With the 2020 presidential election coming up, Americans are faced with the decision of electing who will be their new leader for the next four years. With the numerous debates that have already happened and the many more to come, citizens must decide who they want to support and who they want to represent their country. Democrats and Republicans are preparing their candidates for the upcoming election, and it’s important that the American public exercise their right to vote.
As an LGBTQ+ citizen, life is not always easy, and the government is not always fair to us. We create a large minority that isn’t as represented as much as other people think. Discrimination is still abundant in today’s America and it will not go away, as long as nothing is done to stop it.
There’s a lot of information in the media about what’s best for America and who is the greatest candidate, and it can get confusing. I’m here to help simplify it and aim it directly at you: the out and the proud.
A Continued Support of LGBTQ+ Rights
A good candidate for an LGBTQ+ person would have to have a continued support of LGBTQ+ rights. Although it is nice to have support from a political candidate in general, a continued support is important because it allows for more trust in a candidate as well as showing that a candidate has not had to change in the past years due to a more progressive shift in society.
A Continued Support of Women’s Rights
Another critical thing is a candidate that support women’s rights. It important for a woman to be able to decide what she wants to do with her body and for her to be able to support herself without fear of harassment or discrimination. According to The Williams Institute, 58% of the LGBTQ+ population in the Untied States is female, so having women be supported and equal are vital to the community.
Support Towards the Funding of Planned Parenthood
Continuing off the subject of what a woman can do with her body, an ideal candidate must support Planned Parenthood and what it does. Although Planned Parenthood is known for their abortion services, they also provide education on sexual orientation and gender identity, as well as services to help transgender patients transition.
Healthcare that Covers Gender-Confirming Surgeries
Lastly, this candidate’s healthcare plan would have to include covering gender affirming procedures. Top surgery for both FTM and MTF would cost at most around ten thousand dollars, while bottom surgery could be thirty thousand dollars, or even as much as 150,000. These are expensive procedures to pay for out-of-pocket, and having them covered does wonders for many transitioning individuals.
An important thing to note is that I cannot acknowledge any other issue that may concern you. I can only judge who would be a good candidate strictly based on being LGBTQ alone, however I do encourage you to do other research on more issues.
Unfortunately I am also not able to cover every candidate (because there are twelve Democrats and three Republicans as of when I’m writing this), so I’ve decided to talk about the three main Democratic candidates: Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden, and Bernie Sanders.
I think it’s obvious when I say that I’m not covering Donald Trump, the current president and top Republican candidate. Due to his homophobia and transphobic acts and bans throughout his presidency, it is clear to see that he is not a good candidate for the LGBTQ+ community.
Elizabeth Warren
Elizabeth Warren is known for her “I have a plan” strategy having a plan for almost everything. If you go to her website, you can see for yourself the myriad number of plans that she has to offer. The plan that I focused on was her “Securing LGBTQ+ Rights and Equality” plan. She states that she is a supporter of LGBTQ+ rights and describes the many actions she will take as president, such as a nationwide ban on conversion therapy, banning the discrimination against sexual and gender identities in adoption agencies and the child welfare system, and making schools a safer place for LGBTQ+ students.
Warren shows her extensive knowledge on the topic with numerous hyperlinks and research spread throughout the page. She provides graphs and goes in depth into the steps required to accomplish her goals. She makes sure what she aims to do is very clear and thorough to avoid confusion and goes through several possibilities.
Another thing Warren does well is covering multiple issues, not just the big ones. While she does talk about LGBTQ+ discrimination in the workplace and in school, she also talks about the murders of transgender women of color, healthcare that covers gender reassignment surgery, and improving research for HIV/AIDS.
All of this is only a small fraction of what Elizabeth Warren discusses in her plan. Although her plans are quite extensive and are a lot to read, they provide specific information on the things she promises to accomplish.
My Evaluation:
Elizabeth Warren has been known to support the LGBTQ+ community (as mentioned in her LGBTQ equality plan), and has fought for women’s rights throughout her career. Further down in her plan, she has an entire section dedicated towards “inclusive, and gender-affirming healthcare”. According to the Planned Parenthood website, Elizabeth Warren does support their organization, as well as abortion access and calls Title X and the Hyde Amendment calling them “an assault” and “an ugly attack”. Elizabeth Warren would be considered a good candidate for those in the LGBTQ+ community.
