Hillary Clinton held a rally in a Florida gay bar
Hillary Clinton addressed a crowd of mostly LGBT people at a rally at Wilton Manors, Florida, where she promised further LGBT-friendly reforms.
During her speech, Clinton hit upon several hot button issues affecting gay people – including gun reform, following the Orlando gay club attack.
“We are going to keep guns from falling into the wrong hands so that what happened in Orlando can never happen again,” the Democrat presidential nominee said.
She brought up her rival, Republican nominee Donald Trump, saying he would reverse the progress LGBT rights have made in the US over the last few years.
Trump has been “terrible” to the LGBT community in the past, she said.
“Donald Trump has a terrible record on LGBT rights. And this election will determine whether we continue the progress we’ve made or let it be ripped away,” she told the crowd at the Manor Complex, a gay club, which had been decorated with American flags for the event.
‘We know Trump has promised he’ll appoint Supreme Court justices who will overturn marriage equality. He will repeal President Obama’s executive actions to protect LGBT people from discrimination,’ she added.
She also promised that if elected she would do away with conversion therapy: a controversial “treatment” for homosexuality, which has been denounced by major psychological and psychiatric institutions around the world.
“LGBT kids don’t need to be cured of anything,” Clinton said. “They just need to be accepted, embraced and respected.”
She finished by saying: “I’m have been fighting for families and the underdog my entire life. I’m not stopping now. We are just getting warmed up.”
The former Secretary of State has repeatedly attacked her rival’s shifting stances on LGBT rights.
In a bid to attract support from evangelicals, Trump has claimed he would “consider” appointing ultra-conservative Supreme Court justices to repeal equal marriage, come out in favour of North Carolina’s anti-trans law, and confirmed he would sign a Republican-backed bill to directly permit religious homophobic discrimination – while his running mate Mike Pence has confirmed he would dismantle Barack Obama’s protections for LGBT people.
In a ad released last week, Clinton made a direct appeal to the LGBT community. Unlike Mr Trump, who fails to list a single pro-LGBT policy, her campaign has a broad and detailed LGBT manifesto.
She says: “We need to build an America where no one has to worry they can be married on Saturday and be fired on Monday, where kids aren’t bullied just for being who they are, where every American has the chance to live up to his or her God given potential, no matter who they are, or who they love.”
