Earlier this week, Nevada U.S. Senate candidate Adam Laxalt vocally endorsed yet another radical anti-LGBTQ+ policy, continuing his career-long attack on the community when he praised Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for signing the embattled ‘Don't Say Gay or Trans’ bill into law. The law, which DeSantis signed earlier this week, stigmatizes LGBTQ+ kids and families, prevents teachers from providing a safe classroom by banning teachers at all grade levels from talking about LGBTQ+ issues or people, and undermines existing protections for LGBTQ+ students.

LISTEN TO LAXALT’S COMMENTS HERE

WHAT U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE LAXALT SAYS ABOUT DESANTIS’S VILE ‘DON'T SAY GAY OR TRANS’ BILL:

“Well, look, I think what you've seen over the last few days out of Disney and the rest of the woke-left army is proof positive of why DeSantis put forward this bill and why they needed this bill. I mean, why in the world? Are they fighting so hard for the ability to indoctrinate kids from age, kindergarten to third grade?

Why are they fighting… against this bill? If it were not because they want to be able to indoctrinate kids at these ages. And so I can't imagine there's more than - but well, there can't be virtually any parents that would actually support the indoctrination, by strangers, of their children in schools. And so even if there's 20% of Americans, you can almost guarantee none of those are parents or still parents. They're just, you know, your classic coastal radical leftists. And so, you know, kudos to DeSantis for signing this bill. And then for going on offense.”

Adam Laxalt’s anti-LGBTQ+ views are out of step with Nevada voters, 85% of whom support laws that protect LGBTQ+ people from discrimination according to recently released PRRI polling data.

Adam Laxalt has made virulent anti-LGBTQ+ activism a cornerstone of his political career. Laxalt opposed marriage equality, vowing to “vigorously” defend Nevada’s now-defunct marriage ban and supported banning LGBTQ+ people from serving openly in the military. Laxalt also supported allowing health care providers to discriminate against LGBTQ+ people, and he opposed protections for LGBTQ+ youth facing discrimination in schools.

HRC has endorsed U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, a strong advocate for LGBTQ+ equality, for reelection.

Senator Catherine Cortez Masto’s Record as a Champion of Equality

Senator Cortez Masto has received near-perfect scores on HRC’s congressional scorecards since taking her seat in 2017. She is a three-time cosponsor of the Equality Act, legislation to create explicit non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ+ people across key areas of life. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she pushed for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to collect data on sexual orientation and gender identity to ensure the LGBTQ+ community’s needs were understood and met and she’s supported LGBTQ+ rights abroad with her support of the International Human Rights Defense Act, legislation directing the Department of State to continue defending the human rights of LGBTQ+ people around the world.

HRC’s Commitment to Nevada

Equality Voters, including the 700,000+ in Nevada, are a voting bloc of demographically and geographically diverse Americans who are united by the advancement of LGBTQ+ equality. Equality Voters are younger, more racially diverse, and more female than the general electorate, they recognize and trust the HRC brand, and they are more likely to identify with issue-specific organizations than candidates or political parties.

Across the country, HRC PAC works every day to elect pro-equality leaders who support policies that will support the rights and lives of LGBTQ+ people. During the 2020 election cycle, HRC staff on the ground recruited 5,800 individual volunteers nationwide who completed 28,500 hours of voter contact in more than 2,650 volunteer events. HRC engaged in robust digital and online GOTV efforts, including sending over 2.7 million person-to-person text messages, a massive increase from 2018 when approximately 500,000 texts were sent. HRC sent over 2.5 million mail pieces, had over 930,000 phone conversations with voters, and engaged more than 200,000 voters through HRC’s voter dashboard at hrc.org/vote.

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