Hillary Clinton in LGBT op-ed: “I’ll keep fighting for LGBT rights”
"Donald Trump must not be elected president," Clinton urged
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has penned an op-ed detailing the various ways she would fight for LGBT rights as president — and telling voters why Trump “must not be elected president.”
In the op-ed for Philadelphia Gay News, Clinton reflected on the progress the LGBT community and the country as a whole has made in recent years.
“Or country has come a long way,” she wrote, proceeding to list marriage equality, same-sex adoption rights and President Obama’s executive order preventing federal works from being discriminated against. “We should celebrate that progress.”
However, she points out that “there are still too many states in America where LGBT people can be fired or evicted from their home because of who they are or who they love.” Her words had added impacted, given that in Pennsylvania “you can get married on Sunday and fired on Monday, just for being gay or transgender.”
“That goes against everything we stand for as a country,” Clinton wrote.
Clinton promised to work to pass the Equality Act, which would finally bring LGBT people up to parity in nondiscrimination protections — including housing and employment. She also addressed hate crimes and violence towards the LGBT community, including the shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando in June.
“The danger is compounded for LGBT people of color, who face intersectional pressures and dangers, particularly transgender people of color,” Clinton wrote. “Last year, more than 20 transgender women were killed in America. Recently, three were murdered right here in Philadelphia.
“We need to stop the violence and save LGBT lives,” she continued. “We need to collect more data around gender identity and sexual orientation in hate crimes, so we can stop them in a smarter, more effective way. And we need to finally pass common-sense reforms to address the gun violence epidemic.”
Clinton also laid out plans for achieving “our goal of an AIDS-free generation,” including increasing research, expanding access to PrEP, reducing the cost of HIV medications, and reforming HIV-criminalization laws.
“Like many, I’ve lost friends and loved ones to AIDS,” Clinton wrote. “We owe it to them — the people we love and miss, and the people whose names we’ll never know — to continue this fight.”
She also took time to slam her opponent, Donald Trump.
“Donald Trump must not be elected president,” she wrote. “He would rip away so much of the progress we’ve made. He would appoint Supreme Court justices who would overturn marriage equality and rescind many of President Obama’s executive orders — including those protecting LGBT people.”
Mike Pence, Trump’s running mate, confirmed that Trump would remove Obama administration guidance that urges schools not to discriminate against transgender students.
“It’s not just Trump’s policies that reveal the kind of president he would be. So does his choice of running mate,” Clinton wrote. “Mike Pence is one of the most anti-LGBT public officials in America.”
She lists several of Pence’s anti-LGBT stances, including signing Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act — which permitted discrimination against LGBT people — and saying homosexuality would cause “societal collapse.”
“That’s why the stakes in this election are so high,” Clinton added.
She ended her op-ed with an oft-repeated statement regarding the legitimacy of LGBT rights.
“As president, I’ll keep fighting for LGBT rights, because — as I told the world in one of the most important speeches I gave as Secretary — they are human rights,” Clinton wrote. “And I won’t quit until all our laws reflect that basic reality.”
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