From the DNC floor, Kamala Harris is ready to stand up against bullies. Here’s how.

Kevin Munoz, senior spokesperson for the Harris-Walz campaign, was busy on Wednesday, the third day of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, as would be expected. The 28-year-old out former assistant press secretary for the Biden administration was traveling between venues when his first interview availability slipped by. Thirty minutes later, another vanished. When he finally called it was to say he couldn’t talk.

“Don’t kill me, but I have another thing. Are you here?”

“I am in San Francisco,” I answered.

“OK, you are not here.”

Your LGBTQ+ guide to Election 2024

Stay ahead of the 2024 Election with our newsletter that covers candidates, issues, and perspectives that matter.

Daily

Weekly

Good News

I wish that I were. This year’s Democratic National Convention is off the hook with excitement, optimism, and the operating principle for the Harris-Walz campaign: joy. And it’s infectious.

Munoz asked me again not to kill him when he texted and pushed the interview another hour, finally writing, “Just call me.”

I didn’t have to. Munoz called me first, saying, “Sorry for the delay, but I’m here now.”

LGBTQ Nation: Where did I find you today?

You are finding me at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois.

Do you have a view of the floor?

This [space] is on the side, so there’s no windows. It’s in the back. But I try to go in there when I can. I went in to watch roll call yesterday. I’m from Florida, and I saw Florida do its roll call, which was really fun. But Georgia just — I don’t know if you watched — took the cake.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Queerty (@queerty)

It was quite a show. I love the roll call, but that was on steroids.

Simultaneously, there was a rally in Milwaukee, which was a really spectacular troll on former President Trump, and it was clear to anyone watching that the message for the Harris-Walz campaign is “Freedom,” with the word spelled out in capital letters on giant digital billboards around the arena. Harris has said that reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ rights, and the right to live without fear of gun violence are among a group of “fundamental freedoms” that she’ll fight for as president. Describe how President Harris would fight for LGBTQ+ rights and what has prepared her for that task.

Well, look, let’s start with the last question first. We say Kamala Harris “For the People,” and that’s not a slogan. That’s her way of being. That is how she approaches the work that she has done since she has been a prosecutor throughout her career: as an attorney general, as a senator, now as vice president. And this is someone that you know. She’s shared her story throughout her lifetime as a daughter of immigrants, as somebody who understands what it takes and what is needed to stand up against bullies and to fight for what is right.

“One of the things that I know is deeply personal to the Vice President, is talking about issues, not as an ideologue, but approaching them as a human being.”

Kevin Munoz, senior spokesperson for the Harris-Walz campaign

And when you think about the moment we are in, we are running against the most — I don’t know the word to say [laughs] — probably like, the bully, you know, the guy that has no vision for the future, no plan for the American people, no interest in helping the American people. And so he runs on this politics and this platform of putting people down because he’s making this bad bet that he can divide the American people, scare the American people. Kamala Harris and Tim Walz say things differently. They know that unity is our strength. They both have a history of fighting for freedoms.

What’s interesting to me is that freedom is often this word that was co-opted by the right for so long. It’s something that people said that the Democratic Party was taking away people’s rights or not letting people live the way they want. That could not be further from the truth. And what we are seeing every single day in states, with my home state, Ron DeSantis, or you look at Donald Trump, they want to tell you what you can and cannot read, what you can and cannot do with your body, who you are. So I think that taking that back at the moment that we are in, and the choice — because this election will be a choice — is really important. We are running against somebody who wants to take away those freedoms, and I think that we have to tell that story.

As it relates to your top line question, I would take a step back from the Biden-Harris administration. I was part of it until I joined the campaign last April — I launched the campaign, actually, I was our spokesperson. It’s the most pro-equality administration in history. And that is not by accident, and that is by intentional efforts by the administration to really aggressively look at what executive actions the U.S. government can do to make life better for all Americans, and that includes LGBTQ+ individuals.

Obviously it’s important to make sure there’s non-discrimination and expanding access to health care for every single person. But LGBTQ+ Americans care about health care, they care about good jobs, they care about safer communities. They want to make sure there’s a justice system in place that treats everybody with equal dignity under the law.

Related:

Pete Buttigieg, Oprah Winfrey & Tim Walz destroy Trump & Vance during DNC’s third night

Four LGBTQ+ speakers graced the stage, with one of them telling the Supreme Court, “You can pry this wedding band from my cold, dead, gay hand!”

I’m aware of about a dozen pretty high-placed LGBTQ+ staffers in the Biden and Harris administrations. Washington has always attracted many LGBTQ+ people to government and service. What’s the difference between LGBTQ+ people working on the Biden and Harris teams and being gay staffers in the White House in the past?

