Today’s inauguration comes during a historic and critical moment for our nation, especially for young people and communities of color. While already combatting a global pandemic that has impacted the health and well-being of our nation, furthering the movement to center Black lives and confront police brutality, and actively working to dismantle white supremacy, young people were met with a President that continued to tell blatant lies to his supporters about election fraud and incited a violent riot at the Capitol, which resulted in hundreds of federal convictions and the loss of at least five lives. 

As we welcome the incoming Biden-Harris administration and a Democrat-controlled Congress, Advocates is committed to working together with young people to remain vigilant and ensure that lawmakers commit to progressive solutions. It’s clear that progressive youth, especially young and queer folks of color, turned out to vote for the Biden-Harris ticket, and they will be looking to hold the next administration and congress accountable to those who put them in office. 

Upon assuming office, the president must issue an executive order unequivocally stating his commitment to protect and expand access to comprehensive sex education and reproductive health care, uphold sexual and reproductive rights, including abortion care, in the U.S. and around the world, and rescind or revoke prior executive actions limiting access to care. He must also immediately halt all non-final regulations and rescind regulations that limit access to reproductive and sexual health care or that condone discrimination based on gender identity, expression, or sexuality or that harm student survivors of sexual assault. We also call on the president to nominate and appoint individuals for executive branch positions who are experts in their field, committed to the core mission of the agency, possess a positive record on reproductive and sexual health, rights, and justice, and who will contribute to the diversity of the executive branch.

The first 100 days of the Biden-Harris administration and the 117th Congress should be a time to course-correct the harms of the last four years, while re-imagining a future that actually centers young people, LGBTQ folks, communities of color, and those most impacted by harmful federal and state regulations and legislation. 

Young people are looking at their lawmakers to pass policies that ensure abortion access for all, expand access to free healthcare, and truly commit to racial justice that not only stops the explosion of white nationalist terrorism, but also provide real economic opportunity for people of color, and listen to young activists on the ground about what they truly need to move this country forward (as laid out in the Blueprint: First Priorities and Blueprint: Policy Agenda). As we course-correct and reimagine our futures, young people are looking to the next administration and congress to live up to the progressive values they promised.