Kamala Harris has previously said she would support offering taxpayer-funded gender transition surgeries to prisoners.
In a 2019 American Civil Liberties Union questionnaire, the then-California senator backed a raft of liberal policies including immigration detention and decriminalising federal drug possession.
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The survey, which was sent to all Democratic and Republican candidates during the 2020 campaign, has resurfaced at an awkward time for Ms Harris who has been attempting to shake off attacks from Donald Trump who has named her “comrade Kamala”.
The five-year-old questionnaire, which was discovered by CNN, will provide extra fodder for Trump, 78, to attack Ms Harris during Tuesday’s presidential debate in Philadelphia.
One of the questions put to Ms Harris in 2019 was whether as president she would ensure transgender and nonbinary people who rely on state medical care “including those in prison and immigration detention” would have access to gender transition surgery.
Mr Harris answered “yes” before adding: “It is important that transgender individuals who rely on the state for care receive the treatment they need, which includes access to treatment associated with gender transition.”
The Democratic presidential nominee, 59, also said as California attorney general that she had “pushed” to provide gender transition surgery to state inmates.
“I support policies ensuring that federal prisoners and detainees are able to obtain medically necessary care for gender transition, including surgical care, while incarcerated or detained”, she wrote, adding: “Transition treatment is a medical necessity, and I will direct all federal agencies responsible for providing essential medical care to deliver transition treatment.”
During a town hall event in April 2019 Ms Harris suggested she supports adding a “third gender” to federal identification cards.
“I have my entire life and career been an ally and I see the issue of LGBTQ rights as a fundamental civil rights and human rights issue, period,” Ms Harris said.
Ms Harris has tried to shake off her previous Left-wing comments, such as pledging support for a ban on fracking, and tried to position herself towards the centre as she campaigns for the top job.
Other claims Ms Harris made in the 2019 questionnaire include her promising to legalise marijuana and reform sentencing laws to “help end the era of mass incarceration”.
She added she would “end private prisons and immigrant detention facilities” and claimed the “immigrant detention system is out of control”.
Ms Harris also vowed to use her clemency and pardon power “on a broader basis than has been done in the past to overturn the convictions of people incarcerated for non-violent drug offences”.
While Ms Harris has said that her positions on certain issues have shifted over the years, she insisted during a CNN interview last month: “My values have not changed.”
A Harris campaign adviser told CNN: “The vice-president’s positions have been shaped by three years of effective governance as part of the Biden-Harris administration.”
“As president, [Ms Harris] will take that same pragmatic approach, focusing on common sense solutions for the sake of progress,” added a Harris campaign spokesman.
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