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CNN Live Event/Special

Equality in America Town Hall with Tom Steyer (D), Presidential Candidate. Aired 11:30p-12a ET

Aired October 10, 2019 - 23:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[23:30:00]

HENDERSON: Welcome back to CNN's Democratic presidential town hall, Equality in America. I'm Nia-Malika Henderson.

And tonight, audience members are asking the presidential candidates questions of importance to the LGBTQ community. It's now time for our final candidate of the night, businessman Tom Steyer.

(APPLAUSE)

TOM STEYER (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Hey, Nia.

HENDERSON: Welcome, Mr. Steyer. Great to see you. Thanks for being here.

STEYER: Thank you for having me.

HENDERSON: And we're going to just jump right in here.

STEYER: Great.

HENDERSON: We've got Tyler Rosenbaum, a corporate lawyer from Santa Monica. Tyler, what is your question for Mr. Steyer?

QUESTION: Good evening, Mr. Steyer. My question is...

STEYER: Tyler, please call me Tom. Everybody does.

QUESTION: OK, Tom, so my question relates to the Equality Act, which has been discussed at length tonight. As we all know, the conservative Supreme Court may well rule that current federal law does not protect LGBTQ Americans. So my question for you is, if that happens, what would you do if Republicans try to block the Equality Act from passing Congress to fix that, if they filibuster it or by other means? Or what happens if they say we'll only pass it for sexual orientation but not gender identity?

STEYER: Right. Tyler, so obviously what we're talking about here is a government that has been broken in many different ways, including this way, that they're not responding to the needs of the American people and in this case they're absolutely willing to discriminate against the LGBTQ community.

What I have done for the last 10 years is to try and organize Americans at the grassroots to push for justice throughout the society. So in this case, I understand that there may be people in the Congress who will push for the wrong thing, and it seems to me the only real way to push back against them is to go to the grassroots and get the people, their constituents, to push.

I've also talked about putting in term limits for congresspeople and senators. One of the things that's true in the United States about attitudes towards the LGBTQ community is that there's been a generational shift. And if we, in fact, push through what I've talked about, that people in D.C. find, you know, very awkward and unnerving, 12-year term limits for congresspeople and senators, we'd get a wave of new blood into the Congress of the United States.

(APPLAUSE)

I mean, we have a broken system. This is an example to me of a straightforward breakdown in terms of American values and American democracy. And our only real response is to push at the grassroots as hard as we can and, secondly, to have structural change in our government to break this, you know, stranglehold on our government and on the rights of the human beings who live in the United States of America.

HENDERSON: And I'm going to next bring in James Roman, who's from Los Angeles. He's a non-fiction author and producer of the Broadway show "Come from Away." He currently supports Mayor Pete Buttigieg. James, what's your question?

QUESTION: Tom?

STEYER: James?

(LAUGHTER)

QUESTION: AIDS is the gift that keeps on giving. Big pharmaceutical companies and the insurance industries profit. Truvada and similar prophylactic treatments are not a cure for AIDS. Pharmaceutical companies profit irrationally. There is no incentive for them to develop a cure because they continue to profit from people that have HIV for the rest of their lives. As president, how would you finance the science of developing a cure so that we can scale back the avarice of the pharmaceutical industry?

STEYER: James, that is right at the heart of our broken government, that question. We have a group of corporations led, really, by the drug companies who've bought our government. If you look at how we're being treated under law by those companies, it is somewhere between infuriating and scary.

They charge us more than they charge any other people in the whole world, sometimes 10 times more for the same drugs. And in this case, they're actually working to preserve long-term extremely valuable monopolies for themselves.

The way that we can go after that is by directing science through universities, through research to solve the problem. So if you look at what Mr. Trump has done, he has cut research funding across the board in every one of his different budgets. I think that's the exact wrong thing to do.

What we should be doing in a case like trying to come up with solutions to AIDS, with cures for AIDS, is going directly to the best scientists and funding them as much as necessary, as much as conceivably effective to make sure that we solve this problem.

But it's much bigger than that. These companies have bought the government. They are controlling what's going on in the government. They charge us what they want. We can't go to Canada to buy much -- the same drug much cheaper. And in fact, the government is prevented legally from negotiating with them. What's going on here is we're going to have to break ultimately the power of these corporations to own our government and to control what happens to us.

