(Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
(CNSNews.com) – Democratic presidential candidate and former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg has pledged to reverse the ban on transgender people serving in the military and “rescind the exclusion of coverage of gender-affirming care in the Veterans Health Administration.”
According to his campaign website, he also plans to review and restore honorable discharges and military benefits to veterans who were discharged solely for being LGBTQ+ prior to the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
Bloomberg plans to offer “gender-affirming” health care, which includes sex-change surgery and hormonal therapy for transgender people, through expansion of “a Medicare-like public option.”
Bloomberg plans to make violence against “transgender women of color” – biological males who identify as women – “a top federal priority.
He plans to “establish a comprehensive approach to addressing violence against LGBTQ+ people, especially transgender women of color.”
“He will make hate and bias crimes a top federal priority; reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act and fund family justice centers and community-based programs like Cure Violence; and mandate oversight, accountability and training for federal law enforcement,” his website stated.
Bloomberg also plans to “fund training in de-escalation and implicit bias, and investigate and reform police agencies with an abusive history, including against LGBTQ+ people.”
He plans to launch an initiative to combat bullying, harassment, and discrimination called “Respect for All.” He also plans to “promote school-based mental health programs, including suicide prevention efforts, and protect LGBTQ+ youth from the harmful practice of conversion therapy.”
Bloomberg plans to “expand support for shelters and services for homeless and runaway youth, and ensure equal treatment of child and families in the child welfare system, as well as LGBTQ+ seniors in federally funded long-term care facilities.”
He plans to “restore White House leadership on LGBTQ+ issues at home and abroad, appointing cabinet members and staff who represent the full diversity of the country.” He also plans to “recommit the U.S. to the effort to eradicate HIV/AIDS worldwide by 2030.”
Bloomberg pledges to “fight to pass the Equality Act to guarantee protection for LGBTQ+ people in all facets of life—employment, housing, credit, education, public accommodations and federally funded programs—and will take executive action to ensure equal benefits and protections for LGBTQ+ federal government employees, as well as employees of firms that do business with the federal government.”
He plans to “step up anti-discrimination enforcement by conducting affirmative, systematic civil rights testing to identify and address LGBTQ+ discrimination.”
Bloomberg plans to make the HIV prevention drug PrEP available without a prescription. He plans to “fund bias training for health professionals that includes the LGBTQ+ community.” He also plans to “invest in research, care and prevention to end HIV/AIDS by 2030, including fully funding the Ryan White CARE Act.” Furthermore, he plans to “ensure mental health coverage, improve screening and treatment for depression and address substance use disorder.”
