The stated theme for the third day of the 2024 Democratic National Convention was “A Fight for Our Freedoms,” and the first set of speakers, appearing in quick succession, brought reproductive and LGBTQ rights to the forefront. They then connected Republicans and Donald Trump to the ever-present Project 2025, with the first group of speakers, mostly women, taking to the podium and discussing the issues that have become the party’s driving themes.
On Wednesday, Emily’s List President Jessica Mackler was the first to mention Project 2025 and quickly linked it to abortion rights. Under Joe Biden’s administration, the constitutional right to abortion was eliminated in 2022, but due to opinions from three Supreme Court justices appointed by former President Donald Trump.
“Project 2025 is a plan to ban abortion in all 50 states,” Mackler told the crowd at the United Center. “It would give extremists like Donald Trump and JD Vance the power to monitor your pregnancy and even prosecute doctors who prescribe abortion drugs. Make no mistake: The threat of Project 2025 is very real. But equally real is our ability to stop it.”
Speakers stormed the stage in droves early in the evening, some speaking for about two minutes on issues traditionally important to Democrats before praising Kamala Harris and leaving the stage to applause from the crowd: Maria Teresa Kumar, CEO of Boca Latino, Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (who was pushed off the stage earlier in the week), Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and other minor party stars made their big appearances on Wednesday.
During her appearance before the huge crowd, Kelly Robertson, president of the nonprofit Human Rights Campaign, delved deeper into the rights of the LGBTQ community while also enthusiastically opposing the Republican platform.
“Donald Trump wants to wipe us out. He would ban our health care, degrade our marriages and bury our history,” she told the crowd. “But we are not going anywhere. We are not going back. Kamala Harris is a champion of LGBTQ freedom. So tonight, we are fighting for lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer and transgender freedom, without exception. We are fighting for equality for all, without exception. We are fighting for joy.”
Later in the evening, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel kept the topic of gay rights at the podium and delighted the crowd as she discussed Harris’ record as California’s attorney general, which she served from 2011 to 2017.
“She has held polluters and sex offenders accountable … but what really stands out is how she has stood up and defended the freedoms of her constituents,” Nessel said. “In 2011, she refused to defend California’s ban on same-sex marriage. She refused to argue that some families should have fewer rights than others.”
“By the way, Supreme Court, you can rip this ring finger out of my cold, dead hand,” she later added to loud cheers from the crowd.
A potentially contentious moment occurred when Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg-Polin, the parents of 23-year-old American-Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin, took the stage. Hersh is a Hamas hostage whose arm was torn off by a grenade on the day he was taken hostage, Oct. 7, in the massacre at the Re’im music festival in southern Israel. With Israel’s deadly campaign in Gaza the main theme of the protests surrounding the DNC, the speech by his parents, two of the most vocal family members calling for the hostages’ release, might not have gone down well with the audience. Thankfully, the arena was silent as they told his story.
“In a competition of pain, there are no winners,” Jon said, referring to Gaza’s high death toll compared to Israel. “The suffering of innocent civilians in Gaza must end,” he said, along with the release of all hostages and a unilateral ceasefire.
Instead of being booed or heckled, the parents received a standing ovation as they took the podium. “Take her home,” the crowd chanted, leaving Rachel doubled over, sobbing.
