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Why queer Democrat Emily Randall says she walked out of Trump’s presidential address

Democrat lawmakers hold signs protest President Donald Trump

Tom Brenner for The Washington Post via Getty Images

Democrat lawmakers hold up signs to protest as President Donald Trump addresses a joint session of Congress in the Capitol building's House chamber in Washington, D.C., on March 4, 2025.

U.S. Rep. Emily Randall also wondered why JD Vance stood behind the president “palms up in the air as if trying to get a crowd to rise.”

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On Tuesday, as President Donald Trump delivered his first joint address to Congress since returning to the White House, Democratic LGBTQ+ lawmakers made it clear they wouldn’t sit idly by while he spewed lies and attacks. Some, like Vermont U.S. Rep. Becca Balint, refused to attend altogether. Others, like Washington U.S. Rep. Emily Randall, showed up to make a statement—but still walked out when they reached their breaking point.

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Randall told The Advocate she had no illusions about what Trump would say. But she initially felt it was important to be in the room.

“He’s in our house. He’s in the people’s house when he comes to do a joint session,” the queer lawmaker said. “And I believe it’s important that we stand and listen and witness and don’t cede our territory just because we disagree or we know he’s lying.”

That changed when Trump used a child cancer survivor in the gallery as a political prop—while simultaneously pushing devastating Medicaid cuts.

“The hypocrisy of pointing to a child to score political points at the same time that he is working along with Republicans in the House to gut Medicaid as we know it was a bridge too far for me,” Randall said. “And that’s when I stood up and left.”

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She wasn’t alone in her defiance. A coordinated effort by the Congressional Progressive Caucus saw members hold signs on issues their communities are fighting for—Randall’s read “Save Medicaid.” Florida Rep. Maxwell Frost and Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett also walked out, revealing shirts reading “No kings live here” and “RESIST,” respectively.

Randall said the tension in the chamber was palpable, describing a surreal moment when Trump complained that Democrats weren’t smiling or cheering for him.

“JD Vance stood behind him and raised both hands, palms up in the air as if trying to get a crowd to rise,” she recalled. “What do you think this is? This is not a joint address on the state of the nation. You are trying to feel like the crowd is cheering for you.”

Trump’s speech was riddled with attacks on the LGBTQ+ community, leaning hard into the GOP’s culture war playbook. He falsely claimed that gender-affirming care for transgender youth is “child mutilation” and celebrated his administration’s sweeping rollbacks of LGBTQ+ protections.

He railed against “they/them pronouns,” mocked diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, and, in a bizarre moment, referenced “transgender mice”—an apparent misunderstanding of scientific studies on sex differences in medical research.

“None of his words about LGBTQ folks last night surprised me,” Randall said. “What is disturbing and frustrating is that they were carefully crafted to score political points, to have an applause line, to get people to cheer, to play to the base.”

Trump’s administration has already taken aggressive action against LGBTQ+ people since his return to office. Executive orders have stripped federal protections for transgender workers, banned gender-affirming care for minors nationwide, and rescinded Title IX protections for LGBTQ+ students. His administration has also pushed for policies that allow government employees and businesses to refuse service to LGBTQ+ people based on “religious beliefs.”

“He’s demonizing science by talking about studies on mice and rats in labs,” Randall said. “He’s also demonizing science by putting freezes on real grants for research that say you must use a diversity of samples because it says ‘diversity’… Now, the ends to which this administration will go to use LGBTQ+ people as a political [tool] is wild.”

Tuesday night’s walkout was just the latest act of resistance by LGBTQ+ lawmakers in a Congress that continues to be dominated by Trump loyalists. While Balint skipped the address entirely, Reps. Robert Garcia, Sarah McBride, and Ritchie Torres brought guests directly impacted by Trump’s policies—including labor leaders and a fired USAID official—to highlight the real-world harm caused by his administration.

Despite the night’s theatrics, Randall made it clear she and her colleagues wouldn’t stop fighting.

“We are a coequal branch of government,” she said. “The members of the House of Representatives work for their constituents. We are responsible to our constituents.”

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