washington – Among the issues voters may consider in the 2024 presidential election is LGBTQ rights — and it’s an issue where former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris have starkly different messages and backgrounds.

The vast majority of Americans support legal protections for LGBTQ people, according to a study from the Public Religion Research Institute. But support is stronger in blue states than in red states, and has declined across the board in recent years — especially among Republicans. And support for same-sex marriage also saw a slight decline.

Meanwhile, 38 percent of Americans said LGBTQ rights are a factor in their voting decisions, and 30 percent say they will only vote for a candidate who aligns with them on the issue.

Here’s what you need to know about the candidates’ views and records on the issue:

Donald Trump on LGBTQ issues

The former president has been inconsistent on the issue during his time in the public eye, and his administration has rolled back protections for LGBTQ people — especially transgender people.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, before entering politics, Trump expressed support for domestic partnership laws that gave couples the same benefits as married couples—a position widely opposed by the GOP at the time—and often showed personal tolerance for LGBTQ issues in general. In a 1999 interview, where he also said he was “very pro-election” of Trump said that I “wouldn’t mind” homosexuals serving in the military.

Years later, Trump said in 2011, amid speculation about a possible presidential run, that he “opposed gay marriage.” In 2015, he said he supports “traditional marriage”.

Trump became the first presidential candidate to mention LGBTQ issues in his 2016 RNC speech. pledge to protect the community after the Pulse nightclub attack.

Trump chose a conservative running mate in 2016, Mike Pence, who strongly opposed same-sex marriage, but Trump’s own comments on the issue have varied.

Trump said during his 2016 campaign that he would “strongly consider” appointing Supreme Court justices who would overturn the 2015 ruling that legalized same-sex marriage. Then, days after he was elected, he said he was “fine” with same-sex marriage and suggested he would not appoint high court judges to overturn the ruling. His wife, Melania Trump, called him “the first president to enter the White House supporting gay marriage” while seeking re-election in 2020.

On transgender issues, Trump said in 2016, amid a controversy over North Carolina’s bathroom ban, that transgender people should “use whichever bathroom they see fit”. But his administration continued verso a policy that required schools to allow transgender students to use bathrooms that match their gender identity, and his administration forbidden some transgender people served in the military while Trump was in office — a policy President Biden reversed. The Trump administration also tried repeal health protection for transgender people and sought to do so end protections for transgender people in federal prison, among other policies.

Anti-trans sentiment would continue to be a prominent talking point for Republicans on the campaign trail in the 2022 midterm elections. In early 2023, Trump said he would use the powers, should he return to the White House punish the doctors that provide minors with gender-affirming care and impose consequences for teachers who discuss it with students.

In the final months of the 2024 campaign, Trump and his allies leaned toward anti-trans rhetoric, spending millions on advertising focusing on the problem in the battleground states.

Meanwhile, Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance, sponsored legislation in 2023, which would prohibit minors from accessing gender-affirming care, along with a bill to prohibit the State Department from allowing the “X” gender marker on passports. The Ohio Republican, too said he would vote no on the Respect for Marriage Act, which provided federal protections for same-sex and interracial marriages, while campaigning for the Senate in 2022, citing religious freedom concerns.

Kamala Harris on LGBTQ issues

Harris was generally one of the earliest to adopt pro-LGBTQ policies and positions, doing so before other prominent members of her party.

First San Francisco District Attorney performed some of the nation’s first same-sex marriages in 2004 after then-Mayor Gavin Newsom ordered the county clerk to approve the marriages, even though the law did not yet recognize them. The marriages were annulled months later. Then, when she was elected California attorney general in 2010, Harris said she would not defend in court a voter-approved measure known as Proposition 8which banned same-sex marriage.

As district attorney, Harris prosecuted LGBTQ people, establishing a hate crimes unit to investigate crimes against LGBTQ youth. As attorney general, she sought to end “panic defense” which allowed homicide defendants to seek lesser sentences if they testified that they were panicked by the victim’s sexual orientation.

Harris has been criticized by LGBTQ advocates for unthinking gender-affirming surgeries for transgender inmates when he served as attorney general; she said she was bound by Department of Corrections policy in effect at the time. She later expressed support for providing such care to inmates during his 2020 presidential bid. During that campaign, in which he ran on a more progressive platform, Harris also said it supports the decriminalization of sex work, although she noted that it is not a simple issue.

As a senator, Harris sponsored a number of bills aimed at addressing discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, along with other LGBTQ issues. Harris’ record has also been tied to the Biden administration, which extended protection under Title IX for LGBTQ students, although they were blocked by the Supreme Court. In 2022, Mr. Biden signed Respect for Marriage Act into law, enshrining federal protections for same-sex and interracial marriage.

Harris’ colleague, Minnesota Governor Tim Walzhas a reputation as an advocate for LGBTQ rights. When Walz was a high school teacher, he was the faculty advisor who helped form his school’s first gay-straight alliance in the 1990s.