Reality Check: VP Nominees Tim Walz and JD Vance Bring Diverging Commitments to Equality to the Debate Stage

Walz vs. Vance: A Clear Contrast on Equality

In addition to sponsoring his school’s Gay-Straight Alliance, Tim Walz has been a champion for LGBTQ+ people for nearly his entire career.
 

• He opposed efforts to ban same-sex marriage in the Minnesota constitution
• While serving in Congress, he:
  • was an early supporter of the Respect for Marriage Act, introduced in 2009
  • voted to repeal the discriminatory “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law
  • voted for The Matthew Shepard/James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act
  • introduced legislation to protect LGBTQ+ service members from discrimination in benefits
• As Governor, he:
  • signed an executive order banning the dangerous practice of “conversion therapy”
  • signed an executive order protecting access to gender affirming care and abortion in the state
  • signed a bill into law that designed to shield parents of transgender children from custody repercussions in the state of Minnesota for providing their child access to gender affirming care

JD Vance, meanwhile, has been a shameless opponent of LGBTQ+ rights and personal freedoms. His running mate, Donald Trump, led the most anti-LGBTQ+ administration in American history – and has promised to go even further if we give him the chance.
 

• Vance expressed support for a national abortion ban and has gone further to argue against exceptions for rape and incest, diminishing such circumstances as “inconvenient”
• He has railed against the Respect for Marriage Act and the Equality Act, which would protect LGBTQ+ Americans from discrimination in key areas of life such as housing and education
• He introduced a bill to ban best-practice health care for trans youth while encouraging hateful and dangerous smear campaigns against the LGBTQ+ community and its allies
• He held up the Senate nomination of a diplomat because of their support for the Pride flag and even sent McCarthy-style questionnaires to other nominees to determine the level of “wokeness”
• He was once close friends with a transgender classmate and expressed support for their identity while criticizing Trump - then turned his back on their rights in service to his political ambition

Trump-Vance Project 2025 Agenda Targets LGBTQ+ Americans

Despite feigning ignorance about Project 2025, both Donald Trump and JD Vance’s fingerprints are all over it. Last week, he even enlisted the help of a key Project 2025 contributor when preparing for this evening’s debate.
 

• At least 140 former Trump officials, including six former Cabinet secretaries, are among those who helped write or collaborate on the dangerous plan
• JD Vance has deep ties to the Heritage Foundation, a key architect of Project 2025. Vance wrote a violent foreword for Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts’ latest book, calling for the right wing to “circle the wagons and load the muskets.” He also calls Roberts’ ideas “an essential weapon” for the MAGA fight.

Project 2025 is an authoritarian manifesto that paints a target on LGBTQ+ Americans.
 

• It calls for the rollback of virtually all nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ+ people, and would replace these regulations and policies with others that instead encourage “marriage, work, motherhood, fatherhood, and nuclear families” while making clear that the marriages and families of opposite-sex couples should be prioritized over same-sex couples.
• Priorities of Project 2025 include reinstating bans implemented by the Trump Administration and undone by the Biden Administration—like on transgender people being allowed to openly serve in the military— and allowing federally funded adoption and foster care agencies to turn away LGBTQ+ people.

Voters Reject Anti-LGBTQ+, Anti-Freedom Attacks– Even in Vance’s Home State

In the 2023 election cycle, anti-LGBTQ+ candidates and rhetoric failed across the country.
 

• In Ohio, voters passed a ballot measure to enshrine abortion protections into the state’s constitution, rejecting false attacks from MAGA bullies that attempted to demonize transgender youth.
• In Kentucky, pro-equality Governor Andy Beshear was re-elected despite his opponent spending millions of dollars in anti-trans ads against him. Governor Beshear has boldly vetoed anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and stood with transgender youth in Kentucky.
• In Virginia, after the Human Rights Campaign invested heavily in warning Virginians of the threat posed to equality by MAGA candidates for the state legislature, voters delivered pro-equality majorities in both the House of Delegates and the State Senate.

A Super Majority of Americans Support Equality

New data from Navigator Research shows strong majority support for LGBTQ+ equality, and deep concern over MAGA attacks on fundamental freedoms.
 

• Nearly two-in-three Americans support federal nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ+ people, including 58% of independents and 42% of Republicans.
• 61% say they will not support candidates who want to ban health care for transgender people, including 59% of independents and 41% of Republicans.
• 70% say they are concerned that politicians are attacking gay and transgender youth to divide us, maintain their political power and control, and score political points, a clear indication that the American people see through the MAGA anti-LGBTQ+ agenda.
• A majority of Americans agree that parents, mental health professionals, and doctors are best equipped to decide the kind of care a child needs, not politicians.

The vast majority of Americans — 7 in 10 — think that politicians are not informed enough about abortion and gender-affirming care to create fair policies

According to September 2023 polling by The 19th and SurveyMonkey, Americans would prefer that politicians either protect transgender people or not focus on transgender issues at all. Only 17% of Americans, and only 29% of Republicans, say politicians should focus on restricting gender-affirming care.

Americans Believe the Amount of Anti-LGBTQ+ Legislation Is Excessive, Agreeing It Is “Political Theater”

Likely voters across all political parties look at GOP efforts to flood state legislatures with anti-LGBTQ+ legislation as political theater. Polling indicates that 64% of all likely voters, including 72% of Democrats, 65% of Independents, and 55% of Republicans think that there is “too much legislation” aimed at “limiting the rights of transgender and gay people in America” (Data For Progress survey of 1,220 likely voters, 3/24-26, 2023). This quote from Cuban-American former Republican Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen sums it up: “Intolerance is not a good look on anyone. I remain optimistic that voters will see through this charade and will encourage their elected officials to solve the real problems of America instead of masquerading as Moral Police Officers.”

Majorities Disapprove of Banning LGBTQ+ Content in Schools – and Seem Prepared to Punish Candidates Who Do So

When asked if middle school libraries should include materials related to “gender identity” (57% “should”) and “sexual orientation” (56%), the majority of Americans believe this content should be available. In fact, by a margin of 32 percentage points, Americans are more worried that “materials that could be valuable to students will be removed from school libraries” (62%), than worry that “materials that could be harmful to students will remain in school libraries” (30%). Yet again, Democrats and Independents are in a different place than their GOP counterparts suggesting headaches for Republicans in the 2024 elections. (Grinnell College National Poll, 3/14-19, 2023)

Indeed, it looks like this issue could be a disqualifier for elected officials who support curriculum censorship and book bans, based on recent polling (Ipsos, 4/24-25, 2023 among 1,005 adults nationwide, the vast majority of whom are registered to vote). More than six in 10 Americans say they would be less likely to back a candidate who “supports policies that ban books in schools and in school libraries on subject matter that deals with sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity” (38% more likely, 62% less likely).

Democrats: Trusted Defenders of Equality, Youth Wellbeing

The 2024 Navigator Research poll showed that President Biden and the Democratic Party are more trusted than Republicans to safeguard LGBTQ+ equality and protect America’s youth.
 

• 60% of those polled say they trust Democrats to protect the LGBTQ+ community, compared to just 19% who say they trust the GOP.
• 54% say they trust Democrats to protect the rights and freedoms of the community, compared to just 22% who say they trust the GOP.
• 46% say they trust Democrats to care for children’s wellbeing, compared to just 37% who say they trust the GOP.