Hillary Clinton and HRC President Chad Griffin | Photo: Ward Morrison/Metro Weekly
Some might say this was inevitable: The Human Rights Campaign today endorsed Hillary Clinton for president. (Scroll down to take our poll as to who you’d like to see as the Democratic nominee.)
In a statement, HRC president Chad Griffin noted that “we are preparing to put the full force of the Human Rights Campaign behind a pro-equality candidate who will be our next champion in the White House,” adding that the organization will be “launching an unprecedented effort over the next nine months to register, organize, and mobilize the nation’s pro-equality majority for Hillary Clinton and other key supportive candidates on the ballot this year.”
He continues, “In the time since she became the very first First Lady to march in a pride parade, she has led on bills to protect LGBT workers from employment discrimination, advanced hate crimes legislation, pushed for greater HIV/AIDS prevention and funding, and worked to extend partner benefits. As Secretary of State, she did more to advance LGBT equality as a pillar of U.S. foreign policy than any other diplomat in history, giving a landmark speech to the United Nations declaring that ‘gay rights are human rights.’ She helped lead the United Nations to pass the first-ever U.N. resolution on the human rights of LGBT people, and created the Global Equality Fund to advance the rights of LGBT people around the globe.”
Immediately following the announcement, Clinton released a statement, thanking the organization that shares her initials.
“I’m honored to receive the endorsement of the Human Rights Campaign—the nation’s largest organization working to achieve full equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans. Thanks to the Human Rights Campaign and millions of advocates across the country, we’ve made tremendous progress. But our work is far from over. Too many LGBT Americans still face discrimination — in employment, in housing, in education, in health care — because of who they are or who they love. And the stakes in this election couldn’t be higher. The Republican candidates for president have not only hurled hateful, insulting rhetoric about the LGBT community — they’ve made it clear that if elected, they will roll back the rights that so many have fought for.
“As President, I will continue to fight alongside the LGBT community to pass the Equality Act. I’ll support efforts to allow transgender personnel to serve openly, and I’ll end the dangerous practice of ‘conversion therapy’ on minors. I’ll expand access to HIV prevention and treatment, and confront the epidemic of violence facing the transgender community, especially transgender women of color. And I’ll continue the efforts I led as Secretary of State to advance the human rights of LGBT people around the world.
“I’m proud to stand with the Human Rights Campaign in this fight. Together, we can and will make our country—and our world—more just, fair, and equal for generations to come.”
The Human Rights Campaign PAC has endorsed Democrat Abigail Spanberger to be the next governor of Virginia.
The endorsement by the nation's largest LGBTQ advocacy organization comes at a time when some Democrats are urging members of their party to distance themselves from the LGBTQ community.
Spanberger, one of the more conservative members of the Democratic House Caucus during her six years in the U.S. House of Representatives, has been praised by some pundits for her criticism of left-leaning voices within the Democratic Party, especially on issues like public safety, national security, and support for Israel.\
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As a senior marketing manager at LeftField Media, Barnes is well-acquainted with the inherent joys of Awesome Con. The D.C. comic-con, held annually at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, is a strikingly massive event, boasting panels, showcases, celebrity guests, tons of artists, and more attendee cosplay than you can wield a Poké Ball at.
"I love people," says Becca Balint. "I love getting to know them. I love figuring out what makes them tick. I love laughing with them.... I love people, and I get energy from them."
The U.S. Representative from Vermont is definitely a people person: personable, gregarious, cheerful, and willing to engage in conversation, whether it's about serious, pressing political issues or more informal interactions, like cooing over her communication director's pet dog, who briefly appeared on screen during the first minutes of our Zoom interview.
Born on a U.S. Army base in Heidelberg, West Germany, Balint, the daughter of a service member who was himself an immigrant from post-World War II Hungary, lived briefly abroad before moving stateside to Peekskill, New York.
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