queerty.com
Emails haven’t exactly been assets to Hillary Clinton as she carries on with her Odyssean march to claim the Oval Office, but it looks like there are a few golden nuggets hiding in her past correspondence that could prove helpful.
Newly-released emails from Clinton’s time at the State Department reveal the then-Secretary urged the Obama administration to take a tough stance against antigay laws in Africa, and that she was tickled pink to be honored by World Pride.
Responding to the brouhaha over the so-called private email server controversy, the State Department continues to release batches of non-classified communications.
One thread reveals that about a year into her job as Secretary, Clinton pushed for a harder stance on global LGBTQ rights after butting heads on the subject with the president of Uganda.
A meeting summary Clinton received in December 2009 states:
“Cheryl [Mills, Clinton Chief of Staff] noted that she had raised with Johnnie Carson [African Affairs Secretary] the need to look at what anti-gay laws other African countries, besides Uganda, had adopted or were considering.“In the subsequent Deputies Meeting, Johnnie noted the proposed draconian legislation in Uganda as well as the Secretary’s intervention with Museveni.“He indicated he would send a message to all our African posts asking them to report on similar legislation or efforts in their countries and to provide their thoughts on a strategy, including public diplomacy efforts, to counter this trend.”
It’s not exactly the stuff of a future Oscar-winning political drama, but it’s nice to see the Democratic frontrunner walking the walk.
Another thread shows staffers and Clinton herself positively discussing a 2012 gift from London’s World Pride honoring the Secretary’s landmark speech before the United Nations in Geneva in which she rallied world leaders to get behind LGBTQ rights.
They sent her a flag with the words of the speech sewn into the fabric.
Clinton speechwriter Megan Rooney said, “This is kind of neat”, to which foreign policy adviser Jacob Sullivan responded, “Very cool.”
Clinton then responded to the thread, suggesting they all see the artwork in person during her next trip to London.
Huma Abedin, Clinton’s Presidential campaign chair, responded, “pretty amazing. we should frame it and hang it somewhere!”
H/t: Pink News
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