WASHINGTON — In a forceful speech to an influential gay rights group, Hillary Rodham Clinton on Saturday reaffirmed her support for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans just hours before Vice President Joe Biden, contemplating his own presidential run, was to address the organization.
“I see the injustices and dangers that you and your family still face,” Clinton told the gathering of members of the gay rights group, the Human Rights Campaign. “I am running for president to end them once and for all.”
Clinton emphasized transgender rights, including urging the military to reverse its policy and allow transgender Americans to serve in the armed forces. Having the world’s strongest military, Clinton said, “doesn’t just mean having the best-trained forces or the biggest arsenal. It means being a leader on issues like this.”
The speech allowed Clinton to address a Democratic primary constituency that will be critical to her 2016 campaign and one that Biden would also aggressively court should he enter the race. He was to address the group Saturday evening.
Clinton has in recent years forcefully rejected two policies from the administration of her husband, former President Bill Clinton, that were seen as setting back the gay rights movement.
“‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ is over,” Clinton said about the legislation enacted by her husband that prevented gays and lesbians from openly serving in the military. “But that doesn’t change the fact that more than 14,000 men and women were forced out of the military for being gay.”
She expressed support for an Obama administration policy that reverses dishonorable discharges given to people because of sexual orientation. As it stands, upgrading to honorable status remains an arduous process for many.
The Human Rights Campaign, led by a former aide to Bill Clinton, Chad Griffin, has deep ties to Hillary Clinton and had invited her to deliver the keynote address at its gathering Saturday night. But Clinton had a scheduling conflict — she was to appear on “Saturday Night Live” — so the group added a breakfast event at which she could speak.
The group has started its endorsement process, with questionnaires sent out to candidates, but it does not typically endorse until the general election. But its membership of prominent, politically active lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans from across the country makes the group an important group to woo.
“I am running for president to stand for the fundamental rights of LGBT Americans and all Americans,” Clinton declared. “That’s a promise from one HRC to another,” she said, using her own initials and the group’s.
Clinton praised the organization for the critical role it played in making same-sex marriage legal, but she said there was much more work to be done to ensure equality, particularly for transgender people.
“We’ve got to address the growing crises of transgender violence,” Clinton said, pointing to crimes against African-American transgender women, in particular. “Transgender people are valued, they are loved, they are us.”
She also delivered a pointed attack on Republican presidential candidates who oppose same-sex marriage and other equal protections. “You turn on the TV and you see a Republican candidate for president literally standing in the courthouse door in Kentucky,” she said, referring to Mike Huckabee’s support of Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
