In a recent interview, former Vice
President Joe Biden criticized President Donald Trump's attacks on
the LGBT community.
Trump has reinstated a ban on
transgender people serving in the military and withdrawn guidance
that allowed transgender students to use the bathroom of their choice
in public schools. His Department of Justice (DOJ) has repeatedly
argued that current federal workplace protections do not apply to
people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender.
(Related: Trump
admin sides with archdiocese that fired gay teacher.)
“He's eviscerated so many basic civil
rights,” Biden said in an interview with Mara Keisling, the
executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality
and its political arm, the NCTE Action Fund.
“Why does he do that?” Keisling
asked.
“I don't know that he has a
philosophy. I think that he just decides that he's going to appeal to
people who, from white supremacists to homophobic people who think he
can easily rile them up and get their support. I don't know. I can't
get into another man's or woman's mind, but I know it's wrong.”
“I mean, it's morally wrong. And it's
wrong for the country. It's wrong for who we are as a people,”
Biden
added. “We're all created equal.”
Biden also said that people of faith
should support LGBT rights.
“We're all God's children. Who is to
judge you, whether or not you’re lesbian, gay, or trans? Who is to
make that judgment, especially if it’s done from your heart? The
idea that someone can tell you that you can’t be who you are in
your heart and your soul is just wrong. That’s the sin. The sin is
not being LGBTQ. The sin is not allowing you to be who you are in
your heart,” he said.
Biden promised that as president he
would “protect every single right.”