At the first presidential debate of the 2020 Democratic primary, three candidates gave nods to gender inclusivity during their responses to questions about economic growth, healthcare and LGBT rights.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts set the stage fielding her first question by using “Latinx,” a gender-neutral alternative to Latino, when asked about whether her bold policy proposals such as universal childcare, breaking up big tecch companies, and student debt cancellation would be risky for a stabilizing economy.
“Who’s this economy really working for? It’s doing great for [a] thinner and thinner slice at the top,” she responded. “It’s doing great for giant drug companies. It’s just not doing great for people who’re trying to get a prescription filled. It’s doing great for people who want to invest in private prisons. Just not for the African Americans and Latinx whose families were torn apart, whose lives are destroyed and whose communities are ruined.”
Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro recieved applause from the live audience when he included trans people in his comments about abortion rights and “reproductive justice.”
“I don’t believe only in reproductive freedom. I believe in reproductive justice,” Castro said when asked if his health care plan would cover abortion. “What that means is that just because a woman or let’s also not forget someone in the trans community, a trans female is poor doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have the right to exercise the right to choose. And so I absolutely would cover the right to have an abortion.”
When the debate shifted to LGBT rights and the Equality Act, which would protect LGBT citizens from discrimination in federal programs, Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey drew attention to the violence faced by black trans women.
“We do not talk enough about trans-Americans, especially African-American trans-Americans, and the incredibly high rate of murder right now,” the senator from New Jersey said to a room of applause. “We don't talk enough about how many children, about 30 percent of LGBTQ kids who do not go to school because of fear. It's not enough just to be on the Equality Act.”
“We need to have a president that will fight to protect LGBTQ Americans every single day from violence,” he added.
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