page_title: Political positions of Kamala Harris
section_title: LGBT rights
hierarchical_section_title: Political positions of Kamala Harris / Social issues / LGBT rights
caption_attribution_description: Kamala Harris
context_page_description: The political positions of Kamala Harris are reflected by her United States Senate voting record, public speeches, and interviews. Kamala Harris has served as the junior senator from California since 2017. On August 11, 2020, Harris was selected by presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden to be his running mate in the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
context_section_description: As a member of the U.S. Senate, she co-sponsored the Equality Act.
  In July 2018, Harris led her colleagues in introducing the Gay and Trans Panic Defense Prohibition Act of 2018, a nationwide bill that would curtail the effectiveness of the so-called gay and trans panic defenses, an issue she pioneered during her tenure as District Attorney of San Francisco.
  In October 2019, Harris participated in a CNN/Human Rights Campaign town hall on the topic of LGBTQ rights, where she pledged her support for "all of the folks who are fighting for equality" in cases that would determine whether gay and transgender people were protected under laws banning federal workplace discrimination. Kamala Harris drew attention to the epidemic of hate violence against Black trans women (at the time 20 killed that year), noting that LGBTQ people of color are doubly exposed to discrimination.
caption: San Francisco Pride, 2019
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