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Nessel said that Kamala Harris' actions as Attorney General of California over 13 years ago "meant a lot" to her, as Harris "was fighting for families like mine."
Dana Nessel has a message for Republicans seeking to roll back LGBTQ+ rights.
The Attorney General of Michigan rallied crowds at the Democratic National Convention last night, giving an impassioned speech reflecting on Kamala Harris' record defending marriage equality. Nessel said that Harris' actions as Attorney General of California over 13 years ago "meant a lot" to her, as Harris "was fighting for families like mine."
"Being Attorney General is a tough job, right? But as California's Attorney General, Kamala Harris never shied away from a good fight," she said. "What really stands out is when she stood up and protected her constituents' freedoms. In 2011, she refused to defend California's ban on same-sex marriage. She refused to argue that some families should have fewer rights than other families."
Nessel continued to say that she faced a similar dilemma in 2022 when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, ended the national right to an abortion, and Michigan's restrictions on the health care went back into effect. Nessel said that "Vice President Harris had my back" at the time by reminding her "that protecting people's lives and defending their rights is our job."
"Just as the same-sex marriage ban was overturned in California, so too was the abortion ban in Michigan," she said. "By the way, I've got a message for the Republicans and the justices of the United States Supreme Court: You can pry this wedding band from my cold, dead, gay hand."
Nessel became the state's first out gay Attorney General when she was sworn into office on January 1, 2019. She is a former criminal prosecutor and civil rights attorney who helped win the landmark court case overturning Michigan's ban on marriage equality, DeBoer v. Snyder. The case was eventually consolidated with Ohio's Obergefell v. Hodges as well as cases from Kentucky and Tennessee, then heard before the U.S. Supreme Court, resulting in the 2015 marriage equality ruling.
Nessel concluded her speech Wednesday calling voters to action, stating: "I know that whether she's attorney general or president of the United States, Kamala Harris will always be in our corner."
