NY Times Endorses Klobuchar, Warren: Brush Up on Their LGBTQ Records

The New York Times' editorial board surprised readers by endorsing two candidates for the Democratic nomination for president: Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar and Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren.

The Times has not endorsed two candidates for the nomination before (the newspaper gave the thumb's up to Hillary Clinton in 2016), but felt compelled this year to recommend two politicians its editors believe have the vision and strategy to not only defeat Donald Trump, but bring their policy plans to fruition.

While Warren and Klobuchar are viewed by many as very different politicians, with the former seen as more progressive and the latter more moderate, the Times said "when we spent significant time with the leading candidates, the similarity of their platforms on fundamental issues became striking... Where they differ most significantly is not the what but the how, in whether they believe the country's institutions and norms are up to the challenge of the moment."

The newspaper aired concerns over the ages of former vice president Joe Biden and Vermont senator Bernie Sanders (the latter recently suffered a heart attack and would be 79 when he assumed the presidency). The Times' editorial board also expressed worry over Sanders's own stated resistance to compromise. Of 38-year-old gay candidate Pete Buttigieg, the paper said, "His showing in the lead-up to the primaries predicts a bright political future; we look forward to him working his way up."

The paper found satisfaction with Warren and Klobuchar, two politicians who have worked across aisles and had much success when running for political office.

Of Klobuchar, "The senator from Minnesota is the very definition of Midwestern charisma, grit and sticktoitiveness. Her lengthy tenure in the Senate and bipartisan credentials would make her a deal maker (a real one) and uniter for the wings of the party -- and perhaps the nation."

Regarding Warren, the Times says she "is a gifted storyteller. She speaks elegantly of how the economic system is rigged against all but the wealthiest Americans... Her campaign's plans, in general, demonstrate a serious approach to policymaking that some of the other candidates lack."

The senators LGBTQ records aren't mentioned in the endorsement, so we present them below:

Elizabeth Warren:

The U.S. senator from Massachusetts has a long record of LGBTQ advocacy. She was an early supporter of marriage equality and of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act; in her first year in office, 2013, she gave a speech on the Senate floor urging her colleagues to pass ENDA, which would have instituted a nationwide ban on employment discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. It's never passed both houses of Congress in the same session, and it's now been superseded by the pending Equality Act, which includes housing, public accommodations, and other aspects of life in addition to employment. Warren is a strong supporter of the Equality Act. She also has denounced Trump's attempts to bar transgender people from the military, supported efforts to classify conversion therapy as fraud, and called for an end to discrimination against gay and bisexual men who wish to donate blood. This year, she spoke to the one blot on her LGBTQ record, a 2012 statement that court-ordered gender-confirmation surgery for a transgender prisoner was not a good use of tax dollars. Her campaign staff said she supports access to all medically necessary procedures, including transition-related ones, for prisoners and everyone else. She also showed solidarity with trans people by listing her preferred pronouns on her Twitter profile.

"Elizabeth is committed to standing side-by-side with LGBTQ+ people until each and every person has a fighting chance to build a brighter future for themselves and feels safe to be who they are," her campaign website states. "Equal is equal." The site notes her support for the Equality Act as well as the Do No Harm Act, which would prevent religious liberty from being used as an excuse for discrimination, and the Refund Equality Act, which would allow same-sex couples to file amended returns for the years they were denied the right to file federal taxes jointly because of the Defense of Marriage Act. It also points out that she wants to provide universal health care coverage by expanding Medicare to all Americans, and that care would be provided without any discrimination against LGBTQ people.

Amy Klobuchar:

Amy Klobuchar was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2006, the first woman elected to that body from Minnesota. Before that she was Hennepin County attorney, running the largest prosecutor's office in the state. As a senator, she has racked up high scores on the Human Rights Campaign's Congressional Scorecard, initially in the 90s and more recently a string of perfect 100 scores. In 2009 she recommended Minneapolis assistant police chief Sharon Lubinski to be a U.S. marshal, and President Obama nominated Lubinski and the Senate confirmed her, making her the first openly gay person to hold such a post. In 2013, as vice chair of the Senate's Joint Economic Committee, she released a report showing that anti-LGBTQ discrimination is costly to employers because of the turnover it causes.

Among her first actions as president would be a reversal of the trans military ban and an end to the Department of Justice's arguments in court that anti-LGBTQ discrimination should be allowed despite the Civil Rights Act, along with stopping other federal efforts to enable discrimination, according to a first 100 days plan she released on Medium. She would seek passage of the Equality Act, which she has cosponsored as a senator, in the first year of her presidency. She has also pledged to expand efforts to reduce LGBTQ homelessness, address LGBTQ suicide rates, increase access to PrEP, and create an office of LGBTQ Antidiscrimination within the White House Domestic Policy Council, she noted in the Medium post.