Former Vice President Joe Biden,
Senator Elizabeth Warren, and South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete
Buttigieg were among the 10 Democratic presidential candidates who
attended GLAAD's LGBT forum on Friday.
The event, co-hosted by GLAAD, One
Iowa, The Gazette, and The Advocate, featured
candidates discussing LGBT issues. Also in attendance were Senators
Amy Klobuchar, Kamala Harris and Cory Booker, former Secretary of
Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro, Representative Tulsi
Gabbard, former Representative Joe Sestak, and author Marianne
Williamson.
(Related: Pose
star Angelica Ross to host GLAAD's Democratic presidential forum.)
In his interview, Biden pledged to sign
the Equality Act into law as president and ban therapies that attempt
to alter the sexual orientation or gender identity of lesbian, gay,
bisexual, and transgender people. Biden also said he would reverse
executive orders signed by President Donald Trump related to
Obamacare and LGBT healthcare.
“Every LGBTQ person, as well as
anyone else, should be able to have full healthcare without any
limitation. No doctor can deny you. No hospital can tell you you
can't get the service. It is simply against the law when I'm
president,” Biden said.
In his opening remarks, Buttigieg
pledged to “end the war on trans Americans coming from this White
House” and sign the Equality Act the moment it “hits” his desk.
He also suggested that Secretary of
Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson should be fired for comments
he made about transgender people. On Thursday, during a visit to San
Francisco, Carson, who has a history of opposing LGBT rights,
cautioned against “big, hairy men” trying to infiltrate women's
homeless shelters.
“Let me tell you, if anybody, let
alone a cabinet member, in my administration spoke the way that the
secretary of Housing and Urban Development spoke yesterday about
trans people, that would be their last day in federal service on my
watch,” Buttigieg
said.
Warren, in her opening remarks, named
the 18 transgender women of color who have been murdered this year.
“Eighteen trans women of color who
have been killed so far this year. It's time for a president of the
United States of America to say their names,” she said to a
standing ovation.
CNN
and HRC will host a prime-time LGBT presidential town hall on October
10.
(Related: At
presidential LGBT forum, Queer Eye's Karamo Brown says Trump
not an LGBT ally.)