Kamala Harris in 2019-2021 Town Halls
On Civil Rights:
I performed same-sex marriages in 2004, AND later ones
Q: You officiated the first same-sex wedding in San Francisco.HARRIS: It was my joy.
A: How will you leverage your liberal Californian perspective when reaching out to voters in small conservative areas?
HARRIS: I'll tell them the story of
Valentine's weekend in 2004. Back when a lot of Democrats were talking about civil unions, in February of 2004, I was performing marriages. I arrived at San Francisco City Hall that day, it was a Saturday, Valentine's weekend, and wrapped around
the entire city block were families of every race, of every size, of every age, balloons and teddy bears and gifts, and there was something about arriving there that day that, when you have a group of people that is so large who are so full of pure joy
in one place, you can feel it. Because it was a day where people who love each other had the ability for their love to be recognized by law. We must respect and always encourage these kinds of loving relationships.
Source: CNN LGBT Town Hall 2020
Oct 10, 2019
On Civil Rights:
End unequal treatment under law by sexual orientation
Q: What protections can you put into place to ensure all Americans have a discrimination-free workplace? HARRIS: How can we defend that our LGBTQ brothers and sisters are treated differently under the law when they walk into their place of work?
I will fight for equality. We saw great success in terms of marriage. But there is still not full equality for members of the LGBTQ community, and that relates to housing, it relates to employment, it relates to education, and many other issues.
Source: CNN LGBT Town Hall 2020
Oct 10, 2019
On Civil Rights:
Protect those who are more vulnerable to hate
Q: How will you ensure that all transgender citizens are protected and treated equally?HARRIS: I will put resources into ensuring that all people are safe, with a particular understanding of some of the most vulnerable communities.
We know certain populations are more vulnerable to hate based on other people's prejudice and racism and hateful thoughts. And we as a society must acknowledge the truth of that and then make sure that we create safe communities in which they can exist.
Source: CNN LGBT Town Hall 2020
Oct 10, 2019
On Crime:
I fought and ended the "gay panic" defense
When I was district attorney of San Francisco, what was happening is that if the killer was caught and arrested and charged, in the courtroom, they would offer a defense called the gay or trans panic defense. They'd say, oh, I freaked out, therefore
I don't have the state of mind for which you could convict me of murder. So I convened prosecutors from around the country to come to San Francisco, and we created a whole training on how to defeat the gay trans panic defense.
Source: CNN LGBT Town Hall 2020
Oct 10, 2019
On Health Care:
Federal funding for PrEP to prevent HIV/AIDS
Q: I was diagnosed with HIV when I was 20 years old. What will you do to combat the rate of HIV diagnosis in the communities that are most impacted, like mine, black gay men?HARRIS: Gay black men are twice as likely to contract HIV and AIDS.
One of the issues also that is relevant to this point is the affordability of medications such as PrEP, which is extremely expensive. I have been a leader in the US Senate to say that it should be covered by insurance and money should not be the
barrier to access to PrEP, which is obviously a life-saving drug. In terms of HIV-AIDS rates among black men in particular, it is still much higher because the hierarchy still exists within the community around access to health care, housing,
employment, and things of that nature. So I will, as president, I commit to you, deal with all of those, but also we need to deal with it in the context of having a commitment, which is my commitment, that within a generation we will end HIV-AIDS.
Source: CNN LGBT Town Hall 2020
Oct 10, 2019
On Principles & Values:
The power of a president's support will help LGBTQ youth
Q: How would your administration address the crisis of LGBTQ youth suicide? HARRIS: One of the most powerful tools in the hands of the president is that microphone she holds. The real strength of a leader is based not on who you beat down, it's
based on who you lift up. We have to create a safe place for those youth to go, where they can be in a peer- based place, where they can talk about how they are experiencing the world in a way that nurtures and strengthens them.
Source: CNN LGBT Town Hall 2020
Oct 10, 2019
On Welfare & Poverty:
Use the tax code to alleviate homelessness
Q: Do you have a plan to make the homeless crisis a federal issue? HARRIS: Part of what I plan to do is through the tax code, so that if anyone is spending more than 30 percent of their income in rent plus utilities, you get a tax credit. And part of
my plan is to create grants for people who live in federally subsidized housing or in historically red-lined communities to give them down payments and closing costs for homeownership. And then we need to create incentives for affordable housing.
