If Harris takes office, she is expected to continue efforts to expand access to gender reassignment surgery, as pushed by President Biden, despite her previous decision as California’s attorney general to reject a similar request from prison inmates.
Harris served as California’s attorney general from 2011 to 2017, during which she came under fire for refusing to allow inmate Michelle Rael-Norseworthy to undergo sex reassignment surgery. Noseworthy was serving a 17-year sentence for killing an acquaintance behind bars in 1987.
At the time, Harris’ office argued that the surgery was unnecessary because the prison system was already adequately providing so-called gender reassignment care through hormone therapy and other treatments. But in April 2015, a federal judge overruled Harris, siding with Norseworthy and saying the surgery was medically necessary to treat the inmate’s psychological distress.
Harris’ shift from tough-on-crime prosecutor to social justice advocate has faced scrutiny from conservative groups
When questioned later during the 2019 presidential campaign, when she was the Democratic candidate, Harris reversed her decision and said she took “full responsibility” for her office’s actions.
“As you correctly point out, I served two terms as attorney general of the state of California and had numerous clients that I was obligated to defend and represent, and I was not able to fire them. Unfortunately, situations arose where clients took positions that were contrary to my beliefs,” she said at a press conference at Howard University at the time. “And this was an office with a large number of people that I worked with every day. Do I ever wish that they had consulted with me personally before writing? Yes, I do. But at the end of the day, the responsibility is mine. I take full responsibility for what my office did.”
Meanwhile, Harris recently hired a senior adviser with a history of posting sexist online messages mocking women and gays, as well as an individual who appeared to criticize her on social media after her 2019 presidential election loss.
of Harris’ campaign announced Earlier this week, the company hired Kamau M. Marshall, who served as strategic communications director for Joe Biden in 2020, a senior adviser to the Biden-Harris campaign and a former senior adviser to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, before deleting thousands of old posts this week, as a senior adviser for 2024.
But Harris’ record is otherwise consistently progressive: As attorney general, she refused to support Proposition 8, which passed with a majority of California voters but put a ban on same-sex marriage in the California Constitution that was later overturned in court.
And last month, health officials under the Biden-Harris administration successfully asked an international transgender medical nonprofit to remove age restrictions from guidelines for transgender surgery for adolescents, unsealed court documents showed.
Abortion and “free” education top issues for Harris supporters
LGBTQ flag. (Luis C. Ribeiro for NY Daily News via Getty Images)
The documents, first reported by The New York Times, revealed that staff members of Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary Rachel Levin had been lobbying the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) to remove the minimum age requirement altogether, to avoid attempts by conservative lawmakers to enact it into law.
After the report, the White House told Fox that “the Administration does not support the surgery on minors.”
However, the White House has reportedly since voiced its support for sex-reassignment surgery for children.
“We will continue to fight state and federal bans on gender reassignment care across the continuum of care, and respect the role of parents, families and physicians in these decisions — not politicians. Gender reassignment surgery is typically for adults, and we believe it should be,” said Neera Tanden, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council. 19thA nonprofit newsroom that champions gender and politics.
LGBTQ and transgender advocacy groups also rushed to endorse Harris after President Biden abruptly ended his reelection campaign last week and endorsed her instead.
“Advocates for Transgender Equality (A4TE) is proud to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris for president,” the group said in a statement. “Since taking office as the first woman of color to serve as the Vice President of the United States, Harris has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to improving the well-being of the transgender community.”
Flashback: New senior adviser to Harris campaign makes insensitive remarks about women and gays
US Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at the presidential campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, on July 22, 2024. (Erin Shaff/Pool via Reuters)
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“During her term as Vice President, Kamala Harris has worked with President Biden to build a strong foundation of support for transgender Americans. Since taking office, the Biden-Harris Administration has implemented significant steps to advance equality more than any other administration in our nation’s history.”
The Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBTQ advocacy group in the United States, also joined in, endorsing Harris in a lengthy statement.
“Vice President Kamala Harris is a trailblazer and has championed LGBTQ+ equality for decades, from spearheading the fight against hate crimes in San Francisco to working to end the so-called gay and transgender ‘panic defense’ in California to her early support for marriage equality and her leadership as Vice President.”
Fox News Digital’s Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.
