December 16, 2020 - Harris Challenges Confines of “Second Gentleman” Role in ABC Interview

In an interview with ABC News, Harris touts her husband Doug Emhoff’s role as the first second gentleman in U.S. history and challenges attempts to confine that role to any single gender or specific expectations of how the second spouse looks or behaves. She offers a message that resonates beyond Emhoff’s role, saying, “Don’t let anyone put you in a box because of your gender.” In the same interview, Harris acknowledges the history she is making, sharing that when she is sworn in, “I’ll be thinking about my mother,” and adding, “I’ll be thinking about all those girls and boys. You know, before the pandemic struck, fathers and the mothers that would bring them around and say, ‘You know, you can do anything.'” She adds of her historic vice presidency, “I feel a very — I don’t want to say heavy weight in a way that it sounds like a burden. But I feel a very big sense of responsibility.”