As of the morning of January 19, 2016, the Human Rights Campaign has officially decided to endorse Hillary Clinton in her candidacy for President of the United States.



The petitioners of this address make a firm stance against this endorsement to state our profound disagreement in this decision. By large, we find this endorsement troubling due to the severity of the consequences that were put into place by the past actions of Mrs. Clinton. It is especially hurtful that the Human Rights Campaign would disregard this history.



As an example, Mrs. Clinton was in favor of the Defence of Marriage Act and Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policies, which both have produced harm to the LGBT community and violations of equal rights.



Although Mrs. Clinton has changed from her initial position on marriage equality to one that is supportive of the struggles of the LGBT community, Mrs. Clinton’s record and public support of certain proposals have created numerous hurdles for gay and lesbian couples and, at times, have harmed those in the LGBT community and in the military services of the United States.



Mrs. Clinton was one of the last of her party to support marriage equality. It was only in 2013 that she came out in favor of same-sex marriages. For most of her political career, she was an ardent supporter of marriage being defined as being between a man and a woman. Does this record and late show of support mean that Mrs. Clinton is worthy of the Human Rights Campaign endorsement? We think not.



The president of HRC needs to step aside in this process due to conflict of interest and bias for the Clinton campaign. He was a volunteer for the Bill Clinton campaign and has recently led a number of fundraising efforts for Hillary Clinton.



The Human Rights Campaign needs to turn over the endorsement decision to the members of the community that it purportedly represents. Only after a fair vote should it endorse a candidate for president, and absent a vote there should be no endorsement.



Many people have continuously fought for the advancement of LGBT rights. Sylvia Rivera, Harvey Milk, Bayard Rustin, Laverne Cox, and Leonard Matlovich are among the many brave voices who have spoken out for equality even when it was not comfortable or safe to do so. We do not consider Hillary Clinton to be among these leaders.



We petition the Human Rights Campaign to reconsider its top down endorsement of Hillary Clinton.