Likely Republican nominee for president Donald Trump has said he has his vice president/running mate pick in mind, but he quickly downplayed the claim and has yet to announce a name, leaving potential candidates to lobby vigorously and publicly for the position. A number of possible candidates appeared at a Mar-a-Lago fundraiser for Trump in early May, and several more made appearances on Sunday politics shows that same week.
UPDATE: More recently the campaign is reported to have requested vetting documents on short list of candidates.
Trump’s former vice president, Mike Pence, eventually disavowed Trump years after Trump attempted to coerce him into overturning the results of the 2020 election and had refused to send help to stop the insurrection mob that threatened to kill Pence on January 6, 2021.
Donald Trump’s own record of 200+ anti-LGBTQ actions and statements, personally and as a function of his presidential administration, can be found here.
Below are the LGBTQ records of Trump’s possible running mates.
Marco Rubio
U.S. Senator from Florida
- Attacked the Biden administration’s new guidance around Title IX protections in a letter to the Secretary of Education that includes the baseless assertion: “Equally disturbing is the likelihood that your department will weaponize Title IX to force a radical gender ideology in K-12 classrooms.”
- Attacked a drag artist and used her likeness, without permission, in a baseless campaign ad. The drag queen responded here.
- Targeted drag at military bases, falsely claiming it exposed children to “sexually charged content,” causing the cancellation of Drag Queen Story Hour at a library on a U.S. Air Force base in Germany. The U.S. military has a rather lengthy history when it comes to drag shows done as a boon for morale.
- Scored 0 out of 100 on HRC’s Congressional Scorecard for the 117th Congress, which scored members of Congress based on a range of key indicators of support—including votes in the Senate to confirm historic, pro-LGBTQ Biden-Harris cabinet officials and judicial nominees, as well as co-sponsorships on pieces of legislation that significantly impact LGBTQ people and their families.
- Ran advertisements across Florida with anti-trans rhetoric in his U.S. Senate campaign in 2022.
- Called the Respect for Marriage Act “a stupid waste of time” and vowed to vote against it. The legislation passed Congress (Rubio voted against it) and was signed into law by President Biden.
- Defended Florid’s anti-LGBTQ “don’t say gay/trans” legislation, and claimed the legislation addressed “instruction” on sexual orientation and gender identity in K-3 classrooms, without basis.
- Said “I believe the definition of the institution of marriage should be between one man and one woman,” in an interview on CBS. He also said, “I don’t believe same-sex marriage is a Constitutional right.”
- Said about immigration reform, ““If this bill has in it something that gives gay couples immigration rights and so forth, it kills the bill. I’m done. I’m off it, and I’ve said that repeatedly.”
- Opposed the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) which would make it illegal to discriminate in hiring or fire employees based on their sexual orientation and gender identity. The legislation never passed and was superseded by the Bostock Supreme Court decision in 2020.
Doug Burgum
33rd Governor of North Dakota and GOP Presidential Candidate 2024
- Signed into law a bill that permits public school teachers and state government employees to ignore the preferred pronouns of their transgender students and colleagues.
- Signed two transgender athlete bans into law, prohibiting transgender girls and women from joining female sports teams in K–12 and college. Two years ago Burgum vetoed a nearly identical bill that would have banned transgender girls from playing on girls’ teams in public schools.
- Signed a bill into law that restricts transgender health care in the state, immediately making it a crime to give gender-affirming care to people younger than 18.
- Signed a total of eight discriminatory bills into law in 2023 including those above; restrictions on drag performances; a “religious refusal” bill permitting discrimination; and bills adding additional rules for gender markers on birth certificates that discriminate against transgender people.
- Defied his party in a rebuke against an anti-LGBTQ resolution that was passed by hundreds of Republican legislators in the North Dakota legislature. Burgum said the resolution, which states that “LGBT practices are unhealthy and dangerous, sometimes endangering or shortening life and sometimes infecting society at large,” is homophobic and divisive.