(APPLAUSE)

HENDERSON: And, Mr. Steyer, you lived in San Francisco in the 1980s. And this, of course, was the height of the AIDS crisis. How has that shaped your views on this topic?

STEYER: Well, I am lucky enough to live in San Francisco. And it's true that the AIDS crisis in San Francisco in the late '80s and early '90s was an out-of-control epidemic that no one really understood how broad it was going to be, how many people were going to be infected, and how many people were going to die.

And what it showed to me was a couple of things. One is, the community actually came together really strongly to respond to it. I'd go to a church, which is still bragging about how much work they did in the AIDS epidemic. But I had friends who quit their jobs to run hospices, that people really came together.

And in addition, to James' question, the amount of research that went into developing the cocktails that basically -- it didn't solve the problem, but it basically allowed people to live, you know, out a normal lifespan, was something that was a huge effort throughout America, but very specifically on the West Coast.

So I look at this as a place where there was something very scary and out of control, that Americans -- and don't forget, President Reagan would never admit to the AIDS crisis or do anything about it. But the country responded itself. Researchers responded. People in the community responded. People in churches responded. Actually, there was a great deal of caring that went out. And as devastating as it was in San Francisco, it wasn't nearly as bad as people were worried about, Nia, and that was really as a result of the work and caring that people put in.

HENDERSON: And our next question is from Carter Brown. Carter was fired from his job in Texas after his coworker discovered he was transgender. He started an advocacy organization for black transgender men like himself. Carter, your question.

QUESTION: Good evening, Tom.

(APPLAUSE)

STEYER: Carter.

QUESTION: To date, at least 19 black transgender women were murdered in the U.S. this year. Anti-transgender violence is an epidemic that many transgender Americans believe is not only largely due to a lack of protections, but also an extreme lack of prosecutions of these horrific crimes. Specifically what will you do to ensure that law enforcement and the judicial system prioritize penalizing these crimes and violence and murder against transgender citizens as hate crimes?

(APPLAUSE)

STEYER: So, Carter, there is nothing that I can think of that would be more painful as an American than what you just said, that there are citizens in our society who are being targeted for murder as a result of who they are. That is something which absolutely the resources -- police resources, shelters for people to go to, trying to take people off the street who may be homeless.

I know, in my hometown of San Francisco, 10 percent of the homeless people are transgender youths. So I know that this is a question at some level of resources of protection, but also of support for people who are in this circumstance and are particularly vulnerable.

But then the question about -- the second part of your question was, what are you going to do to make sure that the hate crimes are prosecuted?

QUESTION: Correct.

STEYER: There is -- look, this is a straightforward attack on humanity itself to kill somebody for who they are. That has got to be the definition of a hate crime. We have got to prosecute those as severely as possible, as a symbol of who we are, a symbol of the thing that we won't put up with.

And every prosecutor has got to know that, that this is something that goes to the heart of American equality and justice. And that's got to be straightforward, unequivocal, not a 99 percent rule, a 100 percent rule.

QUESTION: Thank you, sir.

HENDERSON: And next up, we've got Arjun Subramonian, a sophomore at UCLA, studying computer science. Arjun, what's your question?

QUESTION: Hi, Tom.

STEYER: How are you doing?

QUESTION: At UCLA, I'm working with some other amazing queer students to put on Queer Hacks, a hack-a-thon which aims to bring visibility to the queer community and tech and make them really feel like they belong. I know growing up I didn't always feel welcome in tech, especially when my classmates and STEM classes would debate the validity of same-sex marriage, like regularly and shamelessly.

According to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, in states which legalized same-sex marriage, the rate of attempted suicide among high-school students declined by 7 percent, resulting in approximately 134,000 fewer children attempting suicide each year. What measures will you take to ensure long-term protection of same-sex marriage rights? And how will you address mental health issues and suicide rates amongst LGBTQIA students?

STEYER: So you're asking a question that to me goes to the heart of social acceptance of people, and that's starts with leadership at the top, that, in fact, the president can, in terms of his or her behaviors, show exactly where their heart is.

So I mean, when I think about this from the standpoint of what you can do to change the way people view themselves and other people view them in the LGBTQ community, I think that on the very first day there should be steps taken to undo the example that Mr. Trump and Mr. Pence have laid for the country.

