LGBTQ groups endorse Biden reelection campaign

Top LGBTQ rights groups announced their endorsement of President Biden’s reelection campaign on Tuesday, giving the campaign a major boost from the community.

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the National Center for Transgender Equality, and Equality PAC endorsed Biden and Vice President Harris, which marks the first time the groups have jointly endorsed a presidential ticket.

The endorsement comes ahead of National Coming Out Day on Wednesday, ABC News first reported. It also comes “amidst an unprecedented spike in anti-LGBTQ+ state legislation, with more than 550 bills introduced in 43 states, and more than 80 signed into law,” HRC highlighted in its announcement.

“At a time when the forces of hatred seek to divide us by race, place and identity the choice in this election is clear,” HRC President Kelley Robinson said. “LGBTQ+ Americans are living in a state of emergency and the leadership of the Biden-Harris Administration is needed now more than ever.

Biden and first lady Jill Biden are set to deliver remarks Saturday at the 2023 HRC National Dinner in Washington.

“Next year’s election will determine whether LGBTQ+ Americans have more freedoms or less. Across the country, MAGA Republicans are hell-bent on taking away LGBTQ+ Americans’ hard-fought freedoms and are using our fellow Americans’ identities for political warfare. It’s shameful and not who we are as a country,” Biden campaign manager Julie Chávez Rodríguez said in a statement.

HRC noted the three groups endorsing Biden on Tuesday represent 60 million Americans across the U.S., and LGBTQ voters are one of the fastest-growing voting blocs. HRC projects that by 2040, LGBTQ voters will represent nearly one-fifth of voters.

HRC also endorsed Biden for president in 2020, which dropped in May 2020 on the eighth anniversary of Biden’s endorsement of marriage equality in his now-famous 2012 “Meet the Press” interview.

“The stakes of this election could not be higher for LGBTQ+ Americans, and President Biden and Vice President Harris are committed to fighting for every American’s fundamental freedoms. We are deeply honored to earn this historic, unified endorsement from the nation’s leading LGBTQ+ group,” Rodriguez continued. “With their support, we will activate the more than 60 million equality voters nationwide to reelect President Biden and Vice President Harris, and equality legislators up and down the ballot.”