The Human Rights Campaign raised more than $300,000 and enlisted more than 1,500 new volunteers to support the vice president’s 2024 presidential campaign with the organization’s Out for Kamala Harris virtual event on July 25.

Delivering remarks before an audience of about 20,000 listeners were a slate of LGBTQ leaders including trailblazing elected officials, celebrities and other public figures, and officials representing the Harris 2024 campaign and advocacy groups including HRC, the National LGBTQ+ Task Force Action Fund, and Advocates 4 Trans Equality.

The speakers discussed Harris’s work fighting to expand rights and freedoms throughout her career, her historic bid to take on Donald Trump and their confidence in her ability to win, the state of the race nearly 100 days out from Election Day, and the stakes in November with respect to queer and transgender communities, reproductive rights, and the preservation of America’s democratic institutions.

They also celebrated the Biden-Harris administration’s record of accomplishment over the past four years — and the legacy President Joe Biden will leave behind after bookending his five decades in elected office by announcing his decision on Sunday to exit the 2024 race in favor of clearing the path for his vice president to earn the Democratic Party’s nomination.

Harris 2024 campaign

Fundraising Chair and former U.S. Ambassador to Denmark Rufus Gifford:

• A lot of us have had a very, very difficult last few weeks. What happened on Sunday was this extraordinary moment where we had what I believe is one of the great American presidents of all time, in Joe Biden, decide to pass the torch to the next generation in Vice President Kamala Harris, a woman who could not be any more qualified for the job as president of the United States
• In Vice President Harris, we see a leader who’s going to fight every single day, fight for members of our community.
• We saw an unprecedented, absolutely unprecedented, surge in support from Americans across the country. We’ve only made public essentially where we were from Sunday afternoon until Tuesday night, where we raised just under $130 million
• This is my fifth presidential campaign. I did both Obama campaigns and I also did the Biden campaign in 2020. I’ve never seen anything like this before. The surge in support — because that support, the small dollar contributions, people give in five, 10, 25, bucks, and even more than that, the numbers are extraordinary. Well over a million people have supported this effort, and we’re going to need it
• We have to know it’s going to come down to seven swing states, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, North Carolina … I believe that our community, that this LGBTQ+ community, can make a difference here. I believe that, with all my heart, knowing the margins of this election it’s just fundamentally true

National LGBTQ+ Engagement Director Sam Alleman:

• We are overwhelmed, humbled and inspired by the outpouring of support that we are seeing for Vice President Kamala Harris. I just I can’t put it into words this feeling, but I do think it’s important, despite the energy and the excitement that we are feeling right now, to ground us in [the reality] that the general frame of this election and what we’re doing here hasn’t really changed
• On one hand, we’ve got a candidate who wants to ban books instead of assault weapons. We’ve got a candidate that if a national abortion ban comes across his desk, he will sign it. We’ve got a candidate that will not fight to protect our community and instead will vilify and bully LGBTQ+ children to score political points
• On the other hand, we’ve got Kamala Harris, who’s been a champion for our community since day one, since her first time in public office, who we know will fight to protect our reproductive freedom and bodily autonomy, who we know will fight to ensure we have paid leave for all, and who’s going to spend every single day fighting to protect and enshrine the democratic principles that this country was founded on

