Former U.S. Secretary of State and candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination Hillary Clinton on Friday published an op-ed on CNN.com in commemoration of Pride month. Secretary Clinton’s opinion piece lauds the many advancements achieved in the name of LGBT equality, but also focuses on the significant challenges our community still faces in securing equal rights and acceptance—and how Republican candidates, specifically Donald Trump, seemingly aim to curtail further progress while slowing momentum already gained.
“[W]e need to make sure America remains on the right side of history. We're already seeing efforts to reverse the gains we've made in statehouses and courthouses across the country. Not to mention, there's an election going on—and it would be all too easy for our next president to roll back much of the progress we have made.”
Clinton lambasts presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump for his damaging positions on LGBT equality, noting, “Trump says he sees himself as a ‘traditional guy’ when it comes to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights. What he means is that he will appoint Supreme Court justices who would favor rolling back LGBT rights and allowing individual states to discriminate against the LGBT community. A Trump court could even decide to overturn Oberfell v. Hodges and bring marriage equality to an end."
She continues, “Trump has said he would sign the First Amendment Defense Act, which would permit taxpayer-funded discrimination by those who cite religion as a reason to deny services to LGBT people nationwide. He's also pledged to repeal many of President Barack Obama's executive orders immediately—which could include an order protecting LGBT employees in the federal government from discrimination.”
Clinton also mentions, alarmingly, that Trump “recently released a list of 11 judges he would consider nominating to the Supreme Court, including a judge who equated same-sex relations to ‘bestiality,’ ‘pedophilia,’ and ‘necrophilia.’”
She concludes her op-ed by discussing the measures she would take to make LGBT equality law of the land if she becomes our next president, saying that she wants to pass a federal Equality Act “to ensure full federal equality for LGBT Americans,” and she states that “acts of violence against transgender women of color continue to be reported at an alarming rate. It's an emergency, and we need to treat it like one.”
Read Secretary Clinton’s full CNN op-ed here.
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