CNN LGBT Town Hall: on Crime

Amy Klobuchar: Safe harbor for prostitutes;but don't decriminalize sex work

KLOBUCHAR: I've been a leader on human trafficking. I was actually the lead on the bill that included my provision for safe harbor. What that meant, of course, was that if you have sex trafficking, either domestic or internationally, that you have to have a safe harbor for young people who are victims, so that they're not prosecuted themselves. I am not in favor of decriminalizing all of sex work. I'm concerned about the effect that's going to have on young women and violence against women.

Beto O`Rourke: More resources to fight hate crime against black trans women

O'ROURKE: I'm going to listen to trans women of color. They will be the guide on this issue. They will direct our policy. What that means is that we will no longer allow trans women of color to be killed at this alarming rate and to be killed with what is functionally impunity. If local law enforcement won't make it a priority, the local DA will not prosecute, we are going to involve our Department of Justice to look at these as civil rights violations and a matter of restoring the very fabric of America, equal treatment under the law. I think it's really important, from the highest office in the land, to set the standard, to speak in the most positive terms, to overturn that transgender troop ban on day one, and to make stopping this epidemic of violence against trans women a top priority for the United States of America.

Cory Booker: Presidential office on hate crimes and white supremacy

BOOKER: So first of all, very clearly, it is a national emergency, the majority of the terrorist attacks in this country since 9/11 had been right-wing extremist groups and the majority of them had been white supremacist and hate groups. And I will elevate, as president, an office on hate crimes and white supremacy to make sure it is a presidential level effort to protect our country as a whole, but I'm not stopping there. We need a Department of Justice that recognizes this is a problem and investigates hate crimes. 30% of LGBTQ youth have reported missing school in the last month because of fears for their physical safety. We live in a country where we still see regular, everyday violence and intimidation and bullying against Americans because of who they are.

Kamala Harris: I fought and ended the "gay panic" defense

Tom Steyer: Transgendered hate crimes: unequivocally prosecute severely

STEYER: There are citizens in our society who are being targeted for murder as a result of who they are. This is a straightforward attack on humanity itself to kill somebody for who they are. That has got to be the definition of a hate crime. We have got to prosecute those as severely as possible, as a symbol of who we are, a symbol of the thing that we won't put up with. And every prosecutor has got to know that, that this is something that goes to the heart of American equality and justice. And that's got to be straightforward, unequivocal, not a 99 percent rule, a 100 percent rule.