Hillary Clinton Makes Appeal to Gay Parents

A letter from two dads might help repair trust with gay parents after her State Deparment emails suggested she wasn't always on their side.

Hillary Clinton's State Department emails got her into trouble last year with same-sex parents, and the campaign is showing its support now by sharing a letter from an anxious gay father who is “scared of what a Republican president will mean for my family.”

The letter, signed by Georgia dads Kevin and Robbin, plus their 7-week-old son, Grey, was posted on Wednesday to the Clinton campaign website along with a fundraising appeal. They were married in New York in 2014 and then returned to their home state, where they had to adopt as single parents, essentially going through the adoption process twice.

“I want you to know that I support you because you have supported me in some of the most delicate and pivotal moments in my life,” wrote Kevin, recalling a few examples. “I remember that day in December of 2011, watching you with tears in my eyes as you said, ‘Gay rights are human rights, and human rights are gay rights.’”

The letter also shared a touching family photo, and another photo of Grey wearing an adorable, tiny Clinton campaign T-shirt.

“I support you because you are the only person running who I trust to keep our family from danger,” he wrote, then explaining his fear of what Republicans would do if elected. Indeed, all of the lead GOP contenders have said they will put conservatives on the Supreme Court who will overturn the Obergefell decision that sent marriage equality nationwide. “I’m frankly scared of Grey turning on the TV and seeing a Republican president who is outspoken about his belief that gay couples shouldn’t be allowed to marry, or that gay parents are not adequate to provide all the opportunities that a heterosexual couple can provide. I am scared of what a Republican president will mean for my family.”

Clinton herself encountered backlash from LGBT families last year when, as part of her State Department emails being released publicly, she was found to have once opposed amending travel documents to be inclusive of families headed by two dads or two moms. And she didn’t mince words at the time, back in 2011, as State considered amending travel documents to strike the words “mother” and “father” in favor of gender-neutral language.

“Who made the decision that State will not use the terms ‘mother and father’ and instead substitute ‘parent one and two’?” Clinton emailed her assistant. “I’m not defending that decision, which I disagree w and knew nothing about, in front of this Congress. I could live w letting people in nontraditional families choose another descriptor so long as we retained the presumption of mother and father. We need to address this today or we will be facing a huge Fox-generated media storm led by Palin et al.”

Read the complete letter on the Clinton campaign website.