That would mean undoing the ban on transgender military people. It would mean undoing the ban on visas for same-sex partners of foreign diplomats. But I would also mean appointing people from the LGBTQ community to high, important parts of the administration as an example of what we are.

(APPLAUSE)

Some of this is definitely about law. I know that there are still 28 states in this country where you can be fired for being part of the LGBTQ community. I know that there are places where you can be thrown out of your housing, those same 28 states, for being part of the LGBTQ community. Laws really matter.

But the president also has an amazing amount of soft power in how he or she behaves, who he or she appoints, and in fighting for the things that we really all care about. So to me, the question here is, how do you show the world that your heart is 100 percent behind the idea of full acceptance of this community, not 99 percent, but 100 percent?

And when you see statistics -- I mean, one of the statistics that absolutely went to my heart was when I heard that half of the transgender young people attempt suicide. If that doesn't explain to you the very, very dire situation that they feel themselves to be in, then you must have a heart of stone. And anyone who doesn't want to do whatever it takes to protect those young people really must search their soul to find out what their deepest values are. Because as an American, that would seem like about as basic as you can get in terms of protection, equality, justice. My goodness, I don't really see that there's another side to the conversation.

(APPLAUSE)

HENDERSON: And we're going to next bring in Debi Jackson, who's the parent of 12-year-old Avery (ph), who we heard from earlier tonight. And for most of her life, Debi was a conservative Republican and Southern Baptist. Now she's an advocate for trans youth. Debi, your question?

STEYER: Is it Debi?

QUESTION: Yes.

STEYER: Nice to meet you.

QUESTION: We can all change. And shout out to the husband, Tom, back home. Good name.

So access to affordable and affirming health care should be the right of every person. But as you just mentioned, for transgender youth, it can be especially critical when they have dysphoria and would suffer if they go through the wrong puberty.

Not everyone can afford insurance, and even if you have insurance, puberty blockers are rarely covered and can cost thousands of dollars. That means that many otherwise supportive families out there who want to help their adolescents can't because of financial barriers. How can you help lower the cost of these critical life-saving medications?

(APPLAUSE)

STEYER: So that's a great question, because it goes to the heart of a very specific problem and it also goes to the heart of a much bigger problem in society that it's part of, because obviously we have a huge problem in health care costs in general. And as a result of the huge health care cost crisis, we have a giant health care availability crisis.

It is very clear to me that all of that care should be available to every transgender youth, that that is a critical part of their life and, therefore, it's got to be part of every health care plan, and it definitely has to be part of the public option that I believe in.

Health care is a right for every American in the 21st century. It's an absolute right.

(APPLAUSE)

And this is a critical part of the health care for these young people. So in other words, once again, how is it possible that we're having this huge health care problem? It's because our government has failed us. We have a broken government. Corporations have bought it. And ultimately, you have to ask, how are we going to break that stranglehold on our democracy to serve people in just this kind of way?

Look, for 10 years, I have been putting together coalitions of ordinary American citizens to beat these corporations. We can win. I've been winning. We're going to have to do it in a big way in Washington, D.C. We're going to have to return the government to the people. And really, that's what I'm running for, is just this problem, to deliver the kind of real change for people's lives in a positive way that corporations will not allow us to do right now because it's not profitable for them.

HENDERSON: And next we're going to bring in Kevin Medina, who works at UCLA's School of Public Affairs and also works for -- some shout- outs there -- for L.A. County as a consultant on hate crime research. Kevin, your question.

QUESTION: Hi there. Good evening. Unlike our current federal administration, I believe in data, so my question is centered around that. LGBTQ Americans will not be counted on the 2020 census. What is your plan to account for this and to ensure that LGBTQ Americans' identities will not be erased?

(APPLAUSE)

STEYER: Kevin, let me ask you a question about this. They -- when you say they won't be counted, what do you mean by they won't be counted on the census? They will not be identified on the census?

QUESTION: Correct, like LGBTQ identities will be removed from being asked the question on the census in 2020.

STEYER: So I think it's clear that this administration is scared of data that contradicts their underlying beliefs.

(APPLAUSE)

I think -- I think -- look, it is absolutely critical to get the data on subjects like this, because I think that kind of information gives a power to this community politically that is really important. And when I said, how do you make change here? Someone asked me, the first questioner, how do you make change? My answer was grassroots.

