Biden condemns ‘cruel’ wave of state legislation to restrict LGBTQ2 rights – National | 24CA News
President Joe Biden on Thursday condemned a wave of “cruel” and “callous” state laws curbing the rights, visibility and well being care entry of LGBTQ+ individuals, whereas inflicting the group to really feel underneath assault for being who they’re.
“These are our kids. These are our neighbors. It’s cruel and it’s callous,” Biden mentioned at a White House news convention with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. “It matters a great deal how we treat everyone in this country.”
Biden commented hours after the White House postponed a big Pride Month celebration with 1000’s of company Thursday night time on the South Lawn due to poor air high quality from hazardous air flowing in from Canadian wildfires.
He known as on lawmakers to go laws defending the civil rights of LGBTQ+ people.
“Congress must pass, must pass the Equality Act and send it to my desk,” Biden mentioned of a legislative measure he had named a high precedence throughout his 2020 marketing campaign.
The president then spoke on to LGBTQ+ Americans, particularly kids. “You’re loved, you’re heard and this administration has your back,” he mentioned.
Biden additionally described new initiatives the administration introduced Thursday to guard LGBTQ+ communities from assault, assist younger individuals with psychological well being points and homelessness, and counter ebook bans, although the consequences could also be restricted.
Thousands of company had been invited from across the nation for a night stuffed with meals, video games and different actions on the South Lawn. Queen HD the DJ was dealing with the music, and singer Betty Who was on faucet to carry out.
But the nation’s capital by late morning Thursday was underneath a “code purple” air high quality alert, the fifth-highest stage on the six-level U.S. air high quality index, with authorities recommending that everybody restrict their publicity to the hazardous smoke wafting south from Canada. District of Columbia faculties canceled all out of doors actions for a second day Thursday, and the National Zoo additionally closed.
The White House initially resisted altering its plans for the celebration, saying there have been no adjustments, even because the air high quality steadily worsened alongside the East Coast on Wednesday and into Thursday.
Karine Jean-Pierre, the primary overtly homosexual White House press secretary, mentioned Wednesday that Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and their spouses are sturdy supporters of the LGBTQ+ group and suppose a celebration is a vital approach to “lift up” their accomplishments and contributions. She mentioned LGBTQ+ individuals have to know Biden “has their back” and “will continue to fight for them. And that’s the message that we want to make sure that gets out there.”
The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest advocacy group for lesbian, homosexual, bisexual, transgender or queer people, earlier this week declared a state of emergency for LGBTQ+ people within the United States and launched a guidebook outlining legal guidelines it deems discriminatory in every state.
Just a couple of days into June’s Pride Month, the marketing campaign mentioned it acted in response to an “unprecedented and dangerous” spike in discriminatory legal guidelines sweeping statehouses this 12 months, with greater than 525 anti-LGBTQ+ payments launched and greater than 70 signed into regulation to this point — greater than double final 12 months’s quantity.
Kelley Robinson, the marketing campaign’s president, known as for a “swift and powerful” response by individuals in energy, together with in authorities, business and training.
“This is a full-out crisis for our communities that demands a concerted response,” she mentioned in an interview with The Associated Press. “I think this is kind of a national call to action and a call to arms to stand up and fight back.”
Biden, a Democrat, introduced that the Department of Homeland Security, working with the Justice and Health and Human Services departments, will associate with LGBTQ+ group organizations to supply security assets and coaching to assist thwart violent assaults.
Separately, HHS and the Department of Housing and Urban Development will present assets to assist LGBTQ+ younger individuals with psychological well being wants, help in foster care and homelessness.
To confront a spike in ebook bans, the Department of Education’s civil rights workplace will appoint a brand new coordinator to work with faculties to deal with that menace. The White House mentioned banning books erodes democracy, deprives college students of fabric wanted for studying and might contribute to the stigma and isolation that LGBTQ+ youth really feel as a result of books about them are sometimes those which might be prohibited.
The White House factors to Biden’s help for lesbian, homosexual, bisexual, transgender and queer people. He has appointed many to outstanding positions within the White House, similar to Jean-Pierre, and all through the federal authorities. He signed laws to guard marriage equality and continues to induce Congress to ship him the Equality Act, which might add civil rights protections for LGBTQ+ people to federal regulation.
Polls present public help for the rights of people who find themselves homosexual and lesbian has expanded dramatically over the past 20 years, with about 7 in 10 U.S. adults in polling by Gallup saying that marriages between same-sex adults ought to be legally legitimate and that homosexual and lesbian relationships are morally acceptable.
But attitudes towards transgender individuals are complicated: In polls carried out in 2022 by KFF and the Washington Post and by the Pew Research Center, majorities mentioned they help legal guidelines prohibiting discrimination in opposition to transgender individuals in areas similar to housing, jobs and faculties.
At the identical time, each polls discovered {that a} majority of Americans suppose that whether or not somebody is a person or a lady is set by intercourse assigned at start, and plenty of additionally help restrictive insurance policies aimed toward people who find themselves transgender, for instance stopping transgender girls and ladies from taking part in sports activities groups matching their gender id, together with restrictions on entry to medical remedy like puberty blockers and hormone remedy for transgender teenagers and kids.
—Associated Press writers Emily Swanson in Washington and Hannah Schoenbaum in Raleigh, N.C., contributed to this report.