LGBTQ officeholders

US Sen. Laphonza Butler (D-Calif.), the first Black lesbian US senator

• The leadership that was shown by President Biden has been shown over five decades. This man has been a public servant to the people of this country, not always perfect, but always committed, not always exact, but always in the game
• [Following his example] let us all aspire to have the opportunity to put our personal egos aside and to put the people before any personal achievement
• [Biden’s] full throated endorsement of California’s daughter, Vice President Kamala Harris, is just another display of the kind of leadership and the kind of human being that he is
• [His decision to step aside and endorse] the first woman to serve in the role of vice president, the first Black and South Asian woman to serve as vice president, has really inspired a movement across this country
• There’s so many comparisons to what took place in 2008 [with former President Barack Obama’s election]. The energy, the giving, the volunteerism, the excitement, the feel, the vibe of what is taking place across this country is absolutely electric
• LGBTQ+ leaders across this country, givers, volunteers, activists, we are going to make the difference in this election. Not only in the election of Vice President Harris, but we’re going to make sure that Democrats are able to keep the Senate, and make sure that we’re going to send the first Black person, the first Black man, to be the Speaker of the House of Representatives [the minority leader, U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York]
• It was mentioned that I am the first Black out LGBTQ+ leader in the Senate. I am only the third Black [person] to ever serve in the United States Senate. I am only the 12th Black person to ever serve in the institution’s 248 year history. What we have the opportunity to do is move beyond counting just a handful of representatives in the United States Senate and in the House of Representatives — we have the opportunity to kick the door wide open, to not just crack the glass ceiling, but to blow it out
• Rejecting the policies of Project 2025, rejecting Trumpism, rejecting sexism and ageism and racism and all the isms, to bring our country together, that is the kind of leader that I have known for more than a decade, that is who we have in Vice President Kamala Harris

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, the country’s first lesbian governor:

• I’m the first lesbian to be elected governor in the country. I was the first gay person to be elected attorney general in the country, and I took office at the time when Kamala Harris was attorney general in California
• But I actually came to know her before that, because back in 2004 I appreciated that she officiated same sex marriages in California. That was just about the time that we were in court here in Massachusetts over marriage equality. Flash forward to her time as attorney general, and I witnessed as she not only [refused to] defend the discriminatory Proposition 8 [but also petitioned] the court … to try to get that appealed
• Kamala Harris is a person of strength, of grace, of empathy, of compassion. And yes, she is tough, which is probably why Donald Trump backed out of a debate tonight. She’s obviously continued that advocacy as senator, as vice president
• And big shout out to President Biden, the first to step forward back in 2012 and declare that ‘love is love’ and gay people should be allowed to marry. That administration, the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris team, have done so much for our community
• There’s a lot of love and joy right now, and there should be, but I also want your dollars to be fueled by the stark reality of what’s coming if we don’t do the work
• Here’s what’s at issue: We are facing a situation where we may go back to a time — if we don’t do the work — [where LGBTQ people can be] discriminated against in school, in the workplace, at hospitals. Think about not having access to marriage equality, to Medicaid, to coverage under the Affordable Care Act, to all sorts of things. Think about the specter of no funding for HIV/AIDS prevention. Think about, once again, bans on transgender people from serving in the military and so, so much more
• If they’re coming for anyone’s rights, any of our rights, they’re coming for everyone’s rights. There’s a reason that Kamala chose ‘Freedom’ [by Beyoncé] as her song, right?

US Rep. Becca Balint, the first woman and first queer person elected to represent Vermont in Congress:

• [This event] gives me the hope and the energy we are going to need in the next 100 days as we do the hard and joyous work of electing Kamala Harris as our next president
• Now I know many of you have been discouraged by attacks on our community, and worried as we feel the weight of the stakes of this presidential race. We’ve been witnessing overt attacks on our civil rights in Washington, D.C., where I do my work, and in state capitals across the country
• We know, as history has shown us time and time again, when we make progress, there is always a backlash, and we have been in the midst of that backlash. It’s full of meanness of spirit, a denigration of democratic ideals. It’s full of dog whistles and racist comments and deep sexism
• But I know that we also have the ability to see this moment differently. It’s full of possibility and promise. I want us all to embrace it. Don’t give in to the cynical voices that say that we can’t elect a woman president. Of course we can. Let’s not have a failure of imagination. Of course we can elect a black woman. We have to stop parroting this idea that we are only as good as the most racist and sexist, people in our country

US Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.), the first lesbian mother elected to Congress:

• Ten years ago when I started running for Congress in this district that had been in Republican hands for like 68 of 72 years, nobody thought a Democrat could win, but certainly nobody thought a lesbian mother of four could win
• So when we think about what is possible in this election, we’re going to get Kamala Harris across the finish line, because she’s going to stand with legislators like me
• We’re going to work to make sure that the Equality Act is passed into law [so that] young people across this country don’t have to fight the fights that we fought

US Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.), the first gay Asian man elected to Congress:

• I want to tell you how excited I am that Kamala Harris will be our candidate for president United States, because I believe she can beat Donald Trump
• [We] need to do everything we can to step up and lift her up, so that she will be victorious. We need to decide right now that we are going to win this election — not just win the White House, but win the Congress
• If we don’t have that trifecta of the White House, a pro-equality House of Representatives, [and] a pro equality Senate, we will not get the Equality Act signed into law. [So] that’s going to be my job, it’s going to be your job, it’s going to be all our jobs to make sure that we set the conditions for full equality in November

Sarah McBride, Delaware’s first trans state senator who will become the first trans person in Congress if elected in November:

• I hope to join you all, not only as the nation’s first out trans member of Congress, but also as Joe Biden’s member of Congress. And I want to take a moment to thank Biden for always being exactly the kind of leader our nation needs at exactly the moment we need him
• He ran in 2020 to save our democracy, and he is passing the torch to a new generation, to Kamala Harris to do that once again in 2024 and that’s one of the many reasons why I’m proud to join my fellow Delawarean in support of our next president, Kamala Harris
• We come together tonight at a critical moment for the LGBTQ community, particularly transgender people like me across the country, Donald Trump, J.D. Vance and their Project 2025 agenda are crystal clear. They will spend the next four years seeking to manufacture culture wars and to divide and discriminate
• We saw it at the Republican Convention just last week. After building up expectations for a new Donald Trump gracing the stage with a focus on unity, what we saw when Donald Trump took that stage was the same old self-serving, insecure, incompetent trust fund baby that he has always been
• But I know our community was not surprised. We know Donald Trump. He’s the man who governed based on pettiness and grievance for four long years, who incited an insurrection and mocked victims of political violence, who attacked abortion rights, LGBTQ rights, voting rights and workers rights, every step of the way
• That’s what four more years of Donald Trump would mean, and that is the question in this election. Would we go backwards or do we move forward? Do we choose freedom over fear, hope over hatred? Do we return to the policies of the 1950s or do we build on the progress of the Biden-Harris administration, the most accomplished in modern history? That’s why we must elect Kamala Harris to the White House. It’s why we must keep the Senate, and it’s why we must flip the United States House of Representatives to not only defeat the politics of hate, but to move equality forward
• The responsibility in this election, to show a young trans person who fears that the heart of this country is not big enough to love them too, that no matter what extremists say or do that our next President and Vice President continue to have their back

Michele Rayner, the first lesbian Black woman to serve in the Florida Legislature:

• I was able to finalize an adoption for two of my best friends, two gay dads who were able to adopt their queer, nonbinary child. And guess what? That’s what happens in an America where Joe Biden is the president and he hands the torch to Kamala Harris. That’s what happens when we have love over hate
• I’m all in for [Kamala Harris]. I’m all in not just because of experiences that I’ve had with her, being able to spend time with her, I’m all in because, listen, right now, right now, justice is on the ballot, and the people are on the ballot. Our very lives are at stake, and she has a proven track record
• My good friend, [Florida state] Sen. Shervin Jones, used my phrase, ‘you can’t compare what you don’t compete. Baby, there is no competition. I don’t know what the competition is. I don’t know what we’re comparing. We’re comparing one of the most accomplished stateswomen that has ever ran for office, that’s ever ran for the presidency, against the other person that’s 34 times convicted
• I was thinking about what my mother endured while she was integrating the University of South Florida, what Vice President Harris’s mother endured when she came to the United States and fought her way
• We are our queer, LGBTQ ancestors’ wildest dreams. And it is incumbent upon us to do the thing, because they are giving us the strength to do it. They are giving us the fight to do it

Lorena Austin, Arizona’s first chicane gender non-conforming state legislator:

