Joe.My.God. LGBT News
Melissa McCollister: Good evening, vice president. I am an LGBTQ member and I have trans individuals in my family. Recent anti-LGBTQ bills have been signed into law all around this United States, including here in Iowa.
So far, in 2023, 15 transgender individuals and gender nonconforming people have been murdered. The vast majority of those people have been Black and Latinx transgender women. It is very hard for me to ask these questions after just hearing what I heard. What is your policy plan to protect the transgender community, specifically Black and brown trans women from historically high levels of violence?
Mike Pence: Well, Melissa, let me say I’m deeply grieved to hear about those tragic circumstances, and I hear your heart, and I’m moved by your emotion, I truly am. I’m a Bible-believing Christian. I have particular views of these matters and you have a different view of those, perhaps, but I want you to know I believe in the freedom of religion, I believe in the freedom of conscience, I believe in the right of every American to live, to work, to worship according to the dictates of their conscience and I’ll respect that. But I hope you also hear my heart on this.
For me, what adults do in their lives, decisions that they make, including transgender adults, is one thing, but for kids under the age of 18— there’s a reason why we don’t let you drive ’til you’re 16. In the state of Indiana, you can’t get a tattoo until after you’re 18, you can’t drink until after you’re 21, that’s because we understand that kids don’t fully understand the consequences of their actions …
When it comes to surgical or chemical procedures, I just— I really believe that we’ve got to protect our kids from decisions that will affect them, the balance of their lives, while at the same time saying adults can make decisions according to the dictates of their own conscience.
McCollister: I am a social worker. I’ve been in this profession for 25 years. I have worked with kids most of my profession. I started an LGBTQ youth program in my own hometown, I started one in Terre Haute, Indiana, where I was threatened with KKK and Xs on my doorstep, and that was in 2020. I have worked with kids as young as five years old that have gender-nonconforming and identities that are transgender, and I’ve raised one. And so to hear somebody tell me that it’s not okay for young children to make decisions about their gender identity and to ask their school officials for support, protection, and help is appalling.
Pence, obviously, dodged the question. Watch the clip.