TASK FORCE “HOPEFUL…BUT WE MUST….WORK TO HOLD THIS NEW ADMINISTRATION ACCOUNTABLE TO THEIR PROMISES TO THE LGBTQ+ COMMUNITY”
After four years of the Trump administration’s consistent assault on LGBTQ+ rights, a new administration has been elected by the American public. The Biden/Harris administration has pledged to stand by the LGBTQ+ community since the start of their campaigns and tenures in the U.S. Senate. The first step will be to undo the harmful policies of the prior administration, from introducing a rule that made it harder for trans and nonbinary people to access homeless shelters to making schools less safe for LGBTQ young people to empowering healthcare providers to turn away LGBTQ patients. But the work is far from done.
Trump will still be in office until Inauguration Day and will still have the power of the office during the “lame duck” part of his term. He could still enact executive actions to drive agencies for a final attack on our most marginalized and vulnerable communities before he leaves office.
We celebrate today, but we continue to stay vigilant and aware to ensure our continued safety and rights are not infringed on through the remainder of 2020. And we prepare for 2021 and beyond. And even with a new administration we are not naïve, white supremacy and prejudice is alive and well and widespread, as seen by the far too close margins in many states and nationally.
We recommit to keeping the fight against white supremacy and the struggle for economic and racial justice at the forefront of our work at the Task Force. Our role as a progressive voice in the LGBTQ+ community is more important than ever, and we stand with our many partner organizations in the larger progressive movement as we see what develops post-election, post-Inauguration and in the new administration.
“Today, I breathed a sigh of relief for the first time in years, even as we know that we have hard work ahead of us. My hope is that after four years of white supremacist policies, actions and rhetoric aimed at the worst impulses of those who see LGBTQ+ people, immigrants, people of color, people with disabilities, and so many as the ‘other’ as targets for discrimination and prejudice, we have elected national leaders who have vowed to see and fight for the humanity in all of us. I am filled with hope because our children will again live in a nation led by an administration that sees their potential, their resilience, and their diversity as strengths. I am filled with hope because, for the first time in history, a woman will serve as Vice President of the United States of America. After more than 100 years of women of color being cut out of the protections gained by the constitutional amendment granting mostly white women the right to vote, a woman of color will be bringing her expertise, experience, and vision to lead this nation.
I was thrilled to see the breadth of diversity of out LGBTQ+ political victories across the county and up and down the ballot, making history, from New York to Kansas to Oklahoma to Delaware. We also saw positive results on access to abortion in Colorado, voting rights in California, and minimum wage in Florida.
We have a lot to be hopeful for, but for our dreams to become a reality, we must now put in the work to hold this new administration accountable to their promises to the LGBTQ+ community and so many others of which we are part. Additionally, let us not become complacent or pause in the comfort of a more LGBTQ+-friendly administration. We must continue the work to confront white supremacy and to work for a racially just country. We hope you will all join us at our virtual Creating Change Conference in January to do this work together.”
Rea Carey, Executive Director of the National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund.
Contact:
Cathy Renna, Interim Communications Director, National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund
crenna@thetaskforce.org, 917-757-6123
The National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund is at the forefront of advancing the rights of all LGBTQ individuals and communities in America. Our mission is to conduct grassroots organizing and lobbying on legislation and ballot initiatives to achieve justice for LGBTQ people. The National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund builds political power, takes action and creates change to achieve freedom and justice for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people and their families. As a progressive social justice organization, the Task Force Action Fund works toward a society that values and respects the diversity of human expression and identity and achieves equity for all.