Vice President Kamala Harris.
Flickr/Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson
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Since announcing her presidential candidacy, Vice President Kamala Harris has garnered support from LGBTQ leaders and groups, some of whom are reminded of her work on queer issues during her previous tenure.
The Vice President’s illustrious public career, which included serving as San Francisco district attorney, California attorney general and U.S. senator before becoming vice president, is inextricably intertwined with the trajectory of LGBTQ rights in recent decades.
For example, as San Francisco’s district attorney, Harris performed some of the city’s first same-sex marriages when then-Mayor Gavin Newsom ordered marriage licenses to be issued to LGBTQ couples in 2004. But that historic development was short-lived when a court order ruled those marriages invalid.
Harris continued to advocate for LGBTQ rights during her seven-year tenure as district attorney, establishing a hate crimes unit focused on LGBTQ youth in schools and convening a national conference of prosecutors to discuss ways to combat the use of the gay and transgender “panic defense,” in which a defendant defends their actions by claiming they acted because of a victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
As Attorney General, Harris did not defend Proposition 8, a ballot proposition and state constitutional amendment that would have made same-sex marriage illegal, and in March 2011 she filed a petition with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals seeking to repeal Proposition 8.
As a U.S. senator, Harris co-sponsored legislation such as the federal LGBTQ anti-discrimination bill known as the Equality Act, and received a perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign’s scorecard for taking actions such as sending a letter to then-President Donald Trump along with more than a dozen other senators calling on his administration to stop removing LGBTQ resources from the Department of Health and Human Services website and other federal websites.
But Harris has faced criticism for some of her actions as attorney general, particularly during the 2020 presidential campaign. Some progressives have been uncomfortable with her history in law enforcement, while she also came under fire for previously rejecting the request of Michelle Rael-Norseworthy, a transgender woman serving time in prison, who wanted gender reassignment surgery.
Rael Norsworthy sued, accusing the state of failing to provide her with adequate medical care, and a federal judge ordered the state to allow the procedure. Judge Harris argued, saying Rael Norsworthy “has been receiving hormone therapy for gender dysphoria since 2000 and continues to receive hormone therapy and other treatments today…There is no evidence that Ms. Norsworthy is in serious, imminent physical or psychological danger.”
In response to a question from the Washington Blade at a press conference in 2019, Harris attempted to explain her decision on the matter, saying, “As you correctly point out, I served two terms as attorney general of the state of California and had numerous clients that I was obligated to defend and represent, and I could not fire my clients. Unfortunately, a situation arose where my clients took a position that was contrary to my beliefs.”
She added, “And it was an office with a lot of people who work every day. Was there ever a time when I wished they had consulted with me personally before writing? Yes, there were. But at the end of the day, I am responsible and I take full responsibility for what my office did.”
During the 2020 presidential campaign, Harris pledged to open a new office of queer issues, which would be led by someone she called the “chief White House advocate for LGBTQ+ issues.” During the campaign, Harris told The Root that she supported decriminalizing sex work, but warned that “it’s not that simple.”
“But when we’re talking about consenting adults, I think we really should take into consideration that we can’t criminalize consensual behavior as long as no one is being harmed,” she said.
During her 2020 campaign, Harris also pledged to take steps to decriminalize HIV infection and lower the cost of the HIV prevention drug known as PrEP.
As vice president, Harris will once again have a front-row seat to LGBTQ history when President Joe Biden signs the Respect Marriage Act of 2022, which states must recognize same-sex and interracial marriages even if the Supreme Court takes aim at marriage equality. Harris and others spoke at a special ceremony to sign the bill into law before the president signed the bill into law and presented Harris with a pen in recognition of her years of work toward marriage equality.
Last year, Harris visited the Stonewall Inn to denounce attacks by state legislatures on transgender rights across the country.
Notably, on the same weekend that Biden announced he was dropping out of the race, Harris was fundraising in the LGBTQ hotspot of Provincetown, Massachusetts.
“I know that the fight for LGBTQ rights is a fundamental fight for freedom,” Harris told the audience at a July 20 event co-hosted by Brian Rafanelli and her husband, Mark Walsh, according to the Cape Cod Times. “We should be able to love and be openly and proudly and be our true selves. We should be free from discrimination and from bigotry and from hatred. Just the freedom to be.”
