LGBTQ rights groups on Tuesday celebrated Vice President Harris’s selection of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate, highlighting his longtime support for LGBTQ equality. Walz, who has served as Minnesota’s governor since 2019, helped make Minnesota a refuge for LGBTQ Americans, and transgender Americans in particular. In 2023, an executive order signed by Walz made Minnesota among the first state to safeguard access to gender-affirming health care, and laws signed by the governor since have banned conversion therapy and the use of the gay and trans “panic” defenses. Walz’s support for LGBTQ rights goes back further than his political career. As a young teacher at Mankato West High School, Walz advised the school’s first gay-straight alliance, a student-led club supporting LGBTQ students and families.