• I was elected as the first chicane nonbinary legislator in the country. So don’t tell me that we can’t do this. Don’t tell me that we can’t make progress. And I’ll tell you right now, we’re not going back
• Talking about marriages, something that’s been established for so long, Kamala was one of the first people — let’s give it up for our future president, Kamala Harris, who, on the day that marriage was passed in our nation, she said, ‘let us get married right now. Not in a few hours from now. Right now. I demand it’
• Here in the state of Arizona, our LGBTQ+ rights are on the line every single day. We see nothing but record numbers of anti LGBTQ bills. Here in the state of Arizona, I’m doing everything I can to combat those bills, and thankfully, we have defeated so many of them
• But I know I’m just annoyingly optimistic that we’re going to get the job done, because we have Kamala on this ticket

Pennsylvania state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, the first gay person of color to serve in the Pennsylvania General Assembly:

• I am in Erie, which is a battleground county in a battleground state. We love the work of the Biden Harris administration. They have stood with Black women’s maternal health, a problem here, in a way you might not understand the rest of this country. They are standing with our youth
• You know Kamala Harris’s record. You all know that there is nobody more qualified to be our next president. And you know that on the other side of the ledger, we have folks who couldn’t care less, and in fact, are as antagonistic and aggressively backwards as you could possibly be. [But] candidates don’t win elections. You win elections

LGBTQ advocacy leaders

Advocates 4 Trans Equality Executive Director Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen:

• This is history in the making, and what I’m most excited about with this election is that it it is so easy for any of us to get scared and worried in these times, these unprecedented times. But now with this election, we don’t have to just watch this happen anymore. We get to take control. We now get to be in the driver’s seat by voting, by getting our friends registered, getting them out to vote. We get to be in control, and we get to make history happen
• This is not the only time we’re going to be getting together, y’all, right? This is only the start of some incredible work we’re going to be able to do together to get this over the finish line and not just elect President Harris, which we will, but usher in a new era where all of us can be our authentic selves no matter who we are

National LGBTQ+ Task Force Action Fund Executive Director Kierra Johnson:

• The National LGBTQ+ Task Force Action Fund is supporting Kamala because we know she’s a candidate who will protect the right to vote and protect the right for fair elections. [Some might say] ‘that’s not an LGBTQ issue!’ Like hell it isn’t! We can’t do anything without protecting democracy
• This is the first time since President Carter that the Task Force Action Fund has endorsed a presidential candidate. That is no small thing. And we are excited to be putting our energy and our excitement and our feet on the ground for this campaign
• We know LGBTQ children are under attack in schools, and voting for Kamala on Nov. 5 will ensure that Project 2025 and Agenda 47, which would put the lives of trans and nonbinary youth at risk under the guise of parental rights, doesn’t move an inch

HRC President Kelley Robinson:

• I am so grateful to President Joe Biden and the greatest decision that he made, to pass the torch to Kamala Harris to be that standard bearer that helps us think of ‘what can be, without being burdened by what has been,’ right, as our good soon-to-be president says
• This time, we’re not just choosing between two candidates. We are choosing between two different futures for our country, two different futures for our kids, at a moment where we’ve got to make sure, make it clear, and make it explicit
• We’re not just going to beat Trump. We’re going to stomp out Trumpism and all the MAGA-ism wherever it lives and where it lies, because in this moment, we’re going to ensure that love triumphs over hate, that hope triumphs over fear…that joy is available to every single one of us
• I just got back from Milwaukee, Wis.,, where the Republican National Convention was, and let me tell you, we are dealing with a unified opposition. They are unified in their hate. They’re unified in their bigotry, in their sexism and their racism. And coming together today, we’re showing them that we’re unified too
• We have to be clear, especially as queer folks, as people of color, this ain’t the hardest it’s ever been. There’s always been moments that call our values into question as a nation, our humanity into question, and it’s always been people like us that step up and protect it. I’m talking about those activists that came through during the AIDS crisis. I’m talking about the Civil Rights leaders who marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge [and those who stood up for marriage equality and trans rights]
• When you’re experiencing a breakdown like the one we’re in — a social breakdown, a spiritual breakdown, a cultural one — there’s usually a breakthrough waiting for you on the other side

Washington Blade courtesy of the National LGBTQ Media Association.