Walz Warns Of Risk To LGBTQ Rights In HRC Speech

Politico reports:

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz sharply criticized Sen. JD Vance’s response to this week’s school shooting in Georgia, telling an LGBTQ+ advocacy group Saturday evening that such events are “not a fact of life.” Vice President Kamala Harris, Walz and Democrats have fiercely condemned Vance’s comments about the shooting after he responded to a reporter’s question Thursday by saying: “I don’t like that this is a fact of life.”

On Saturday evening, Walz recalled Vance’s comments as he addressed the Human Rights Campaign, a major LGBTQ+ advocacy group, during its annual dinner in Washington. “It’s a fact of life some people are gay. But you know what’s not a fact of life? That our children need to be shot dead in schools,” Walz said. “That’s not a fact of life,” he added. “Folks are banning books, but they’re okay with weapons of war being in our schools.”

The Washington Blade reports:

The governor invited the crowd to applaud for Judy and Dennis Shepard, who were in attendance, adding that the room was full of “heroes” like them who had, in ways both big and small, endeavored “to make people’s lives a little bit easier.”

Walz began his speech by highlighting the many ways in which Vice President Kamala Harris has fought “every single day on the side of the American people,” relentlessly working to expand rights and protections for the LGBTQ community throughout her career and promising to build on this legacy if she is elected president in November.

“As the DA of San Francisco, Vice President Harris took one of the toughest stances in the nation against hate crimes,” he said. “She led the fight against the hateful gay and transgender panic defense.”

The Associated Press reports:

Walz recounted how he taught social studies and coached football at a Minnesota high school in the 1990’s — and was unexpectedly approached by a student asking him to serve as the faculty adviser of the Gay-Straight Alliance.

He also outlined a litany of Harris’s achievements on LGBTQ+ issues, recalling an episode in when, as attorney general of California, she had to personally call a Los Angeles clerk who was declining to issue marriage license to same-sex couples.

He urged the crowd to work to help elect Harris, outlining what could happen if Trump got a second term in the White House. Trump’s policy proposals would “restrict freedom, bully this community, demonize vulnerable children,” Walz said.

The full speech is worth your time.