[ cheers and applause ] good evening, everyone, and welcome to a historic night. Cnns democratic president ial town hall, equality in america. Im don lemon, thank you so much for being here. There was a time when people were afraid, and you know many still are. Theyre afraid to come out to their friends and their families for fear of the consequences. Now it has been four years since the Supreme Court ruled same sex marriage is legal. It is a big step. But there is still a whole lot of work to do. Tonights cnn and the Human Rights Campaign have been hosting an unprecedented event where members of the Lgbtq Community and their allies can ask the candidates questions that are important to them. Well soon hear from senator amy klobuchar, julian castro, and businessman tom steyer. But first i want you to welcome to the stage now congressman beto orourke. Hey, everybody, good to see
you. How you doing, congressman . Good to see you. I saw you on the street and you introduced yourself. How m
that is why we re giving that s why we re here. not one black transwoman has taken the mic tonight, or black transman. blossom, we can t hear you. your actions have to speak louder than words. guess what? not one black transwoman has taken the mic tonight. not one black transman has taken the mic tonight. show me. blossom, blossom thank you, i appreciate it. blossom, you re a black transwoman. you have the mic in your hand. i ve taken it and given it back to you. we want to hear from you. we ve had transpeople of color and you re welcome, but we are proud and happy that you re here. we re proud and happy that you re here. remember, we re under a time constraint. thank you, blossom and i appreciate it. that s how anti-blackness works, amongst people of color. that s what anti-blackness looks like, the erasure of black