Tim Scott
U.S. Senator from South Carolina and GOP Presidential Candidate 2024
- Newsweek reports that he “considers homosexuality a morally wrong choice, like adultery. ‘We are by nature sinful,’ he said sadly. All these positions stem from what he calls ‘timeless principles.’”
- Voted against the Employment Nondiscrimination Act, which would have granted basic job protections to LGBTQ people.
J.D. Vance
U.S. Senator from Ohio
- Introduced the so-called “Protect Children’s Innocence Act,” a piece of legislation riddled with lies about transgender health care. The act “bans” a variety of medical procedures, none of which are a part of transgender health care for minors, and if passed, would carry a Class C felony penalty (punishable by 3.5 to 15 years in prison) for these imagined procedures.
- Stated he would vote “no” on the Respect for Marriage Act to codify marriage equality for same-sex and mixed-race couples. The bill passed with bipartisan support and was signed into law by President Biden in December 2022.
- Tweeted false and vile rhetoric about people opposed to legislation that censors classroom discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity: “I’ll stop calling people “groomers” when they stop freaking out about bills that prevent the sexualization of my children.” There is no evidence that discussing LGBTQ people, history or families in schools ‘sexualizes’ anyone.
- Repeated false rhetoric to inaccurately claim that bills censoring classroom conversation about LGBTQ people are about ‘parents’ rights.’ An estimated two million children have LGBTQ parents; LGBTQ parents and parents who support LGBTQ people have spoken out to say they do not want their children censored in classrooms.
- On his campaign website, claims without evidence that American political leaders are “using America’s military as a social justice side project. Our troops don’t need to focus on diversity or equity or any other progressive buzzword.”
- Tried and failed to make fun of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) for “inventing” new terms to describe LGBTQ people’s identities. “I’m sorry but what the hell is two-spirit?” Vance asked in a tweet. “Would love if progressives just stopped inventing words.” Native American, First Nation, and Canadian Aboriginal people have held LGBTQ and gender non-conforming members of their communities in high respect throughout history, referring to them as “two spirit“ people.
- Attacked conservative Supreme Court justices after the court ruled that LGBTQ employees should be protected from job discrimination in Bostock v. Clayton County. “The conservative legal movement has accomplished two things: libertarian political economy (enforced by judges) and betrayal of social conservatives and traditionalists,” Vance tweeted (tweet since removed).
- Additional instances can be found here: https://glaad.org/gap/jd-vance/
A number of additional candidates were previously considered including:
Kristi Noem
33rd Governor of South Dakota
- Signed two executive orders in 2021 banning transgender girls and women from competing on women’s sports teams at public high schools and colleges in South Dakota.
- Signed into law HB 1080 banning age-appropriate, medically necessary transgender health care for transgender youth in South Dakota. Every major medical association and leading world health authority supports health care for transgender people and youth.
- Celebrated the passage of a bill (HB 1217) that would have barred transgender girls and women from playing sports with other women, but later vetoed it citing potential legal backlash from the NCAA. Signed a bill into law in 2022 banning transgender participation in sports, falsely claiming the presence of transgender women was unfair to cisgender women in sports.
- Refused to say if women who are raped could get an abortion, or if victims of incest should be exempted from South Dakota’s ban on abortion. A “trigger law” passed years ago that went into effect in South Dakota after Roe v. Wade was overturned completely outlaws abortions with the exception if the mother’s life is in danger—and with no exceptions for rape or incest.
- Signed a Religious Freedom Restoration Act in South Dakota, which LGBTQ+ advocates say greenlights discrimination against queer people under the guise of upholding religious liberty.
- Opposes marriage equality for same-sex couples.
Ron DeSantis
46th Governor of Florida and GOP Presidential Candidate 2024
- Declared that Florida “will not comply” and would “fight back” against the new Title IX rules announced by the Biden administration, which include specific protections for LGBTQ+ students and prohibit discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation.
