Hillary Clinton launches Presidential campaign with video featuring gay couple
Hillary Clinton has formally announced her plans to run for President of the United States again in 2016.
In a video, Mrs Clinton declared: “I am running for president”.
“Americans have fought their way back from tough economic times,” she said, “but the deck is still stacked in favour of those at the top.
“Everyday Americans need a champion and I want to be that champion,” she added.
The video features a variety of Americans talking about their preparations for the future including a gay couple who are to marry.
The former Secretary of State, who previously sought the Democratic nomination in 2008 but lost out to Barack Obama, made the announcement today in an announcement on social media.
She is the first senior Democrat to announce her run, though a number of Republicans – including Jeb Bush and Rand Paul – have already done so.
Despite only announcing her campaign today, Ms Clinton has been rumoured to be making a second run at the Presidency for years.
She was endorsed last month by pro-LGBT group Equality California – more than a year before the polls open in November 2016.
Clinton has proved popular with the LGBT community – being named ‘Ally of the Year’ by users of hook-up app Grindr in 2014.
The former First Lady announced her support for equal marriage back in 2013 – and has consistently shown her support for LGBT issues.
Last year, she claimed in a memoir that she was “ridiculed” by Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni when she confronted him about Uganda’s anti-gay legislation.
She wrote: “When I raised these issues with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, he ridiculed my concerns. ‘Oh Hillary, here you go again’ he would say.”
In 2011, Clinton gave a groundbreaking speech to a United Nations summit in Geneva on LGBT rights.
In her Geneva speech, Clinton said: “Some seem to believe it is a western phenomenon and therefore people outside the west have grounds to reject it.
“Well, in reality gay people are born into and belong to every society in the world.
“They are all ages, all races, all faiths, they are doctors and teachers, farmers and bankers, soldiers and athletes.
“Whether we know it, whether we acknowledge it, they are our family, our friends and our neighbours. Being gay is not a western invention, it is a human reality.”
