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#AM_Equality Tip Sheet: October 9, 2016
HILLARY CHANNELS FLOTUS: “WHEN THEY GO LOW…”: After a bizarre — and extraordinarily lewd — weekend on the campaign trail was triggered by Access Hollywood video of Donald Trump regaling Billy Bush about his sexually predatory behavior, Hillary Clinton on Sunday night gave a master class in restraint. While headlines focused on Trump’s shocking, and at times creepy, behavior at the debate, Hillary Clinton repeatedly attempted to return the discussion to policy issues, including health care, foreign policy and the Supreme Court. Among the contrasts she drew: her vow to appoint Supreme Court justices who will uphold marriage equality and “protect the constitutional principles of liberty and equality for all.” Meanwhile, Donald Trump pledged to appoint justices in the mold of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who used his seat over the course of several decades to support laws designed to discriminate against LGBTQ people. For more on Trump’s potential Supreme Court nominees, read HRC President Chad Griffin’s (@ChadHGriffin) piece for NBC News at the beginning of the Supreme Court’s term.
DEBATE PREP: NBC’s Andrea Mitchell (@MitchellReports) reminded audiences of vice presidential nominee Mike Pence’s career-long goal of rolling-back LGBTQ equality, including signing a “license to discriminate” bill that could have allowed businesses to deny service to LGBTQ people — and subsequently defending the bill over an outcry from the business community and a majority of Hoosier voters. She also emphasized the power of the LGBTQ vote and HRC’s unprecedented #turnOUT effort to elect pro-equality candidates up and down the ballot. There are nearly 10 million LGBTQ voters in this country, and in many key states the LGBTQ adult population exceeds margin of victory in the 2012 presidential election.
.@chadhgriffin on @mitchellreports calls out Pence’s extreme record, from his license-to-discriminate bill to voting against hate crimes act pic.twitter.com/fto9o6u4IG
— HumanRightsCampaign (@HRC) October 9, 2016
#turnOUT THE VOTE:
- North Carolina: Last week, HRC announced the latest push in it’s multi-state GOTV effort aimed at turning out the nearly 10 million LGBTQ who can decide this election in key states. On Sunday morning, CNN’s Nia-Malika Henderson highlighted HRC’s campaign to reach an estimated 400,000 equality voters in NC, one of the tightest states in the 2016 presidential race — and a key gubernatorial race as advocates seek to defeat Governor McCrory and his hateful HB2 law.
- New Hampshire: HRC President Chad Griffin spent late last week campaigning across New Hampshire for Hillary Clinton in Concord, Portsmouth, Dartmouth, and Manchester. Along the way, Griffin also campaigned alongside Senate candidate Maggie Hassan and New Hampshire gubernatorial candidate Colin Van Ostern.
- Iowa: Check out Anne Holton stopping by to thank HRC volunteers getting out the vote for Clinton-Kaine via Instagram.
- Pennsylvania: Last night, Griffin joined volunteers calling prospective voters and knocking on doors to kick off Pennsylvania’s final two days of voter registration.
- Omaha: With early voting set to begin tomorrow morning in Nebraska, Griffin heads to Omaha tonight for a series of GOTV events with LGBTQ voters!
ICYMI: @niaCNN notes GOTV strength of @HRC making 400,000 voter contacts in tight NC race #turnOUT pic.twitter.com/MYWkSWFPTe
— HumanRightsCampaign (@HRC) October 9, 2016
MILBANK MUST-READ: “A WATERSHED MOMENT” FOR LGBTQ EQUALITY: In his Sunday column, Dana Milbank (@Milbank) of the The Washington Post writes on the potential “watershed moment” for LGBTQ equality if North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory is defeated this fall. Milbank notes it “would be the first case of a prominent official being voted out of office because his anti-gay actions backfired.” Indeed, McCrory has watched his approval ratings and polling numbers plummet amid the fallout from his hateful HB2 law. HRC President Chad Griffin agreed, noting the defeat of McCrory and his vile brand of hate “holds the possibility of being a turning point in the political history of our fight for equality.”
NYT MAG: “WHAT HAPPENED TO NORTH CAROLINA?” In The New York Times, Jonathan Katz (@KatzOnEarth) comprehensively tracks the terrible damage McCrory and his discriminatory HB2 have inflicted on North Carolina, a state that “has long traded on a reputation of relative political moderation, or at least balance.” Katz details hits the state taken because of the anti-LGBTQ law, and reports that the cost of the backlash is “politically obvious,” with polls consistently finding that a majority of North Carolinians believe HB2 has hurt the state’s economy and reputation. The approval rate in the state for the law continues to sink – down to 36 percent in a recent poll. Read more here.
MEANWHILE The Charlotte Observer has filed a lawsuit against McCrory seeking emails related to HB2 that the newspaper first requested in April under the state’s public records law. HRC filed a similar open records request in April, and has yet to receive a response. More from The Charlotte Observer.
HRC RELEASES CONGRESSIONAL SCORECARD FOR 114TH CONGRESS: HRC’s Congressional Scorecard measures support for LGBTQ equality in the 114th Congress. The 114th Congress saw a record number of Republicans vote at different times to affirm President Obama’s executive order prohibiting discrimination by federal contractors on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. However, the scorecard showed there is still work to be done — check out the “Hall of Shame” here.
Get the facts before Election Day & see where your members of Congress stand on #LGBTQ equality #HRCScorecard t.co/ojobs45rbe
— HumanRightsCampaign (@HRC) October 10, 2016
PATTY JUDGE FOR U.S. SENATE: HRC endorsed of Patty Judge for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Chuck Grassley. While Judge will fight for Iowa values of fairness and equality, Grassley has abused his leadership position in the Senate to block any progress on equality. Grassley has demonstrated again and again that he would leave LGBTQ people around the country at risk for being fired or denied a job because of who they are or whom they love. More from HRC.
NATIONAL COMING OUT DAY COINCIDES WITH JEWISH AND MUSLIM HOLY DAYS: Tomorrow, LGBTQ Jews and Muslims will be celebrating National Coming Out Day as well as Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement and holiest day in the Jewish calendar, and Ashura, commemorating the day Musa (Moses) was saved by God. For LGBTQ adherents of Judaism and Islam, and their allies, this is a particularly important time that makes coming out even more meaningful. Read more at HRC.
- For National Coming Out Day, HRC highlights the celebrities who came out in 2016.
- And, over the weekend….Glamour reports that Sara Ramirez, formerly Dr. Callie Torres of Grey’s Anatomy, shared that she is bisexual while speaking at the True Colors Fund’s 40 to None Summit, a two-day event to help end homelessness among LGBTQ youth. Read more here.
NIH DESIGNATES SEXUAL AND GENDER MINORITIES AS HEALTH DISPARITY POPULATION: The National Institutes of Health has formally designated sexual and gender minorities as a “health disparity population” for purposes of NIH research. The term “sexual and gender minorities” includes lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people. The announcement, writes HRC Senior Legislative Counsel Robin Maril, empowers NIH to undertake additional research on issues specifically affecting the LGBTQ community and elevates the health disparities faced by our community within the NIH research agenda. Read more here.
READING RAINBOW
The New York Times takes a look at transgender young people acting in Hollywood… PositiveLite interviews HRC’s Noel Gordon about HIV treatment as protection…
Have news? Send us your news and tips at [email protected]. Click here to subscribe to A.M. Equality and follow @HRC for all the latest news. Thanks for reading!
www.hrc.org/blog/am-equality-tip-sheet-october-9-2016?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed
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