It’s so interesting. It’s never felt different. And it’s because these are people who understand that our party, our coalition, and our country are stronger because of our diversity. And it doesn’t matter who you love; it doesn’t matter how you identify. It matters if you are going to put in the work to make our country better, and it’s great.

Another thing that I think people don’t think about is that it’s not just that we’re not different, but it’s actually that we bring additional perspective and expertise to hard situations. I worked on COVID at the White House, and then I worked on Mpox. It’s June 2022, and we’re starting to see some news on this. COVID had slowed down a little bit. And what we saw was this kind of challenging public health issue, but very targeted towards the gay community and men who have sex with men, the term used by the CDC. Sure, this is an issue that lives in the public health space, but it also is an issue uniquely impacting one community.

And what we knew we needed to do early on was make sure we were building a response that was culturally competent, and that reached our community, especially as we were entering Pride Month, especially as we were addressing the kind of stigma and the trauma of a generation of Americans and LGBTQ+ Americans that had been stigmatized by the U.S. government and making sure we did it right. We brought in the head of the HIV unit at the CDC, Demetre Daskalakis; he was able to provide innovative ways to make sure vaccination was available at every notable Pride event across the country. These are the types of things that I think move the ball.

There are many biographical details that comprise a candidate’s story when choosing a vice president. How important in that choice was Tim and Gwen Walz’s experience working with a student at the high school they both taught at to start a gay-straight alliance and how does that real-life experience play into or represent the goals of a Harris-Walz administration?

That original student that was part of the Gay-Straight Alliance — you gotta meet him, Greg, you have to talk to him. The detail he has about how the Walzes stepped up and did the thing that wasn’t necessarily the thing they had to do, but knew it was the right thing to do. It’s lovely. Taking a student to see the Indigo Girls. You can’t fake character. This is stuff more than 20 years ago. It’s a reflection of somebody who has always had a moral compass that transcends its time.

And I think about then-Attorney General Harris when same-sex marriage was finally legalized in California. You know the story of when somebody was getting denied their marriage license, and she just immediately got on the phone. I think these are people who understand that government is for you, and the contrast could not be more clear.

You served as assistant press secretary with Karine Jean-Pierre in the Biden administration. From your personal perspective, as a gay man, how did the appointment of the first out woman to such a highly visible position affect you?

I count Karine as a friend and a mentor, and I think what you see is just someone who has been so courageous and brave and honest and just like cool — honestly, I don’t have a better word than that about who she is. She’s been honest about her experience and the challenges she’s faced. And what it continues to show so many of us is that anything is possible. And I know that sounds a little bit like a cliché, but it’s not. It’s a reflection of people that we are standing on the shoulders of. The question of who I am has never inhibited my work, and I feel really grateful for that. And it’s because of people like Karine.

After you left the White House in 2023, were there other gay staffers in Jean-Pierre’s inner circle that picked up the slack?

[Laughing] There are still, I think, and there always will be. We always find our way into to being flacks because that’s our thing.

What are you most looking forward to in a Harris-Walz administration?

I think the thing that excites me the most when it comes to LGBTQ+ issues, I think the obvious one and the most critical one, because I don’t think people in a lot of communities in this country understand, is the critical importance of passing the Equality Act.

You would not expect a restaurant to be able to deny a same-sex couple service. But that is something that in parts of this country is a reality and a threat and a risk, and what we can do when we finally take back the House, keep the Senate, and elect Kamala Harris president is pass that because nobody should walk into any restaurant, any establishment in this country, and ever be in a situation in which they aren’t able to get the services that they need.

One of the things that this administration has done, and one of the things that I know is deeply personal to the Vice President, is talking about issues, not as an ideologue, but approaching them as a human being. She’s the daughter of a single mother. Look at her economic policy and her lowering costs speech. When a lot of folks think about Washington, they think of the Fed, and they think of interest rates — they think about it in these meta terms. Her first speech coming out of the gate was about, “I know, and you know, grocery costs are too high… I know, and you know, housing costs are too high,” and building up these plans that go after these corporations that are doing more than fine — and deserve to have a place in a capitalist society, they deserve to do well — but creating an environment where that doesn’t come at the cost of working people and just regular folks like you and me that want to make sure that eggs don’t cost too much, to make sure that they can go and get groceries for their family. I would not underestimate how important that is.

Last question: will you confirm or deny that both Beyoncé and Taylor Swift will be showing up at the DNC?

I would wave off of that.

[Laughing] OK.

I would say that this is a people-driven convention. It’s a real, human-driven thing. Stay tuned.

Don't forget to share: