Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff shocked a couple of thousand gay and queer Black men backing his wife, Kamala Harris, for president when he made a guest appearance on an organizing call Thursday evening.
Emhoff promised Harris would “be there” for the LGBTQ+ community moving forward — as she has been in the past.
“As it relates to this wonderful, beautiful community of Black gay men, she has always been beside you, with you, has had your back, and always will have your back, just like she’s going to have everyone else’s back,” Emhoff said.
Emhoff also told a story of being caught by surprise by President Biden’s announcement that he was dropping out of the presidential race on Sunday, when he said he happened to be in Los Angeles with a gay couple — friends of his — after taking a one-hour SoulCycle class with them in West Hollywood.
“We’re out there having coffee, messing around and talking, and … people are coming up to me, so it’s now, like, after the announcement has gone out, and my friend’s partner said, ‘Um, you need to look at this,’ and I said, ‘What?’” Emhoff said.
What the friend was holding up was Biden’s letter to the country announcing he was dropping out.
“Of course I didn’t have my phone, so I ran and ran and got into our car, and of course my phone is just on fire, and it’s basically, ‘Call Kamala,’ ‘Call Kamala,’ ‘Call Kamala,’ from everyone,” Emhoff said. “And of course, the first thing she said was, ‘Where the … were you? I need you.’”
Since then, Emhoff said, it’s been a “whirlwind.”
“We’ve just been hustling — I’ve barely even seen her or talked to her since this all happened,” he said.
Emhoff joined the call — touted as an organizing, fundraising and informational gathering for “Black Gay and Queer Men for Harris” — when there were about 2,250 people on the call. He spoke after several prominent Black queer men spoke, including former CNN anchor Don Lemon.
The call was one of many like it being organized in support of Harris, held just before a larger, more star-studded call for the broader LGBTQ+ community organized in part by the Human Rights Campaign.
Emhoff was introduced by Dorien Paul Blythers, a former Harris campaign staffer and founder of the Los Angeles-based social impact organization Good Rebel, who has worked closely with Emhoff in the past.
Blythers said he knows Harris as a fighter — one who fights for marginalized communities, in particular.
“I like to think of her often as one of us — someone who is often underestimated, stereotyped and overlooked, when in fact, we know that we are exceptionally prepared, we’re incredibly dynamic and overqualified,” Blythers said.
He said while everyone on the call may love Harris, “there’s one person who I know loves her even more” — then introduced Emhoff.
“Hey everyone!” Emhoff said with a laugh.
Emhoff thanked Blythers, saying they used to “drive in the car together on the campaign trail,” when Emhoff had one staffer — and that was usually Blythers. He apologized for subjecting Blythers to “terrible ‘80s music” on those trips — and thanked him for being a leader.
“You’ve always been there for Kamala, and for me and our family,” he said. “And now, just like you’ve been there for her, she’s going to be there for you and the rest of us.”
Emhoff heaped praise on Biden.
“I love that man so much. He has been there for all of us. He’s been there for your community, my community, all of us,” he said.
“But now we’ve got to support Kamala Harris, because she has a vision for America that we all have a place in,” Emhoff said. “She is talking about the future, not the past. She’s talking about a world where there’s freedom, a world where we value everyone, a world where we stick up for people, a world where we fight against bullies — and we’re fighting against the ultimate bully right now.”
Emhoff said he is “in awe” of his wife now, not only “as her husband but as a proud American, as somebody who loves our country.”
He briefly mentioned Republican nominee Donald Trump, but then said, “I don’t want to get into all that, because I heard the last speaker talking about the hellscape that our country will be [in] if somehow that guy who was a terrible president the first time somehow gets back.”
“We can’t imagine a future like that,” Emhoff said.
Before dropping off the call, Emhoff said he was going to “go upstairs” to see Harris — “because I haven’t seen her in four or five days, I’m going to give her a big hug, I’m going to say, ‘Go get some rest, honey,’ because we’ve got about 102-ish days left to save our country.”
The call was organized by civil rights lawyer Alphonso David, civil rights leader and Color of Change president Rashad Robinson, and journalist, professor and community organizer Emil Wilbekin. It was attended by men from across the country — with all of them noting where they were dialing in from into the chat.
There was heavy representation from Atlanta, the Washington, D.C., and Baltimore area, and New York, but also people from Florida and Louisiana and Arkansas.
Robinson said the call of gay and queer Black men tapped into something unique and important.
“I’ve been thinking so much about the connections between what we are facing in this upcoming election, and the story of Black gay and queer men,” he said.
“In so many ways, we have had to fight for our place at the table. We’ve had to fight to make sure our relationships are recognized and treated fairly. We’ve had to fight to make sure that we were fully integrated into the life of the community, all while sometimes doing so much hidden work and unseen work to make our communities beautiful, our communities whole, our communities excellent,” he said.
“We have had to be resilient through so many challenges the way our sister will have to be resilient throughout this election,” he said. “So we know what it looks like to fight. We know what it looks like to be the underdog — and what it looks like to win.”