WASHINGTON — Today, Vice President Kamala Harris selected Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate, making clear that a Harris Administration would build on the Biden-Harris legacy of being the most pro-equality in American history.

“There’s no doubt – Kamala Harris has electrified the nation and breathed new hope into the race,” said Kelley Robinson, Human Rights Campaign President. “Her pick of Governor Walz sends a message that a Harris-Walz Administration will be committed to advancing equality and justice for all. That is the choice we are faced with in America. A Trump-Vance Administration that would demonize LGBTQ+ people, terrorize our families, send our rights and freedoms back to The Land Before Time and install Project 2025. Or a Harris-Walz Administration that will fight for our freedoms, defend our families, and make America a place where people don’t just get by — but can get ahead.”

Governor Walz is a career-long champion for LGBTQ+ people. In 1999, as a history teacher and football coach, Walz sponsored the school’s first gay straight alliance student group. He opposed efforts to ban same-sex marriage in the Minnesota constitution. While serving in Congress, he co-sponsored legislation to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), voted to repeal the discriminatory “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law, voted for the Matthew Shepard/James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act and introduced legislation to protect LGBTQ+ service members from discrimination in benefits. As Governor, Tim Walz signed an Executive Order banning the dangerous practice of “conversion therapy” in Minnesota.

Vice President Harris has also been a career-long champion for LGBTQ+ people. After winning her race for San Francisco District Attorney in 2004, VP Harris established a hate crimes unit to investigate and prosecute anti-LGBTQ+ violence. In 2006, she organized a conference in California that brought together over 100 officials from across the U.S. to discuss strategies to end the use of the so-called gay and transgender panic defense. In 2014, California became the first state to ban the practice in law. In 2010, VP Harris won her bid for California Attorney General, campaigning on a refusal to defend the infamous Proposition 8, a ballot measure that banned same-sex marriage in the state. She made good on that campaign promise, declining to defend the ban during her tenure as AG and officiating some of the first same-sex marriages in the nation.

As U.S. Senator, Vice President Harris cosponsored the Equality Act, defended access to healthcare under the Affordable Care Act and frequently spoke out against violence against trans women of color. And as Vice President, Harris has helped lead the most pro-equality administration in history. Since the 2021 inauguration, the administration has taken extraordinary steps to advance equality. In 2022, President Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act into law, a landmark piece of legislation that guaranteed federal protections for same-sex and interracial marriages. They have issued new administrative rules protecting LGBTQ+ youth from discrimination and harassment in schools, ensuring LGBTQ+ youth are protected in the foster care system and protecting LGBTQ+ patients from discrimination in health care. They have also filled the administration with members of the LGBTQ+ community, appointing a record 200+ LGBTQ+ people across each level of government and nominating a record number of LGBTQ+ judges.

In May, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) launched its We Show Up: Equality Wins public education campaign to mobilize 75 million Equality Voters nationally. The campaign includes a $15 million strategic investment in key battleground states, including Pennsylvania, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia and Nevada. HRC has had year-round, on-the-ground staff in these states since 2017, and will bring on dozens of additional staffers in these states to organize for November. HRC will also have a strong ground game in California, Texas, New York and Delaware to support historic LGBTQ+ congressional candidates whose elections are poised to help make the difference in putting a pro-equality majority back in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people. HRC envisions a world where LGBTQ+ people are embraced as full members of society at home, at work and in every community.

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