LGBTQ people and issues were woven throughout the third night of the 2024 Democratic National Convention, including in the primetime addresses of Oprah Winfrey, Pete Buttigieg, and the night’s main speaker, nominee for Vice President, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.
Earlier in the evening, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, the first out lesbian elected to statewide office in her home state, compared Vice President Kamala Harris’ record for marriage equality with Michigan’s recent fight to lift the ban on abortion.
“Just as the same sex marriage ban was overturned in California, so, too, was the abortion ban in Michigan,” Nessel said, adding a message for anti-LGBTQ lawmakers and judges, “You can pry this wedding band from my cold, dead, gay, hand. And I’m retaining a lot of water, so good luck with that!”
Colorado Governor Jared Polis, the first out gay man elected governor in the U.S., and before that, the first out gay parent in Congress, carried a large Project 2025 book detailing the extremist proposals against abortion, contraception, and LGBTQ people and families.
“We are not weirdos telling families who can and cannot have kids,” Polis said, “Who to marry or how to live our lives.”
Polis is the second out gay elected official to quote from Project 2025 at the convention this week. On Tuesday, Pennsylvania State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta invoked his grandmother and her generation’s fight for civil rights.
“It’s just our turn,” Kenyatta said. “To stand up for working people, and to stand up for our nation’s promise. It’s just our turn, to defend our rights, and to ensure that democracy doesn’t die on our watch.”
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, a staunch ally of LGBTQ Pennsylvanians, included queer issues among the freedoms at stake in the election including for young girls and women.
“Real freedom that comes when she can join a union,” Shapiro said, “marry who she loves, start a family on her own terms, breathe clean air, drink clean water, and live a life of service where she is respected for who she is.”
Kelley Robinson, President of the Human Rights Campaign, delivered remarks where she mentioned transgender students and their struggle to live in safety, peace and joy. It is so far the only direct reference to transgender people in the three days of the convention.
“We’re fighting for lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, and trans freedom, without exception,” Robinson said. “We’re fighting for equality for all without exception. We are fighting for joy. Somebody say joy! Somebody say joy! Without exception!”
Out bicon, Grammy and GLAAD award-winning Maren Morris, serenaded the hall with her self-described protest song “Better Than We Found It.” Morris explained why she was moved to perform at the DNC, telling The Tennessean, “It’s a moment where we, as a country, can come together and hear rational plans for the future of women’s and LGBTQ rights. We can be inspired by people’s stories and navigate a safe path forward for our children.”
GLAAD honoree Oprah Winfrey was a surprise guest of the night and called on delegates to seek freedom over division: “There are people who want you to see our country as a nation of us against them. People who want to scare you. Who want to rule you. People who would have you believe that books are dangerous. And assault rifles are safe. That there was a right way to worship and a wrong way to love. People who seek first to divide, and then to conquer. But here is the thing. When we stand together, it is impossible to conquer us.”
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, the first out gay cabinet member confirmed by the Senate, centered his family in his primetime address as progress worth protecting. Buttigieg married his husband Chasten in 2018 and they now have three-year-old twins.
“The existence of my family is just one example of something that was literally impossible as recently as 25 years ago when an anxious teenager, growing up in Indiana, wondered if he’d ever find belonging in this world,” Buttigieg said.
“This kind of life went from impossible, to possible. From possible to real. From real to almost ordinary. In less than half a lifetime. But that didn’t just happen. It was brought about through idealism and courage, through organizing and persuasion and storytelling and yes through politics. The right kind of politics. The kind of politics that can make an impossible dream into an everyday reality.”
Buttigieg’s appointment as Transportation Secretary is among nearly 350 moves by the Biden administration to include and protect LGBTQ Americans. The full record here.
Gov. Tim Walz accepted the nomination for Vice President of the U.S.. Walz, introduced by a video narrated by his wife Gwen, detailing Walz’s early days on his family’s farm, joining the National Guard and serving 24 years, becoming a high school social studies teacher, and signing up as faculty adviser to the school’s first Gay Straight Alliance.
Walz’s former football players and students introduced him to the stage. Walz went to his pro-equality record as governor in his address, including signing a bill into law that bans frivolous, discriminatory book bans, and a move to offer free breakfast and lunch in schools.
“While other states were banning books from their schools, we were banishing hunger from ours,” Walz said.
Walz’s LGBTQ record as governor includes signing laws to protect transgender health care, secure access to abortion, prohibit bans on books, and ban so-called conversion therapy. He explained how growing up in Butte, Nebraska, shaped his views today.
“Growing up in a small town like that, you learn how to take care of each other,” Walz said. “That family down the road, they may not think like you do, they may not pray like you do, they may not love like you do but they are your neighbors. And you look out for them and they look out for you. Everybody belongs and everybody has a responsibility to contribute.”
Tonight Vice President Harris will accept the nomination for President of the United States. Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey, the first out lesbian elected to governor, and Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin, the first out lesbian elected to Senate, are also expected to address the convention. LGBTQ allies Pink and The Chicks are slated to perform.