Life

Angelica Ross calls on Joe Biden to do more than “bare minimum” for LGBTQ+ people: “We need you to act”

By Conor Clark

2nd March 2022

YouTube [Logo] | US Government

Angelica Ross called on President Joe Biden and his administration to do more to “protect” America’s LGBTQ+ community.

The Pose star used her 1 March LGBTQ+ State of the Union address for Logo to highlight the inequalities facing queer people in the country.

“We are all living through a moment of unprecedented loss, financial hardship and sociopolitical discord,” she told viewers.

“We know these issues disproportionately impact the most marginalised among us, so we need our leaders to be doing more to protect our LGBTQ+ community — but most particularly our Black trans sisters and siblings.”

Ross stated that “this very critical inflexion point” in history will define the future and that it is up to us to hold “our communities, our local representatives and our nation’s lawmakers” to account.

2021 became the deadliest year on record for trans and gender non-confirming people in the United States.

The 41-year-old stated that “honest and intersectional conversation” needs to be had to acknowledge the “most vulnerable among us,” especially given the “epidemic of transphobic violence” taking place in America.

“Drop me a line, honey, you have my number,” she told Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

Although she acknowledged the “tonal shift” of the government since Donald Trump was voted out in 2020, Ross stated that she would not praise “the current administration with praise for doing the bare minimum”.

“You say trans youth are brave and claimed to have their backs, and your administration has not done enough to sufficiently protect them,” the star added. “Talk is cheap. We need you to act.”

She urged legislators to “continue putting pressure” on getting the Equality Act passed to bring more protections for LGBTQ+ people into law.

“You can skip the reactionary Twitter threads, honey,” Ross remarked. “Our community needs proactive protections.”

She praised trans and non-binary people in America for their “remarkable” and “powerful” behaviour in the face of anti-LGBTQ+ bills, such as Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law which is closer than ever to being signed into law.

“But listen up, my dears, because this is important,” she concluded.

“You are remarkable. You are powerful. You are unstoppable.

“No amount of hateful rhetoric will ever change that.”