On Wednesday, NBC News and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America are partnering to host a first-of-its-kind “Commander-in-Chief Forum” featuring presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. The forum focusing on national security, military affairs, and veterans issues comes as we are approaching the five-year anniversary of the end of the discriminatory “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) law, and marking historic progress we’ve made in the equal treatment of all service members, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
However, make no mistake, the stakes of this presidential election couldn’t be higher for LGBTQ people. Donald Trump has threatened to roll back the gains we’ve made both in the military and out, and, in choosing Mike Pence as his running mate, has embraced a politician who has made anti-LGBTQ animus a cornerstone of his career. Hillary Clinton would continue building on the equality legacy of President Obama, ensuring that all service members are treated with the dignity and respect they deserve.
Thanks to leadership of the president, and the steadfast work of equality advocates, we’ve made huge strides toward ensuring the military is able to recruit and retain the most talented and qualified individuals, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. We’ve repealed the archaic DADT law that prevented gay, lesbian, and bisexual troops from serving openly; ensured equal benefits for the same-sex spouses of service members; extended non-discrimination protections in the military based on sexual orientation; and, most recently, finally witnessed the long-overdue end to the outdated ban on open service by transgender people.
I’ve seen firsthand how the progress we’ve made in the Armed Forces has improved military and family readiness. As a Marine veteran and spouse of an active duty Marine, and through my work with the Human Rights Campaign and the American Military Partner Association, I’ve witnessed progress as the lives of thousands of military families have improved. LGBTQ service members can go to work each and every day without having to worry about hiding something as basic as who they are. After years of discrimination and marginalization, they and their families finally have the recognition and support they need and deserve in their service to our nation.
Donald Trump has surrounded himself with radically anti-LGBTQ advisors and campaign staff, including Mike Pence. Pence first gained national attention as governor of Indiana with his “right to discriminate” bill that could have allowed businesses to discriminate and deny services to LGBTQ people simply because of who they are. During his time in Congress, he voted against the repeal of DADT, saying it would turn the military into “a backdrop for social experimentation.” He also voted against the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, calling it a “radical social agenda.” His history of opposing equality is long and indisputable.
In addition to surrounding himself with anti-LGBTQ activists, Trump has also threatened to roll back LGBTQ equality. He opposes marriage equality, endorses Kim-Davis style discrimination in federal law, defends vile anti-LGBTQ laws like North Carolina’s deeply discriminatory HB2, vows to fill vacancies on the Supreme Court of the United States with anti-marriage equality justices, campaigns with anti-LGBTQ hate groups, and spews hatred toward LGBTQ people ― including women, immigrants, Muslims, and people living with disabilities.
While Donald Trump would threaten the progress we’ve made, Hillary Clinton will continue to fight every single day she’s in office for every American, including LGBTQ people. In far too many places across the country, LGBTQ people still face unfair and unjust discrimination, and we need a President who will fight to change that. We need a President who will fight for, and sign into law, the Equality Act ― federal legislation that would finally establish explicit protections against discrimination for LGBTQ people in many of the most important areas of their lives, like employment, housing, access to public places, federal funding, credit, education and jury service.
The men and women who serve our nation in uniform come from all walks of life and represent the diversity of America and all that we stand for. As Americans consider who should be our next Commander-in-Chief, we must remember the values we stand for as a nation ― liberty and justice for all. We must elect a President who will fight for those values. We must elect Hillary Clinton.