- Suggested building a new state prison next to Disney’s central Florida theme parks in retaliation for the company speaking out against his “Don’t Say Gay” law.
- Requested and was granted a ban on classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in all grades, expanding the “Don’t Say Gay” law.
- Falsely claimed that books were not being banned in Florida, despite video evidence showing empty book shelves, guidance to librarians to not shelve certain books, and statements from school districts noting they are removing books with LGBTQ themes or about people of color, including a book about Roberto Clemente, “to comply with Florida laws on library books.” PEN America said the Clemente book is one of 176 pulled by Duval County Public Schools since last year including books about Japanese internment camps, about Henry Aaron, and the book “My Two Dads and Me.”
- Issued a survey to Florida’s 12 universities and 28 state and community colleges asking which of these institutions provide services to transgender students. The survey wants to know “what colleges and universities are spending on any transgender services, information including student ages, hormone prescriptions, and medical procedures including surgeries.” An estimated 17,000 students at these institutions may be transgender or gender nonconforming.
- Backed the Florida Department of Education’s advice to schools to disregard proposed federal guidelines that protect transgender youth.
- Lied about gender affirming care in an interview on Fox News: “They will actually take a young boy and castrate the boy. They will take a young girl and do a mastectomy, or they will sterilize her because of the gender dysphoria. There is no evidence that this is something that’s effective medical care.” Longstanding best practices medical care for trans youth does not include surgeries or sterilization on young children. Every major medical association supports gender affirming care as evidence-based, lifesaving care, with growing and consistent research that it improves mental health and wellbeing for transgender and nonbinary youth.
- DeSantis’s press secretary, Christina Pushaw, libeled opponents of the “Don’t Say Gay” bill as sexual predators.
- Defended the anti-LGBTQ “don’t say gay” bill, and lied about the contents of the legislation saying that it was about “no sexual instruction” given to young students and “transgenderism or something injected into classroom instruction.”
- Signed a restrictive transgender youth sports ban into law, on the first day of LGBTQ Pride Month. The law bans transgender girls and women in public secondary schools and colleges in Florida from participating on girls’ and women’s sports teams.
- Vetoed all funding for LGBTQ programs from the $101 billion state budget.
- Other instances can be found at: https://glaad.org/gap/ron-desantis
Ben Carson
17th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
- HUD under Ben Carson announced plans to rescind Obama-era policy which asked homeless shelters receiving federal dollars to grant transgender Americans the ability to use facilities according to their gender identity.
- Refused to reinstate housing protection guidelines that would prevent LGBTQ Americans from experiencing discrimination while attaining a home, which include access to homeless shelters.
- Defended the removal of transgender non-discrimination guidelines aimed to protect transgender people in homeless shelters by promoting the derogatory myth that these protections would compromise others’ safety or privacy.
- Reporting reveals that HUD, led by Carson, removed guidelines and training documents to ensure transgender people have equal access to homeless shelters. HUD also pulled back a survey regarding plans in Cincinnati and Houston to reduce LGBT homelessness.
- Defended cuts to housing programs for low-income people living with HIV and AIDS in President Trump’s budget proposal during a House appropriations subcommittee hearing.
- In a Fox News appearance, equated gay people with bestiality and the North American Man/Boy Love Association: “Marriage is between a man and a woman. No group, be they gays, be they NAMBLA, be they people who believe in bestiality, it doesn’t matter what they are. They don’t get to change the definition.”
- Claimed marriage equality advocates are “directly attacking the relationship between God and His people.”
- In his 2012 book, wrote of marriage equality: “If we can redefine marriage as between two men or two women or any other way based on social pressures as opposed to between a man and a woman, we will continue to redefine it in any way that we wish, which is a slippery slope with a disastrous ending, as witnessed in the dramatic fall of the Roman Empire.”
- Called on Congress to remove judges who decided in favor of marriage equality.
