Kirsten Gillibrand unveils LGBTQ agenda on first day of Pride

[DonViejo]

BY CARA KORTE

JUNE 1, 2019 / 9:21 AM / CBS NEWS

The only Democratic candidate for president who has campaigned at a drag club, is now the first candidate to roll an agenda to protect the rights of gay and transgender Americans. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand announced Saturday -- the first day of Gay Pride Month — her agenda for LGBTQ rights. Gillibrand's plan sorts priorities into four categories: equal rights, families and children, health care, and safety.

To ensure equal rights, Gillibrand would call on two federal agencies to fight LGBTQ discrimination. Upon being elected she would direct the Department of Defense to ban discrimination against HIV-positive or transgender members of the military. Gillibrand would also use the Department of Justice to classify LGBT individuals as a "protected class" and direct specific attorneys in the department to focus on the abolition of LGBT discrimination.

Decreasing the murder rate of transgender people was specifically noted as a Justice Department objective. According to the Human Rights Campaign, 23 trans people were killed in the U.S. in 2016, 29 in 2017, 26 in 2018, and five have been killed so far in 2019.

Regarding families and children, Gillibrand outlined multiple policies focused on gay parents and children. She would codify gay marriage, nominate an Education secretary who focuses on LGBTQ issues and ban conversation therapy – the controversial practice of coaching, sometime aggressively, gay children into believing they are heterosexual.

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https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kirsten-gillibrand-unveils-lgbtq-agenda-on-first-day-of-pride-2019-06-01/