BY KAREN OCAMB | Drink this in: on Tuesday night, June 7, 2016, Hillary Clinton shattered America’s 240-year old glass ceiling, becoming the first woman nominated by a major political party to be their candidate for President of the United States. Even before Clinton won California by 56% of the vote, she had secured enough pledged delegates to declare victory over rival democratic socialist Bernie Sanders in the Democratic Primary. But what many do not realize is that Clinton was lead to that milestone by Robby Mook, the first openly gay campaign manager of a major presidential campaign in U.S. history. And not only did Clinton nod to the LGBT community in her speech, she included two transgender women in her victory video, watched by millions before she came onstage.
Clinton took the moment in, putting her win in historical context.
“Tonight’s victory is not about one person. It belongs to generations of women and men who struggled and sacrificed and made this moment possible,” Clinton said. “In our country, it started right here in New York, a place called Seneca Falls, in 1848. When a small but determined group of women, and men, came together with the idea that women deserved equal rights, and they set it forth in something called the Declaration of Sentiments, and it was the first time in human history that that kind of declaration occurred.”
And the personal is political for the former secretary of state, as Clinton recalled how her late mother, Dorothy Rodham, was her rock, her teacher, and prepared her to take on presumptive Republican nominee real estate mogul Donald Trump.
“She overcame a childhood marked by abandonment and mistreatment, and somehow managed not to become bitter or broken. My mother believed that life is about serving others. And she taught me never to back down from a bully, which, it turns out, was pretty good advice,” Clinton said. “This past Saturday would have been her 97th birthday, because she was born on June 4th, 1919. And some of you may know the significance of that date. On the very day my mother was born in Chicago, Congress was passing the 19th Amendment to the Constitution. That amendment finally gave women the right to vote. And I really wish my mother could be here tonight. I wish she could see what a wonderful mother Chelsea has become, and could meet our beautiful granddaughter Charlotte. And of course, I wish she could see her daughter become the Democratic Party’s nominee for president of the United States.”
Clinton then offered her personal experience as an example to others. “So yes, yes, there are still ceilings to break – for women and men, for all of us,” Clinton said. “But don’t let anyone tell you that great things can’t happen in America. Barriers can come down. Justice and equality can win. Our history has moved in that direction – slowly at times, but unmistakably – thanks to generations of Americans who refused to give up or back down.
Chad Griffin, President of the Human Rights Campaign, which came out early in endorsing.
Clinton, celebrated the victory. “Hillary Clinton made history tonight in more ways than one. As the first woman to secure the nomination of a major political party, she has shattered barriers that have persisted since this country’s founding,” he said in a statement. “She has also laid out the most ambitious agenda for LGBTQ equality that our nation has ever seen from a presidential candidate. With Donald Trump threatening to roll back all the progress our community has made under President Obama, the stakes for millions of LGBTQ Americans couldn’t be higher in this election — and our choice on November 8 couldn’t be clearer.”
HRC points out that Clinton has made LGBTQ equality a pillar of her campaign and has a strong, detailed LGBT agenda to advance LGBT equality—unlike Trump, who has promised to roll back LGBT equality.
Though the HRC press release did not specifically note the historical place Robby Mook now holds in LGBT American history, the nation’s largest LGBT lobbying group does have a relationship with the gay manager. He spoke at HRC’s convention last March and “energized” the audience, according to the Washington Blade.
“I don’t know about you, but with the stakes so high, I am motivated to get up everyday and fight for a president who is going to stand in our corner,” Mook told the HRC audience. “Hillary understands that the fight for equality isn’t finished until every American cannot only marry, but live, work, pray, learn and raise a family free from discrimination.”
And with Trump promising to attack Clinton with whatever old opposition research he can buy (he’s already resurrected the conspiracy canard about Clinton’s close friend Vincent Foster’s suicide), Mook’s experience fighting right wing extremism may come in handy. “He is a throwback to a campaign professional of an earlier day. In his own way, he walks softly and carries a big stick. He’s great at making the trains run both on-time and in the right direction,” a former Mook deputy told VICE.
“Robby is able to do the most modern, Obama-level data and analytics the smartest messaging, the best field tactics but then corral a big group of people to drive towards a common strategy and goal.”
In her victory speech, Clinton seemed to take elements from both her mother and Mook’s “Mafia” approach to opponents. Here’s an extended excerpt on her general election opponent:
“Donald Trump is temperamentally unfit to be president and commander-in-chief. And he’s not just trying to build a wall between America and Mexico – he’s trying to wall off Americans from each other. When he says, ‘Let’s make America great again,’ that is code for, ‘Let’s take America backwards.’ Back to a time when opportunity and dignity were reserved for some, not all, promising his supporters an economy he cannot recreate.
