Late Night: Hillary on the Cover of The Advocate!
Posted: January 11, 2011 Filed under: GLBT Rights, Hillary Clinton: Her Campaign for All of Us, Human Rights | Tags: the administration's fiercest advocate, The Advocate 25 CommentsHoly moly! I was going to try to get my insomniac self to bed, but this simply can’t wait. While catching up on my twitter feeds from Monday, I saw this from stacyx/secyclintonblog:
SecyClintonblog: Secretary Clinton on the Cover Issue of the Gay Rights Publication The Advocate : http://t.co/pyKkJBS #glbt #gay #hillaryclinton #secclinton
Well, y’all this is yet another one to file under “why I’m a ‘Hillary fan’ and 100% unapologetic about it”:
You may have trouble reading the caption and not have instant access to a newsstand at the moment, so I’ll type it out for you:
YES, SHE DID: Hillary Clinton emerges as the administration’s fiercest advocate–and explains why gay rights will never take a backseat at the State Department.
It’s a lengthy, meaty must-read interview. I’m still working my way through it myself, so go read at the link or get your hands on a copy (I know I can’t wait to go buy my own later today). I’ll include an excerpt here of the first page to get you started, emphasis in bold is mine:
From The Advocate January 2011
Madame Secretary
“Gay rights are human rights.” With that declaration — and the team she has assembled at the State Department—Hillary Rodham Clinton has elevated the dialogue on LGBT rights around the globe.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reveled before a standing-room-only crowd of more than 500 State Department employees celebrating gay pride at the agency’s Loy Henderson Auditorium in Washington, D.C. last summer. “Gee, let’s do this every week!” she said. This, it seemed, was to be more of a reunion of old acquaintances than a perfunctory speech on diversity.
At first, Clinton glanced down—to the lectern and her prepared remarks. But her focus on the written page melted away as she looked up and rolled on with the speech, channeling the myriad mental notes she had made over the years.
Displaying an uncanny depth of understanding for the challenges that many LGBT youth experience, Clinton spoke of tragedies that would only come to national attention months later after a spate of heart-wrenching teen suicides dominated headlines for weeks. She called on the staff members before her to help create a safe space for gays and lesbians everywhere, “Particularly young people, particularly teenagers who still, today, have such a difficult time and who, still, in numbers far beyond what should ever happen, take their own lives rather than live that life.”
Men and women around the world were being “harassed, beaten, subjected to sexual violence, even killed, because of who they are and whom they love,” she said.
“This is a human rights issue,” Clinton told the rapt audience. She ad-libbed, recalling an oft-quoted line from a landmark speech on women’s rights at a U.N. conference in China: “Just as I was very proud to say the obvious more than 15 years ago in Beijing—that human rights are women’s rights, and women’s rights are human rights—well, let me say today that human rights are gay rights, and gay rights are human rights, once and for all.”
Asked months later what was going through her mind when she offered the unscripted line at the pride celebration, Clinton responds with her inimitable laugh. “Oh, heavens, I don’t know—I don’t know,” she says before settling back into the moment. “I was looking out at the audience where a lot of longtime friends, political supporters, colleagues were sitting, and it just seemed so important and right to make that statement.”
I’d like to point out that Hillary said all this back in June, before the disturbing string of suicides related to anti-gay bullying began to appear in the headlines. And, remember how when that happened, Hillary took the lead then too, including “going purple” in a sea full of gray suits.
In case you missed it at the time or want to see it again, here’s the video of the speech that the Advocate is referencing above (the link goes to the State Department transcript; Hillary declares that “human rights are gay rights, and gay rights are human rights” at around the 6:20 mark below):
Vodpod videos no longer available.
Not all of us “Hillary fans” can be painted with the same broad brush and lumped together with the obligatory Hillary groupies out there. Hillary won my support, exactly because she’s the kind of woman to make the speech above and do this cover story interview with the Advocate.
Oh, Yes, She DID, indeed. Brava, Madame Secretary, on emerging as the “fiercest advocate” in this Administration. I never had a doubt.
peej
Carissa
bostonboomer
ecocatwoman
mablue2
Mama Lopez
peggysue22
quixote
skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
GO Hillary!
I too, was won over by her campaigning in 2008. I didn’t start out a Hillary supporter, her words and actions made me one. I’m glad to see that, once again, she has proven my (ehhumm) superior judgement. I won’t mourn what could have been, no, no, I won’t. I’ll follow her lead and move on and do the best I can.
