COLUMBUS (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden says the Equality Act will be his top legislative priority.
The former vice president told a crowd in Columbus of his hopes of signing the legislation, which would enshrine LGBTQ protections into the nation’s labor and civil rights laws.
He made the comments in a keynote address to hundreds of activists at the Human Rights Campaign’s annual Ohio gala.
His half-hour at the lectern ranged from condemnations of President Donald Trump to Biden’s emotional tributes to his audience and their personal endurance.
Biden mentioned Trump polices such as attempts to bar transgender troops in the U.S. military, allowing individuals in the medical field to refuse to treat LGBTQ individuals, and allowing homeless shelters to refuse transgender occupants.
Biden’s speech at the Human Rights Campaign event on Saturday night came on the first day of Pride Month.
The scheduling choice by the former vice president underscores Biden’s ability to campaign as a 2020 front-runner. He’s leading nearly all national and early nominating state polls, and that’s freeing him from any pressure to follow the paths of the other 23 candidates.