Source: CNN LGBT Town Hall 2020
Oct 10, 2019
On Civil Rights:
Legalize sex work, but fight trafficking and abuse
When I was DA, I instituted a number of policies that focused on women and children and how they were treated with bias in the criminal justice system without really looking at the real offender: the pimps and the johns. We really need to focus on the
other folks and not just on the women. We should not be criminalizing women who are engaged in consensual opportunities for employment. But we should definitely be careful and be sure that they are not being trafficked or abused in any way.
Source: CNN Town Hall 2020: 5 candidates back-to-back
Apr 22, 2019
On Civil Rights:
Women's issues are really about everyone
We need to pass the ERA, the Equal Rights Amendment. Women are paid on average 77 percent to the dollar. And then if you look at African American women and Latinas, even less, for doing the same work. We should reject the conversation
that women's issues are just for women to be concerned about, when the reality is that when you lift up the economic status of women, you lift up the economic status of families and communities and all of society.
Source: CNN Town Hall 2020: 5 candidates back-to-back
Apr 22, 2019
On Civil Rights:
Ally of LGBTQ community; must end discrimination
I have been an ally of the LGBTQ community. We must have a country that agrees that no group should be treated without equality under the law. On day one would pass the Equality Act to make sure that we give LGBTQ people equal rights under the law.
On the issue of transgender rights, we have a president who wants to kick them out of the military because they are transgender. It is absolutely unconscionable. And that is something I would reverse immediately when I am elected president.
Source: CNN Town Hall 2020: 5 candidates back-to-back
Apr 22, 2019
On Crime:
Have a conversation on whether prisoners should vote
Q: What about disallowing convicts to vote, as is now the law in several red states?A: I agree that the right to vote is one of the very important components of citizenship and it is something that people should not
be stripped of needlessly, which is why I have been long an advocate of making sure that the formerly incarcerated are not denied a right to vote, in some states permanently deprived of the right to vote. These are policies that go back to Jim Crow.
These are policies that go back to the heart of policies that have been about disenfranchisement, and we need to take it seriously.
Q: But those now in prison?
A: I think we should have that conversation.
Source: CNN Town Hall 2020: 5 candidates back-to-back
Apr 22, 2019
On Education:
Change rules on student debt: reduce interest, income based
I do support debt-free college. I also believe that what we need to do is we need to allow students to refinance your student loan debt. If you took out student loans between the years of about 2006 through 2013, the interest rate was about 7 percent.
What I am proposing is, regardless of the interest rate at the time, repayment would have to be at 3.5 percent. I would require that there be a robust process by which income-based repayment would be the norm.
Source: CNN Town Hall 2020: 5 candidates back-to-back
Apr 22, 2019
On Energy & Oil:
Green New Deal sets agenda for dealing with climate change
The climate crisis is representing an existential threat to who we are as human beings. I support the Green New Deal because it puts timelines in effect. I think, for example, that we need to have -- really diversify public policy on water,
with an equal emphasis on recycling, on conservation, on capture of water, storage of water, desalination. We need to invest in electric cars. We need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. All of that is in the Green New Deal.
Source: CNN Town Hall 2020: 5 candidates back-to-back
Apr 22, 2019
On Gun Control:
If Congress won't pass gun laws, do it by executive action
I will give Congress 100 days to pass reasonable gun safety laws. If they fail, then I will take executive action. I will require that anyone who sells more than five guns a year [be] required to do background checks. I will require that for any gun
dealer that breaks the law, the ATF take their license. The current administration took fugitives off the list of prohibited people. I'd put them back on. Fugitives from justice should not be able to purchase a handgun or any kind of weapon.
Source: CNN Town Hall 2020: 5 candidates back-to-back
Apr 22, 2019
On Health Care:
Private insurance not victims under single payer
I support Medicare for all. And I support it for a number of reasons. That include the fact that there are a lot of people in our country who simply do not have access to health care because they cannot afford it. And that's unconscionable.
On the issue of access to private insurance, you can get supplemental insurance. But let's not be duped by a messaging campaign by the insurance companies to have you into believing that you need to defend them. You need to defend yourself.
Source: CNN Town Hall 2020: 5 candidates back-to-back
Apr 22, 2019
On Technology:
Cybersecurity crucial to protect elections & infrastructure
Cyberattacks can take a number of forms, but usually to our critical infrastructure. We are vulnerable in terms of our electrical grids, in terms of the systems that hold together our financial systems, our medical care systems. We have got to pay
greater attention. I have a bipartisan bill designed to strengthen states' election systems to prevent the next attack. The leader in the Senate will not put it on the floor for a vote. As president that will be one of my number-one issues.
Source: CNN Town Hall 2020: 5 candidates back-to-back
Apr 22, 2019
Page last updated: Apr 07, 2021