“She has had to overcome a whole lot of setbacks and personal attacks, literally, since she came into public life,” said Chad Griffin, the president of the Human Rights Campaign and a former Clinton aide. Clinton as a “fighter” plays into this idea. Clinton’s appeal to some of her most ardent gay supporters. But at the same time, they suggested that there was something visceral about Mrs. Clinton’s gay supporters cautioned against generalizations. Clinton’s June 13 speech in New York that signified the official start of her campaign were about gay rights issues, including this zinger about Republicans: “They turn their backs on gay people who love each other,” she said to raucous cheers. (Her campaign manager, Robby Mook, is the first openly gay man to hold the top role in a major presidential campaign.) She has now made the issue central to her 2016 campaign. Clinton prioritized gay rights, including in a 2011 speech in Geneva in which she urged nations to accept gays and lesbians. In the four years she served as secretary of state, Mrs. Clinton has said she has “evolved” to become a forceful advocate of same-sex marriage and measures to prevent discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.) Clinton has said he regretted those measures, and Mrs. Others pointed to President Bill Clinton’s signing of the Defense of Marriage Act and Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, two of the most significant setbacks in the modern gay rights movement. Truly a visionary,” Hamilton Nolan, a writer at Gawker, posted on Twitter. “Shout out to Hillary Clinton who opposed gay marriage until 2013. Clinton’s response to the court’s same-sex marriage ruling as politically opportunistic and overkill, given her relatively late arrival to the cause. (It could also offend some voters, if not delicately managed.) Of course, gay life is incredibly diverse, and the cliché of the strong woman with diva appeal does not speak to everyone, or cancel out more substantive concerns about Mrs. Chelsea Clinton and much of the Brooklyn-based campaign staff attended the New York City parade.
Americans who made it possible.” Her campaign gave out free bumper stickers with the “H” logo in rainbow colors spelling out the word “History” and had a huge presence at pride parades across the country, including four such events in Iowa. She called the ruling a “historic victory” and celebrated “the courage and determination of L.G.B.T. Clinton, 67, seems to be playing up this cultural connection, whether it is making jokes about being a “hair icon” or sending around the Well-Strung tribute video on social media.Īs some Republican presidential candidates issued measured responses to the Supreme Court’s decision on Friday to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide and others attacked the ruling in the name of religious freedom, Mrs. The difference between her current campaign and her 2008 effort is that Mrs.
But what she lacks on the policy front, she is trying to make up for partly with a tongue-in-cheek recognition that in her decades in the public eye she has developed a certain pop culture status, particularly among some gay men who identify with her triumphs over adversity, her redemption, and her evolving personal style. She did not speak out on behalf of same-sex marriage until 2013. Clinton does not have the most cutting-edge record when it comes to gay rights. Clinton posed with Lady Gaga at a fund-raiser, and her campaign promoted a kitschy pro-Clinton video made by the gay quartet Well-Strung. The campaign also opened a “Pride” section on its website, with rainbow-print merchandise including a “Loud and Proud” shirt with a young Hillary with a bob haircut silk-screened, Andy Warhol-style, against a yellow background. In honor of Gay Pride Month in June, Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign held a “Broadway Brunches” fund-raiser in Manhattan, featuring a performance from the stars of the drag queen musical “Kinky Boots.”