Raleigh – In an op-ed published this afternoon by QNotes, professional singer and North Carolina activist Clay Aiken praised Joe Biden’s agenda to ensure equality for all Americans while calling out Donald Trump’s broken promises to the LGBTQ community.

“As he campaigned for office in 2016, Trump claimed that he would be a ‘real friend’ to LGBTQ Americans. He claimed to support marriage equality and said he would ‘fight’ for equal rights,” Aiken writes. “Four years later, we’ve seen exactly how hollow those words were.” Aiken also praised Joe Biden’s work on the Matthew Shepard and James L. Byrd Hate Crimes Act and his efforts to end Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.

• Instead of pushing for progress and advocating reforms that would advance equality in this country, this administration has taken the exact opposite approach, rolling back hard-fought anti-discrimination protections on issues ranging from healthcare to housing to military service.
• With our nation more divided than ever and with hate crimes directed at the LGBTQ community on the rise, we find ourselves in a perilous moment — one that demands leadership that brings us together. But time and time again, instead of rallying Americans together in opposition to hate and discrimination, this administration has largely responded with a deafening silence or even outright hostility.
• We need a President who will set a tone of inclusion and equality from the Oval Office, and Joe Biden has already shown us exactly the kind of leadership he will bring to the job.
• In the U.S. Senate, he championed the Matthew Shepard and James L. Byrd Hate Crimes Act. As Vice President, he worked to end Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and proudly announced his support for marriage equality before it was politically popular. And now, as a candidate for President, Biden has pledged his support for legislation like the Equality Act, which will ensure that discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation ends.