CNN host Chris Cuomo has apologized for joking about his pronouns when introducing 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris at an LGBTQ town hall event on Thursday night.

When the California senator was introduced on to the stage at the event in Los Angeles, she was quick to make an addition. “Thank you, guys,” she said to the audience. “My pronouns are she, her and hers.”

Harris’s add elicited applause, but Cuomo’s response did not. “She, her and hers?” he asked, adding jokingly: “Mine too.”

Harris replied flatly: “All right”.

One of America’s most famous TV journalists, Cuomo is well known to use the pronouns he, him and his. In progressive spaces and within the LGBTQ community, pronoun introductions are common and largely seen as an inclusive step towards a more nuanced understanding of gender. But the practice has also been mocked and criticized, and has quickly become part of America’s culture wars.

The National Center for Lesbian Rights was quick to call out Cuomo’s joke:

As was Charlotte Clymer of the Human Rights Campaign:

Cuomo issued an apology following the event, saying he was “an ally of the LGBTQ community, and I am sorry because I am committed to helping us achieve equality”.

Angelica Ross, a trans rights advocate and trans actor who stars in Pose, said Cuomo’s apology was not enough, and showed he did not understand the importance of pronouns.

The town hall featured the biggest names in the Democratic 2020 presidential race to become the nominee to take on Donald Trump at the next election, and comes in the same week as the supreme court heard three discrimination cases involving LGBTQ individuals – the first supreme court case involving the civil rights of transgender people.

Among the standout moments of the evening was an emotional interruption from Blossom C Brown, a black trans woman who was not scheduled to ask a question, but took the mic and expressed her anger at the erasure of black trans people from the evening.

“Black trans women are dying,” she said. “Our lives matter. I am an extraordinary black trans woman, and I deserve to be here.”

Blossom interrupted 2020 candidate and former Texas congressman Beto O’Rourke, who has been asked about what he would do to tackle violence against black trans women. O’Rourke responded, “I’m going to listen to trans women of color. They will be the guide.”

At least 19 trans people have been killed this year, according to the Human Rights Campaign, four of whom were killed in Texas. Last year, there were at least 26 deaths, with most of those people being black trans women.

Pete Buttigieg, the South Bend mayor and 2020 Democratic candidate, the first openly LGBTQ person to run for president, was asked about the ban on gay men donating blood. He responded:

“My blood is not welcome in this country. It’s not based on science, it’s based on prejudice.”

He said he would direct the FDA to make rules that conform with science.

Buttigieg also talked about how people living with HIV can be undetectable, which means untransmittable, giving a rare national platform to the slogan “U equals U”.

The CNN host Anderson Cooper also asked Buttigieg, who has frequently spoken about his faith on the campaign trail: “Do you believe God made you gay?”

He responded: “The decision was made way above my pay grade.”