Vice President Joe Biden

Officials with the National Center for Transgender Equality Action Fund announced today (Tuesday, May 5) that the organization is endorsing Joe Biden for President of the United States.

“Joe Biden is the advocate and president we need at this consequential moment,” said Mara Keisling, NCTE Action Fund executive director. “He has the temperament, the experience and the 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,”

Keisling added, “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.

“Over the years he has consistently made clear that ‘Transgender equality is the civil rights issue of our time,’” she said. “With Joe Biden, we know we will be engaged, we will be seen, and we will not be erased.”

Biden participated in NCTE Action Fund’s Transform the White House candidate interview series, demonstrating his long-standing support for transgender people and outlining his commitment to protecting access to health care, Keisling said. During the interview, he said, “The idea that someone can tell you that you can’t be who you are in your heart and soul is just wrong.”

Trump, on the other hand, has consistently worked to alienate, harm and erase transgender people, Keisling said.

“The Trump administration is really the discrimination administration,” she said. “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,” she concluded.

— Tammye Nash