This kind of data is the proof that at the grassroots the LGBTQ community has real power. So it's absolutely critical that we, in fact, get this information. And if it's not going to happen in 2020 -- and I know that in California we're spending an extra, I think, $80 million to make this census work, but whatever happens as president, I will collect this data, because this is going to be the data that empowers this community to make the changes and to scare the politicians into doing what's right. It's that critical to me.

(APPLAUSE)

HENDERSON: And next up, we have Robert Tindall, a human resources consultant in Cathedral City, California. Robert, your question?

QUESTION: Hi, Tom. How would you ensure that LGBT people are represented in the military command positions? Specifically, would you consider having an LGBTQ person as the undersecretary reporting to the secretary of defense? And how would you choose that person?

STEYER: Robert, let me say this. First of all, I think it's absolutely critical that antidiscrimination laws be applied very, you know, clearly and severely in terms of the LGBTQ community. Second of all, I think it's absolutely critical in the military that

there be senior members of this community so that, in fact, those -- the ideas and the feelings are represented directly, not indirectly. Whether that appointment should be a specific appointment to a specific job is a different question. What I believe is, we need members of this community at senior levels across the government.

You know, I started a grassroots organization, one of the biggest grassroots organizations in the United States called NextGen America, which is really about registering, engaging, and turning out people who otherwise wouldn't vote.

On the way over here, I checked to see how many of the people in that organization, which is at least 1,000 people, self-identified as part of this community, and the answer was 30 percent. So what I believe in is representation at the highest level of Americans of every single type, but specifically making sure that the people of this community are represented at high levels so that at no point is there a discussion that doesn't include people who are LGBTQ members openly, proudly, and will stand up for the rights of this community.

(APPLAUSE)

HENDERSON: And, Mr. Steyer, your next question comes from Maria Melo, who is the policy and operations manager for the Los Angeles LGBT Center. Maria, your question.

QUESTION: Hi. I want to start by saying that ICE detention centers are an LGBT issue.

(APPLAUSE)

LGBT asylum-seekers are being denied parole in detention centers across the country. Two have died in ICE custody in the past two years and a half due to lack of access to HIV care. At least 24 immigrants have died in the past three years in ICE custody. Will your administration be ready from day one to put in place strong measures and penalties to increase oversight over health care access, HIV health care access in detention centers across the country and save lives of LGBT asylum-seekers?

STEYER: Maria, of course we will. I mean, what we've seen from ICE in terms of inhumanity, this is a perfect example, but it's not the only example. I think it's absolutely critical for the United States of America to treat people in a humane and decent fashion.

It's very obvious that this president and this administration has chosen to not only break the international laws in their treatment of asylum-seekers, but to break the basic laws of humanity.

When I think about why I started the Need to Impeach campaign two years ago, yeah, he's a criminal, it's true that he more than has earned impeachment, but it goes much beyond this, and it goes to exactly this kind of issue. The actual president of the United States committing crimes against humanity like this, in our name, is something that we should end right now, certainly the first day of my presidency.

(APPLAUSE)

HENDERSON: And, Mr. Steyer, some of the other candidates in this race, some of who were on stage tonight, would create a special envoy within the State Department to deal with LGBTQ rights. Is that something that would happen in a Steyer administration, as well?

STEYER: I think -- let me talk about that for a second. So I know that there are 71 countries in the world that openly discriminate against members of the LGBTQ community. And I know that the United States, as a value-driven country, where we're projecting to the world what we care about, what we're willing to do about it, and the kind of world that we're trying to create with our democracy- and freedom- loving partners, should definitely include a specific attempt to represent the rights of LGBTQ people who live outside the United States.

So I think it's entirely appropriate as part of our foreign policy to have a person specified for that role, but also to make it clear that part of human rights, part of civil rights, that we expect in our own country, without equivocation, and that we expect people around the world to observe, is the rights of the people in this community. So I would support that. And I think it's got to be part of our foreign policy to stand up for what we believe in most deeply.

HENDERSON: Tom Steyer, thank you so much for being here tonight, sir.

And thanks to all of the candidates who joined us for our Democratic presidential town hall, Equality in America. And thank you to our live audience here for your insightful, amazing, brilliant questions.

Tune in on Tuesday night for the CNN-New York Times Democratic presidential debate, live from Ohio. Erica Hill picks up our coverage after a quick break.

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