- Additional instances can be found at: https://glaad.org/gap/ben-carson/
Vivek Ramaswamy
Entrepreneur and GOP Presidential Candidate 2024
- Said “…transgenderism… is a mental health disorder.” The term “transgenderism” is used by anti-transgender activists to dehumanize transgender people and reduce who they are to “a condition” or a “dangerous ideology” and medical consensus states that being transgender is not a mental health condition.
- Says Target “spit in the face of conservatives” in an anti-transgender attack on the retailer for selling swimwear designed to accommodate a variety of body types
- Said he would sign into law a ban on health care for transgender minors if it reaches his desk in the White House. Every major medical association in the U.S. supports such care for trans youth
- Expressed harmful and baseless indoctrination rhetoric calling acceptance of transgender people a “cult” and claiming that LGBTQ people are interfering with “our kids.” “In the name of rights, what they’ve actually done is created a new culture of oppression in the opposite direction, imposing that on kids,” he said. There is zero basis for his claims, and he offered no backup.
- Presidential campaign website features a section called TRUTHS including a list. #2 reads, “There are two genders.”
Greg Abbott
48th Governor of Texas
- Said he wanted to “end” transgender gender nonconforming teachers expressing their gender identity while teaching in Texas.
- Senior campaign adviser for Abbott’s re-election campaign, Dave Carney, quoted as saying he considers the targeting of trans youth and their families “a 75, 80% winner” for Abbott.
- Issued a directive to Texas residents to report parents of transgender minors to authorities for child abuse if it appears those children are receiving gender-affirming medical care.
- Falsely described a pair of LGBTQ memoirs as “pornography” in an effort to have the books removed from school libraries. Abbott’s letter to the Texas Education Agency, Texas State Library and Archives Commission, and State Board of Education was sparse in details about what he considered inappropriate but he cited the graphic novel Gender Queer: a Memoir by Maia Kobabe, and In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado.
- Signed a bill into law that bans transgender students from playing on public school sports teams that align with their gender identity. Previously student athletes had been required to play on teams that aligned with the sex listed on their birth certificates, but they could obtain court orders allowing them to change the gender markers and participate in interscholastic athletics. Due to the new law that option is no longer available.
- Took down a Texas Department of Family and Protective Services web page that offered resources to LGBTQ youth including information to children in the foster care system, a suicide prevention hotline, LGBTQ legal services, and questions about defining gender and sexual identity. The removal by the department followed a complaint by a challenger to Abbott in the GOP primary. THE DFPS commissioner and council are appointed by the governor.
- Issued a recommendation to the Texas state Board of Social Work Examiners that they remove protections for sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability.
- Additional information can be found at: https://glaad.org/gap/greg-abbott
Sarah Huckabee Sanders
47th Governor of Arkansas and 31st White House Press Secretary of Arkansas
- Praised Alabama’s state Department of Finance and Administration’s new rule that it will no longer allow residents to use “X” instead of male or female on state-issued driver’s licenses or identification cards. This is a reversal of a policy that had been in place since 2010.
- Intended to insult influencer Dylan Mulvaney and Bud Light with a transphobic tweet.
- Sanders spread misinformation as White House press secretary, including defending President Trump’s tweeted ban of transgender military members.
- Defended the Trump administration’s support of LGBTQ discrimination, including fighting to the Supreme Court to deny service to LGBTQ customers.
- Served as spokesperson for the American Principles Fund, a Super PAC that has attacked candidates for not speaking out strongly enough against marriage equality.
- Threatened pro-LGBTQ candidates that their support was on “the wrong side” and “could be fatal”: “Jobs and economy and spending are still the most important, but a candidate’s position on social issues such as life and marriage sends an extremely strong message about their values. That’s why taking the wrong side could be fatal.”
- Framed marriage equality and other social matters as an “attack” on “values”: “The unilateral truce on social issues within the GOP is bad for our party and wrong for our country—our core values are under attack, and we will stand for those who stand for what’s right,” she said in a statement.
- Additional information is available at https://glaad.org/gap/sarah-huckabee-sanders/
