Yesterday, Democratic vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz defended transgender rights at length during his appearance on the We Can Do Hard Things podcast.During the discussion, co-host Abby Wambach discussed Walzs sponsorship of a gay-straight alliance while he worked as a school teacher in the 1990s. She said, Well, thank you Governor Walz so much for protecting, even in the late 90s, queer kids. And so I have to ask, what will a Harris-Walz administration do to protect our queer kids today? Related Kamala Harris points out that Trump supported gender-affirming care for inmates in Fox interview The Trump campaign has been attacking Harris for supporting the Constitutional right to health care in prison. She was ready with a response. Walz promptly responded by discussing possible actions that he and Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris could take, such as advocating for LGBTQ+ people, opposing hate crimes, and increasing education. He also talked of judges. Stay connected to your community Connect with the issues and events that impact your community at home and beyond by subscribing to our newsletter. Subscribe to our Newsletter today We need to appoint judges who uphold the right to marriage, uphold the right to be who you are, making sure thats the case, uphold the right to get the medical care that you need, Walz said. We should not be naive. Those appointments are really, really important. I think thats what the vice president is committed to.He then pivoted to talking about the harms that anti-trans ads shown across the country have been doing. Such ads have been a strong focus of former President Donald Trump while campaigning as the Republican presidential nominee.We see it now: The hate has shifted to the trans community, Walz said. They see that as an opportunity. If youre watching any sporting events right now, you see that Donald Trumps closing arguments are to demonize a group of people for being who they are.Were out there trying to make the case that access to healthcare, a clean environment, manufacturing jobs, and keeping your local hospital open are what people are really concerned about, he continued. Theyre running millions of dollars of ads demonizing folks who are just trying to live their lives. He then talked about the struggles of coming out for queer kids and how that can entirely change a familys politics.Look, youre reaching a lot of folks in hearing this, and for some people, [their anti-LGBTQ+ prejudice is] not even out of malice and its not a pejorative; its out of ignorance, he said. They maybe have not been around people. Youve all seen this, however it takes you to get there. But I know its a little frustrating when you see folks have an epiphany when their child comes out to them.Harris made a similar though shorter defense of trans people in her recent interview with Fox News Brett Baier. He had pressed her on the issue of trans rights, but she pivoted to talk about how shell enforce current laws protecting trans people and added that most Americans do not care about trans issues, making them a distraction from more pressing topics.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.