Photo: TASOS KATOPODIS / POOL / EFE
For: EFE
WASHINGTON – Vice President Kamala Harris surprised the participants this Saturday in a march on the occasion of LGBTQ + pride month by joining their ranks during part of the tour, in addition to advocating for better protection for transgender people in the country.
Dressed in a pink jacket and a T-shirt with the slogan “Love is love” ( “Love is love”), Harris joined the pride march organized by a local Washington organization with her husband, Doug Emhoff.
Both walked among the participants for a few meters, and greeted those who cheered from the sidewalks in the center of the capital, where pride month annually inspires many celebrations.
The @ VP and @ SecondGentleman are on the move at Capital Pride 🌈 pic.twitter.com/F 27 RxDaoHJ
– Peter Velz (@PeterVelz 49) June 25, 2021
“Happy (pride) month!” Harris exclaimed to those who cheered, before stopping and delivering a more elaborate message.
“We have to make sure that our transgender community and our youth are protected. We still need protections related to employment and housing. There is much more work to do, and I know we are committed ”, he stressed.
VP Kamala Harris wished everyone a Happy Pride and said there is still so much more to do. @ 7NewsDC pic.twitter.com / 6npvHY 95 Kz
– Justin Hinton (@justinhintontv) June 12, 2021
The Vice-President spoke as follows shortly after President Joe Biden released a fifth anniversary statement of the worst attack against the LGTBQ + community in US history, the shooting that left 49 killed in the gay nightclub Pulse in Orlando (Florida).
In his statement, Biden called for increased gun control and highlighted “the particular impact of armed violence in LGTBQ + communities”, in addition to condemning “the epidemic of violence and hatred against transgender women, especially transgender women who are not white.”
At least 44 transgender or gender non-binary persons were shot or otherwise killed in the United States in 2020, the most lethal year for this group in the last decade; and others 28 have passed away in the same way so far from 2021, according to the organization Human Rights Campaign (HRC).
Biden asked the Senate to “quickly” approve the Equality Act, already endorsed by the House of Representatives last February and that would prohibit “discrimination on grounds of sex, sexual orientation and gender identity ”in public spaces and in social programs financed with federal funds.