“We, however, we want to write the next chapter in American greatness, with a 21st century prosperity that lifts everyone who’s been left out and left behind, including those who may not vote for us but who deserve their chance to make a new beginning.
“When Donald Trump says a distinguished judge born in Indiana can’t do his job because of his Mexican heritage – or he mocks a reporter with disabilities – or calls women ‘pigs’ – it goes against everything we stand for. Because we want an America where everyone is treated with respect and where their work is valued.
“It’s clear that Donald Trump doesn’t believe we are stronger together. He has abused his primary opponents and their families, attacked the press for asking tough questions, denigrated Muslims and immigrants. He wants to win by stoking fear and rubbing salt in wounds. And reminding us daily just how great he is.
“Well, we believe we should lift each other up, not tear each other down. We believe we need to give Americans a raise – not complain that hardworking people’s wages are too high. We believe we need to help young people struggling with student debt – not pile more on to our national debt with giveaways to the super-wealthy. We believe we need to make America the clean energy superpower of the 21st century – not insist that climate change is a hoax.
“To be great, we can’t be small. We have to be as big as the values that define America. And we are a big-hearted, fair-minded country. We teach our children that this is one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Not just for people who look a certain way or worship a certain way or love a certain way. For all. Indivisible.
“This election is not, however, about the same old fights between Democrats and Republicans. This election is different. It really is about who we are as a nation. It’s about millions of Americans coming together to say: We are better than this. We won’t let this happen in America. And if you agree – whether you’re a Democrat, Republican or independent – I hope you’ll join us.”
And when Clinton said “with liberty and justice for all,” and emphasized “all” – she backed her words up with action—highlighting visuals of black transgender activistCherno Biko, http://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbcblk28/trans-activist-cherno-biko-changing-game-lgbt-rights-n507276 with a voice over from another transgender activist, Blossom Brown, an HRC Christian volunteer from Mississippi http://www.hrc.org/blog/i-am-blossom-brown in a video that shows a young Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farmer Workers movement and Shirley Chisholm, the first African American woman elected to Congress and the first woman to run for president.
“I want to help give back. I’ve met so many other transgender people–their voices haven’t always been heard but I’ve told them, ‘Our time is coming. We’re going to change the world together,” says Brown in the video.
At a campaign rally in Santa Monica late Tuesday night, Bernie Sanders, who is cutting his campaign staff in half, vowed to fight on to the Democratic convention in Philadelphia in July, to the cheers of his “Bernie or Bust” crowd. He meets with President Obama and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid on Thursday in Washington DC, which will be followed by another campaign rally. They are expected to urge Sanders to concede the race and to help unify the party before the convention. However, Sanders, who only became a Democrat in order to run in the Democratic primary, apparently still feels more allegiance to the “revolution” he has called for than the party. On the other hand, he has also promised to do whatever is necessary to prevent Donald Trump from winning the White House.
Longtime former political David Mixner, now a playwright and author, posted an essay on Towleroad Wednesday morning announcing his switch from Sanders to Clinton.
“Ms. Clinton has been a champion of important Democratic values and principles. While I have had my differences with her on a number of issues I have never viewed her as anything other than a progressive. She has earned our support,” Mixner wrote. “That is why as a key Sanders supporter I am offering my full and unqualified endorsement of Hillary Clinton for President.”
Why not wait until the Democratic Cnvention is over?
“There is an easy answer and his name is Donald Trump. In all my 16 elections, never has there been a candidate that so threatens our American ideas, our Constitution and even the basis of a free and democratic country. He is a dangerous demagogue who has embraced racism, misogyny, homophobia and xenophobia. The very idea that his hand could be on the nuclear button terrifies me. I can’t even begin to imagine a world where Trump is in charge of our foreign policy, feeding the poor, sheltering the homeless, protecting our children and saving our environment from the rising seas. His election would leave us one short step away from a dictatorship,” Mixner said.
Trump is dangerous and should not be ignored, he added.
“Sanders supporters, like myself, have given it our best. We have brought great change. Because we have shown how much we love and care for this planet and the people on it, we cannot play Russian Roulette for political reasons. We must now put our differences behind us and defeat this evil man and elect a qualified, experienced and talented woman to the Presidency of the United States,” Mixner wrote. “So the time comes for us to unite and fight hard for America’s future. Actually, we are fighting to save our country from losing everything that is wonderful about it.”
Here’s the video placing her win in historical context:
