Vice President Kamala Harris claimed Thursday that Republican policies mean that gay teachers can’t put up family photos and blasted the GOP for wanting to ‘ban books’ while Democrats want to ban assault weapons.
Harris keynoted the American Federation of Teachers Convention in Houston, Texas Thursday morning, lauding the group for being the first union to endorse her presidential bid this week on the heels of President Joe Biden bowing out.
She riled up the crowd by slamming GOP positions – attacking ‘don’t say gay’ laws, Republicans’ push against ‘critical race theory’ and the opposition’s views on how to curtail school shootings.
‘And while you teach students about our nation’s past, these extremists attack the freedom to learn and acknowledge our nation’s true and fully history, including book bans in the year of our Lord 2024,’ Harris said. ‘We want to ban assault weapons and they want to ban books.’
The likely Democratic presidential nominee also hit Republican ‘extremists’ for attacking the ‘freedom to love.’
Vice President Kamala Harris riled up the audience at the American Federation of Teachers’ convention in Houston on Thursday
Attendees cheer as Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during the American Federation of Teachers’ 88th national convention
‘They passed so-called “don’t say gay” laws,’ Harris noted.
The vice president recalled how she was one of the first public officials, back in 2004 while serving as San Francisco’s district attorney, to perform same-sex weddings.
‘So here’s the thing, it pains me so, to think 20 years later that there are some young teachers in their 20s who are afraid to put up a photograph of themselves and their partner for fear they could lose their job,’ she said.
‘And what is their job? The most noble of work – teaching other people’s children,’ she continued.
‘And God knows we don’t pay you enough as it is,’ the vice president added.
Former President Donald Trump’s failed 2024 rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, signed his into law the so-called ‘don’t say gay’ bill, which bars ‘classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity.’
More broadly, Harris took on the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, which lists a number of far-right proposals that the think tank hopes the Trump administration will implement should the Republican be victorious in the fall.
‘Randi, can you believe they put that thing in writing?’ Harris asked AFT President Randi Weingarten, one of the women who introduced her Thursday.
‘So Project 2025 is a plan to return America to a dark past,’ the VP said. ‘Donald Trump and his extreme allies want to take our nation back to failed trickle down economic policies, back to union busting, back to tax breaks for billionaires.’
The audience booed each time she ticked off a list item.
‘Donald Trump and his allies want to cut Medicare and Social Security, to stop student loan forgiveness for teachers and other public servants, and I say to AFT, they even want to eliminate the Department of Education,’ she said.
That got a loud boo.
‘And end Head Start, which, or course would take away pre-school from hundreds of thousands of our children,’ Harris added.
The Republican National Committee reacted to Harris’ speech by calling her ‘dangerously liberal.’
Harris has had a whirlwind four days after President Joe Biden announced Sunday he was exiting the 2024 presidential race, endorsing his vice president in the process.
On Monday, Harris visited the Wilmington, Delaware campaign headquarters she was inheriting from Biden.
She stepped out on the campaign trail Tuesday in Milwaukee, where Republicans had concluded their national convention last week.
Harris appeared before the historically black Zeta Phi Beta sorority in Indiana Wednesday before heading to Houston, where she made a surprise stop at the city’s emergency response headquarters before tuning into Biden’s Oval Office address.
The vice president will fly back to D.C. for a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later Thursday afternoon.
She riled up pro-Palestinian protesters earlier Thursday by issuing a statement condemning ‘pro-Hamas graffiti and rhetoric’ that was used during Wednesday’s protests of Netanyahu’s Congressional address.
American flags and a Netanyahu effigy were burned outside of D.C.’s Union Station, with the fountain inked with the words, ‘Hamas is coming.’