Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged the passage of the Equality Act, telling attendees at the Human Rights Campaign's dinner that they could not rely on the Supreme Court to uphold LGBT rights. | Drew Angerer/Getty Images Hillary Clinton slams Trump administration's record on LGBT issues

Former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on Saturday blasted the Trump administration’s record on civil rights for gay, lesbian and transgender people during its first nine months, telling an audience of LGBT advocates in Washington “we have some tough battles ahead.”

Clinton took aim at the White House’s efforts to roll back the Affordable Care Act and ban transgender service members, as well as its silence on international LGBT issues, during her remarks at the national dinner of the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBT rights organization.


“The attacks on the LGBT community here at home and around the world are striking and scary. I can only imagine what it’s like to be in the position that so many people still find themselves in in our country,” Clinton said.

“I do know what it feels like to be torn down and attacked, and I want you to know that I’m with you,” she added.

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Funding cuts to Medicare and Medicaid that have been put forward in congressional budget plans threaten health care for vulnerable communities and the progress that has been made toward advancements in HIV research and treatment, Clinton said.

In July, President Donald Trump declared, via Twitter, that transgender troops would be barred from serving in the military. The unexpected move caught the Defense Department off guard and drew the immediate ire of LGBT advocates.

"You know and [Trump] knows that transgender people have fought and died for this country," Clinton said, adding that it was "insulting and wrong” for his administration to suggest transgender troops are unfit to serve.

Trump's Justice Department has also argued in court that LGBT people are not protected from discrimination under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, reversing a legal position trumpeted by the Obama administration. It also voted against a United Nations resolution that condemned use of the death penalty against those who engage in consensual same-sex relationships.

“We cannot rely on this administration or the Supreme Court to uphold LGBT rights,” Clinton said. “We need to be agitating to pass the Equality Act,” she added, referring to proposed legislation that would make housing and workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity illegal.

Clinton's record on LGBT rights dates back to her husband's administration, which ushered in the military's now-defunct "don't ask, don't tell" policy and the now-unconstitutional Defense of Marriage Act that restricted federal marriage to a man and woman. Clinton maintained support for that definition during her Senate and first White House campaigns, though she expressed support for civil unions that recognized the legal parity of gay couples.

In 2011, then-Secretary of State Clinton delivered a speech in Geneva in which she declared "gay rights are human rights and human rights are gay rights" — a mantra she repeated Saturday night to cheers from the crowd. Two years later, shortly after leaving public office, Clinton announced her public support for same-sex marriage in a Human Rights Campaign-produced video.

Clinton actively courted LGBT donors and voters during her contentious Democratic primary with Sen. Bernie Sanders. She won the unanimous endorsement of the Human Rights Campaign's board of directors in January 2016. At that time, the organization called Clinton "the champion we can count on in November — and every day she occupies the Oval Office.”