Joe Biden
In terms of who the public wanted to run most, Joe Biden was their number one. The former Vice President was hesitant to join the election at first, but eventually decided that something needed to be done about the current United States government. If you open his website, you can find information on him and the main issues he aims to fix when in office. Unlike Elizabeth Warren’s website, however, you cannot find specific plans for each individual issue, meaning you have to search elsewhere (like I did).
As far as his opinions on LGBTQ+ rights go, Biden makes the claim that he supported same sex marriage before President Obama. On the website for The Biden Foundation, it says that he plans to continue to fight for equality and build upon the progress he has already made. He does not go into detail on what he specifically plans to do, and it is hard to find details on some of the plans he has in progress, unlike the other candidates, who have their plans easily laid out.
Joe Biden does support Planned Parenthood and available abortion access, according to Planned Parenthood’s website. He also has a plan set to help end violence against women, which includes prevention services in colleges and K-12 schools, creating a national task force for online harassment and abuse, and ensuring a legal advocate for every victim.
Joe Biden puts his focus mainly into rebuilding the middle class and building a better international reputation for the United States. Although he does have a plan for women’s rights, he does not have a visible plan available on LGBTQ+ issues on his campaign or foundation website.
My Evaluation:
Although Joe Biden says that he does support the LGBTQ community, he provides no plan addressing LGBTQ+ issues on his campaign website. According to a New York Times article, Biden has voted in favor of the Defense of Marriage Act, the military “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, and has called the openly homophobic Vice President Mike Pence a “decent guy”. Looking past that, his healthcare plan does support full funding of Planned Parenthood and abortion access. His healthcare plan mentions that anyone can get healthcare regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity, but does not mention whether or not it covers gender affirming surgeries.
I believe that Joe Biden is a worthy candidate with his active role in women’s rights and support of Planned Parenthood, however it is unclear on how far he intends to support the LGBTQ+ community. If you are willing to look past his former actions, then I would say that Joe Biden is a good candidate for you. If you are not, however, then maybe Joe Biden is not someone who can represent you.
Bernie Sanders
Bernie Sanders is the oldest candidate running for President in this election. He calls himself a socialist democrat, and falls more left on the political scale than the other candidates do. Building upon his plans and experience from running in the 2016 election, he has gained a bigger following and believes he will make it to the primaries.
On his website, it is very easy to navigate where his plans are. The issues are listed very clearly and provide summaries as well as details to what he plans to do. Another thing Sanders does that is unique to his website compared to the others is provide his records with the issue in the past.
In his plan titled “Fight for LGBTQ+ Equality”, he discusses his Medicare For All plan, which would cover gender affirming surgeries and mental health/suicide prevention. He also plans to pass the Equality Act and Every Child Deserves a Family Act to lessen discrimination against LGBTQ+ people, as well as oppose legislation that preserves “religious liberty at the expense of others’ rights.”
Bernie Sanders supports women’s rights and in his plan titled “Fight for Women’s Rights” he plans to repeal the Hyde Amendment to fully fund Planned Parenthood and Title X, which protect a woman’s right to choose. He also plans to pass an act to close the gender pay gap called the Paycheck Fairness Act.
My Evaluation:
Bernie Sanders is known for being very progressive, so it came to no surprise to me to find his history of LGBTQ+ support. According to his website, he has been supporting gay rights since before 1983 during a local pride parade. On his website he has a history of supporting women’s rights as well, and goes into detail about his upcoming plans for women’s rights, including fully funding Planned Parenthood and other initiatives that provide safe, legal abortions and contraceptions. In his LGBTQ plan, he does include gender-affirming surgeries as part of his Medicare for All plan. All of this and more render Bernie Sanders as a good candidate for the LGBTQ+ community.
Conclusion
Of course, the decision of who you vote for is ultimately up to you. However, if their view on LGBTQ+ rights is the only thing that you are basing your vote off of, then I believe you have two certain options. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are both qualified candidates that support and have plans for women’s rights and LGBTQ+ rights. They know exactly what they want to do and are prepared and ready to accomplish it. I wouldn’t consider Joe Biden as a certain option because of his rocky past with same sex marriage and his lack of LGBTQ+ inclusive details in his plans.
The decision is ultimately up to you, and all I can tell you is to vote for a candidate who you feel can represent you and your needs properly.
Simply Political 