Washington, D.C. | The National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) Action Fund announced their endorsement of Joe Biden for president of the United States May 5, the organization’s first presidential endorsement.
The fund is affiliated with the National Center for Transgender Equality. It launched in 2017 to empower transgender people and their allies by registering voters, mobilizing supporters and fighting for equality at the local, state and federal levels.
“Joe Biden is the advocate and president we need at this consequential moment,” NCTE Action Fund Executive Director Mara Keisling said in a statement. “He has the temperament, the experience and wisdom to lead our country. Throughout his career in public service, work as a private citizen through the Biden Foundation, and now his campaign to lead our nation, Biden has demonstrated his commitment to transgender people and the LGBTQ community.
“Biden has a strong agenda for addressing the issues that face transgender Americans, a record of getting big ideas done during his time as Vice President in the Obama-Biden administration and a history of ensuring that transgender people are protected, including protections for transgender women as part of the reauthorization of the landmark Violence Against Women Act he authored,” she continued. “Over the years he has consistently made clear that ‘Transgender equality is the civil rights issue of our time.’ With Joe Biden, we know we will be engaged, we will be seen, and we will not be erased.”
Keisling also noted that Biden participated in the organization’s Transform the White House candidate interview series. “The idea that someone can tell you that you can’t be who you are in your heart and soul is just wrong,” he shared at the time.
The NCTE Action Fund noted that the vice president’s words and record are vastly different from Donald Trump. The current president has “consistently worked to alienate, harm and erase transgender people,” they shared.
“The Trump administration is really the discrimination administration,” Keisling elaborated. “President Trump has attacked transgender health care, put transgender students unnecessarily at risk and led a consistent and unrelenting effort to rollback protections for LGBTQ Americans. Joe Biden is the clear choice for president of the United States, and the NCTE Action Fund is proud to endorse him.”
You can watch video of the endorsement and read it in full below:
“On behalf of Vice President Biden, our campaign is deeply honored to have the National Center for Transgender Equality Action Fund’s endorsement and partnership in this election,” Biden for President LGBTQ+ Vote Director Reggie Greer said in a statement.
“NCTE Action Fund has done trailblazing work to change the landscape of America, educate and lobby elected leaders, and empower and mobilize transgender people to ensure their voices are heard at the ballot box,” he continued. “That record, and network to countless voters on the ground, is especially crucial in this time of uncertainty and upheaval.”
Greer also noted that “with six months until Election Day, this is an all hands on deck situation. Now with the NCTE Action Fund standing by our side, we couldn’t be more equipped in our mission to build a diverse coalition of voters to take on, and beat Donald Trump this November.”
For more information about the NCTE Action Fund, visit their website. For more information about Vice President Joe Biden’s plan for LGBTQ equality, read his campaign’s responses to Watermark’s 2020 candidate Q&A here and visit his website.
