Admission to the Clinton fundraiser is $20.16. (Ready for Hillary photo via Facebook)
By Bob Vitale
Hillary Clinton has yet to announce her plans for 2016, but more than four dozen LGBT and allied backers in Columbus will host a fundraiser tonight for a possible presidential campaign.
“Out & Ready for Hillary,” an event sanctioned by a national political action committee that’s urging Clinton to run, will take place at 5:30p at Axis Nightclub, 755 N. High St. Nina West will perform; scheduled speakers include state Sen. Nina Turner, the Democrats’ candidate for secretary of state, and openly gay Cincinnati City Councilman Chris Seelbach.
Admission to the fundraiser is $20.16.
Local hosts include Franklin County Recorder Terry Brown and his husband, Joel Bradley; Equality Ohio co-founder Tom Grote and his husband, Rick Neal; Legacy Fund co-founder Lynn Greer; Equality Ohio Executive Director Elyzabeth Holford; and restaurateur Elizabeth Lessner and her husband, Harold LaRue.
As a U.S. senator from 2001 to 2009, Clinton scored less-than-perfect ratings in the Human Rights Campaign’s annual rundown of support for LGBT issues. But as secretary of state during President Obama’s first term, she stood up for LGBT equality around the world and within the federal government.
She announced her support for marriage equality in 2013, declaring, “Gay rights are human rights.”
“I am supporting Hillary because she has been a tireless supporter of LGBT equality since she was First Lady and probably before that,” said Terry Penrod, a member of Stonewall Democrats and a delegate to the last two Democratic National Conventions.
An added bonus, he said: “A strong Democratic nominee will allow Democrats to watch the three ring circus that we call the Republican presidential primary.”
Joel Diaz, chief development officer for AIDS Resource Center Ohio, said he’s with Clinton because he thinks she will continue the progressive policies of President Obama and has the experience to make government work for all Americans.
“The LGBT community should support a Hillary candidacy because we know that she will stand with our community, not only on a national level, but on the international stage as she has already done,” he said.
As secretary of state, Clinton made LGBT rights a cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy, said Brown, the first openly gay person elected to Franklin County office.
“I am confident that Clinton will continue the fight for the LGBT community and all Americans as our next president,” he said.
