LGBTQ Leaders Condemn Trump Running Mate J.D. Vance

metroweekly.com:

anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and policy,” GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement that also chastised national media outlets for dismissing LGBTQ people and concerns as somehow not legitimate.“LGBTQ Americans are taxpayers, family members, colleagues, classmates, neighbors and friends, and our concerns are the same as any Americans: our freedom to be ourselves to live in safety and dignity, the right to make private health care decisions, read books of our choosing, marry who we love, and not be discriminated against for who we are,” Ellis continued.Vance has a history of making inflammatory, combative statements on various issues.With respect to LGBTQ rights, Vance opposes marriage equality, nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people, and in vitro fertilization, which is crucial to helping many LGBTQ couples form families.

He has dismissed transgender identity as not real, introduced legislation to criminalize doctors who assist transgender youth in accessing gender-affirming treatments, and advocated for Florida-style “Don’t Say Gay” laws, calling those who disagree with him “groomers.”“This is the most consequential election of our lifetimes, and with Donald Trump’s decision today to add J.D.

Vance to the Republican ticket, the stakes of this election just got even higher,” Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison said in a statement.“J.D.

Vance embodies MAGA — with an out-of-touch extreme agenda and plans to help Trump force his Project 2025 agenda on the American people,” Harrison added.” Vance has championed and enabled Trump’s worst policies for years… Let’s be clear: A Trump-Vance ticket would undermine our democracy, our freedoms, and our future.”The National LGBTQ Task Force similarly.