting only to speak to Kamala because they knew that she would hear them. She hears your story, she carries it with her. When she sees you, she truly sees you."

So, too, was Pete Buttigieg, a gay man who is currently secretary of transportation after his surprising run for the Democratic presidential nomination four years ago. He ripped into GOP vice presidential nominee JD Vance's comments that people without children don't have a "physical commitment to the future of this country."

"When I deployed to Afghanistan, I didn't have kids then, many of the men and women who went outside the wire with me didn't have kids either," Buttigieg said. "But let me tell you, our commitment to the future of this country was pretty damn physical."

Tung stated that she "really appreciated Buttigieg's speech and the way he discussed an optimistic future for America" and "got a little choked up."

"It was particularly poignant," Tung stated, when he said, "'And yet, the makeup of our kitchen table, the existence of my family, is just one example of something that was literally impossible as recently as 25 years ago, when an anxious teenager growing up in Indiana wondered if he would ever find belonging in this world.' But then he points to the change that can occur in a short time, and hints at what is possible because of the character of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz."

U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-California), who replaced Harris in the Senate after she became vice president, talked about the American dream in his August 22 remarks.

"I knew and I had some big Chuck Taylors to fill," he joked, referring to Harris' choice of casual footwear, continuing that "I was proud to carry on legislation that she championed to protect workers, to safeguard public lands, to provide kids with more access to quality education."

Congressmember Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), the former House speaker, didn't talk about her role in the ticket swap that led to Harris replacing Biden at the top of the ticket when she gave remarks August 21. She did, however, thank the president, saying his was "one of the most successful presidencies of modern times," before saying Harris is "ready to take us to new heights."

Protests fizzle

Demonstrators against America's support for Israel promised a massive mobilization in Chicago, reminiscent of the disastrous 1968 Democratic National Convention. Those plans fizzled, and despite months of Democrats receiving criticism over anti-Israel protests, parents of an American being held hostage by Hamas spoke at the convention August 21 and were greeted with "bring them home" chants and thunderous applause.

Rachel Goldberg-Polin and Jon Polin talked about their son, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a 23-year-old dual citizen of the U.S. and Israel who was born in Berkeley and was attending the Tribe of Nova music festival on October 7, 2023, when his arm was reportedly blown off and he was taken captive by Hamas.

"This is a political convention," Jon Polin said. "But needing our only son — and all of the cherished hostages — home is not a political issue. It is a humanitarian issue."

Tyler "Tye" Gregory, a gay man who is executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council Bay Area, was attending the convention wearing a yellow ribbon pin meant to highlight the hostage crisis.

"It was incredibly heartwarming to hear the love Hersh's parents received yesterday," he told the B.A.R. August 22. "I think the hostage families and all Jewish Democrats are feeling much more confident in the party's support."

Delegates uncommitted to Harris lodged a protest as to why a Palestinian voice was not given the opportunity to speak. Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, who grew up in Gaza City and was one of the subjects of a series of B.A.R. reports on the war and related issues, stated on X that "there were several attempts to get me on the DNC stage to speak and share a message of healing and unity — all were unsuccessful."

Alkhatib stated that "several allies connected to the entirety of the web of leadership that makes decisions on speaker slots had strongly recommended I be able to speak," but that he "chose not to be in Chicago unless I had a productive role to play" because he was "concerned by some of the loud voices that are doing the Palestinian cause a disservice with their rhetoric, choices, threats, and unhelpful tones."

Harris had met with leaders of the uncommitted group — who were protesting the Biden-Harris administration's support for Israel in the conflict with Hamas in Gaza — before the convention. Her more balanced tone has led groups like the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club to endorse her in the general election, despite rescinding an endorsement for her boss in the Democratic primary, as the B.A.R. reported.

Harris brought that tone to bear in her acceptance speech.

"I will always stand up for Israel's right to defend itself — and I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself, because the people of Israel must never again face the horror that a terrorist organization called Hamas caused on October 7 —- including unspeakable sexual violence and the massacre of young people at a music festival," she said. "At the same time, what has happened in Gaza over the past 10 months is devastating. So many innocent lives lost. Desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety, over and over again. The scale of suffering is heartbreaking. President Biden and I are working to end this war, such that Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom, and self-determination."

GOP responds

California Republican Party Chairwoman Jessica Millan Patterson issued a statement after Harris' speech perplexed at why a California Democrat should be nominated for president considering the state's widely reported, intractable problems.

"National Democrats have bafflingly looked at California, the state with high unemployment, an exorbitant cost of living, a homeless crisis, a porous border and rampant crime, and said yes please, let's do that to the whole country," Patterson stated. "For two decades, California radical Kamala Harris and her extreme, far-left agenda have devastated those she was elected to serve, and her record of failures should be an automatic disqualifier for our nation's highest office."

But California Assemblymember Matt Haney (D-San Francisco), who attended the convention, told the B.A.R. August 22 that "it's been an incredible week to be a Californian and an incredible week for our country."

Tung wants San Francisco party faithful to know that "we are looking to create space and opportunities for people to engage, as we do not want to leave anything to chance this election cycle."

"People have indicated a strong interest in working on federal races this fall, including supporting Kamala Harris," the party chair stated. "More details to follow."

Never miss a story! Keep up to date on the latest news, arts, politics, entertainment, and nightlife.

Sign up for the Bay Area Reporter's free weekday email newsletter. You'll receive our newsletters and special offers from our community partners.

Support California's largest LGBTQ newsroom. Your one-time, monthly, or annual contribution advocates for LGBTQ communities. Amplify a trusted voice providing news, information, and cultural coverage to all members of our community, regardless of their ability to pay -- Donate today!