That picture on the cover is a knock-out, btw. She looks wonderful!
Sima, that was my story too! She won me over!
ot… please, please, kill the cirly titles..its yuk… i want to come here but everu time i look ita like i’m in jane austin land… sorry no disrespect… but the change from the old ( and i think good) edgier look was so muchikik better… s
kk, I’m sorry, but I don’t follow what you mean by “cirly.”
We’re still working on fine-tuning things, like the fonts though. Most of our readers seem to prefer the current layout to the old gray one, which more than a few readers had a problem with reading. That’s what prompted the changes. Sorry you have problems this one. We’re trying our best to make the site as readable as possible for as many people as possible–and and there’s a Sky Dancing Test blog that Minx generously set up for the site–we’re using it to figure out different options. You’re welcome to check it out and add your input there. But, we aren’t going to be able to please everyone. It’s just one of those things.
Cirly = cursive?
kk did you see my comment on the Tashi thread. Here is an option for you: kk, if you are having trouble with the font and you use firefox browser, you can disable the typefont.com on the noscript addon. Just a thought…
Hope that helps.
Thanks for that suggestion. Beneath this font is a very plain block font.
Yes, it works if you are unable to read the Daniel font on your browser. I have trouble with it in my case…so I have to admit, I use the block cheat myself. I have looked on the typefont site and it appears that each font looks different when viewed on different OS and Browsers.
You can also, with firefox, set a default font in ‘preferences’ (‘options’ if you run Windows, I think) and force webpages to use it. You have to click the advanced tab and tell it not to allow pages to set their own fonts.
I do that, because I run linux and all the fonts are not available, so websites look very strange if I let them set font. I use liberation sans, myself. And this webpage looks fabulous with liberation sans!
Wonderful! Hillary puts Barack to shame and does it with dignity.
with one hand tied behind her back too.
…and after an elbow injury, her husband having a cardiac event, getting treated like dirt by our American media for doing important work for women’s aka human rights in the Congo, her daughter getting married, Wikileaks… just to name a few things.
Yup, she makes us women folk smile because she is a true Advocate for Human Rights and when she speaks, she tells it like it is.
Go Hillary Go!
In case it is ‘Cirly’ = Girly, all I can say is that we CHEER Hillary on, the same way men CHEER their favorite Line Backer or the main hoop dude. She is the Mind Hooper, Mind Line Backer and she is a Trooper and works tirelessly for her country. She can hold her own with the men of the world without a WORRY and that isn’t Girly at all…that takes a powerful mind. What a great role model for young girls around the globe.
If it is girly, then it’s ironic the name of the header font is “daniel”
Dkat @ 2:51
Lol
I’ve always been a fan. I never fell for any of that crap about her in the first Clinton Administration when Republicans did anything they could to discredit her. She has been a tireless advocate for the poor as long as I can remember. I do remember all the obssession with her hairstyles that were reported over and over again instead of the work she had done and continues doing. Its so very sad that my community didn’t appreciate her and have her back during her Presidential run. Now they know. Better late than never I guess.
Dear KK, Dakinikat explained the sites header a few posts back and it was a beautiful explanation. Maybe you should read it. Part of the artist’s bio is down in the right bottom corner on this page.
Me too, Glen. I’ve been a fan ever since I first learned about her and her advocacy for the poor and working class, and her Valedictory speech at Wellesley. She has always been at the forefront of all of the issues that are important to me. I’m so proud to see her picture on the cover the The Advocate. Thank you for posting this, WTV.
Hillary is a powerhouse for many different groups of people: Women, Children, LGBT, Civil Rights, Human Rights, oh…the list goes on and on. She’s Eleanor Roosevelt, FDR, MLK, Mother Jones, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, all rolled into one…
“She’s Eleanor Roosevelt, FDR, MLK, Mother Jones, Elizabeth Cady Stanton”
….and Alice Paul and Dorothy Height and Ela Bhatt…!
I thought y’all would come up with more people…;)
Exactly MM, she is a stellar human being.
I’ve been combing through the article in my spare time today and it is so fantastic, I can’t narrow down which parts to excerpt!
I’ve been so caught up in peripheral sh&t that I haven’t been able to give this thread and the article the attention it deserves. I’m going to try to take time to smell the roses now.
Thanks for linking my blog. Your blog not only has interesting articles, but it is probably the most beautiful blog I have ever visited. Excellent visual arrangement! I will definitely return.
Thank you for visiting us and for the kind comments!! You must know we read you!!