8 Times Hillary Clinton Was A Champion Of The LGBT Community

From: NewNowNext

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When she stood up for gay diplomats and State Department employees.

In 2009, while Clinton was Secretary of State she expanded the rights for the same-sex partners and families of U.S. diplomats, granting them the many of the same benefits as their heterosexual counterparts—including visas, diplomatic passports, and access to U.S. medical facilities abroad.

“Like all families, our Foreign Service families come in different configurations; all are part of the common fabric of our post communities abroad,” Clinton said in a staff memo. “At bottom, the department will provide these benefits for both opposite-sex and same-sex partners because it is the right thing to do.”

At a gathering of LGBT State Department staffers, she explained that “creating an LGBT-welcoming workplace is not just the right thing to do, it’s also the smart thing to do.”

In 2010, she ordered that the State Department’s equal employment opportunity policy explicitly protect against discrimination based on gender identity. She also made it easier for Americans to change the gender listed on their passport and made it possible for same-sex couples to obtain passports under the their married names.