Watch: Hillary Clinton Records Message for Bullied Gay Teens
By Andy Towle
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has added her voice to the "It Gets Better" campaign, recording a message of hope for LGBT teens who have been bullied.
Says Clinton: "Take heart. And have hope. And please remember that your life is valuable, and that you are not alone. Many people are standing with you and sending you their thoughts, their prayers, and their strength. Count me among them."
Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...
Love you Hillary!
Posted by: Dave | Oct 19, 2010 6:24:45 PM
nice
Posted by: Chris | Oct 19, 2010 6:28:19 PM
Wouldn't it be nice if the President could have found time to do this.
Posted by: Jeff Kurtti | Oct 19, 2010 6:29:10 PM
@ Jeff, wait 2-6 years, and that may become retroactive.
Posted by: Sgt.Sausagepants | Oct 19, 2010 6:38:17 PM
I love you Hilary, why are you not my president?
Posted by: ila lwara | Oct 19, 2010 6:42:10 PM
How wonderful of Hillary.... and where the hell is Barack?
Posted by: StillmarriedinCA | Oct 19, 2010 6:57:40 PM
Sigh. Yes, very nice, Secretary Clinton. You still oppose equality for gay people, however.
Posted by: Sean | Oct 19, 2010 6:59:25 PM
Where the hell is Bill?
Posted by: David Ehrenstein | Oct 19, 2010 7:01:21 PM
I love her.
Posted by: matt | Oct 19, 2010 7:04:34 PM
Hillary knows all about bullying Gay people. Indeed, she condoned and continues to condone the bullying of one of her own employees, a Foreign Service Officer named Karl Olson, who is Gay. When Karl was stationed in the U.S. Consulate in Brazil, the Consular Chief there, Edwin Beffel, humiliated him by giving him a "three-dollar bill" with the words "Queer Reserve Note" and a suggestive picture of Bill Clinton on it. The Consul General there, David Zweifel, also sent an official cable to the State Department in effect asking for a witch hunt against Karl and another FSO whom Zweifel thought was Gay. Despite excellent service from Karl, and excellent reviews of Karl from raters both before and after these anti-Gay incidents, Beffel and Zweifel gave Karl less than favorable evaluations. Karl sued, and Hillary still argues in court to this day that Karl was fairly evaluated. Hillary is like Barack--just another anti-Gay bigot trying to act like they're a fierce advocate. Got news for you Hillary--one of the reasons LGBT kids do kill themselves is because they know that their entire life will be filled with discrimination from people like you. The discrimination needs to end, period. That is the problem.
Posted by: James E. Pietrangelo, II | Oct 19, 2010 7:05:44 PM
I love her as well and am not over her losing to "that one". As Secretary of State she did not have to do this and she did.
Posted by: Omar | Oct 19, 2010 7:13:27 PM
where the hell is our president? he should have been the one taking a leadership role on this issue. what does the state department have to do with bullying of children in our schools?
once again obama's homophobic related failures have been exposed! he is homophobic and we as gays and lesbians helped elect him into office. does he really believe we are equal to straight people? he constantly, indirectly tells us we are not.
and yes, i voted for him and will in the 2012 election, unless hillary runs.
Posted by: dennis | Oct 19, 2010 7:16:46 PM
Those Clintons can write probably better than anyone today. And this was beautiful, so much better than off the cuff stutterings of celebreties, bragging about how great their lives are.
I love my sweet Hillary.
Posted by: Wilberforce | Oct 19, 2010 7:21:33 PM
yeah.. she is concerned about the bullying but doesnt think you have the right to get married.
amazed that so many of you love the triangulating incremtalist.
maybe she could speak out about Uganda being SoS and all.
Posted by: Bob | Oct 19, 2010 7:30:04 PM
What a heartless and emotionless speech. F'ing do something to repeal DOMA and DADT if you give a shit. As long as those laws are still on the books, young LGBT kids are still going to feel like second-class citizens.
Nothing but a nice gesture.
Posted by: steve | Oct 19, 2010 7:30:09 PM
Obama has already spoken out on gay bullying; he did so at the MTV Town Hall last week.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20019667-503544.html
Hillary is an employee of President Obama. If he himself didn't believe in addressing the issue then she would not be able to make such statements.
A lot of you guys are as woefully uninformed as the teabaggers.
Posted by: Brian in Texas | Oct 19, 2010 7:31:14 PM
This video brought tears to my eyes for 2 reasons.
(1) It is a very thoughtful gesture by an administration official who wouldn't normally do these kinds of things. I would think that if not the President, maybe the First Lady. If not, the Sec. of Education. HRC did a wonderful job conveying a message that everyone in this country should. She delivered the message with compassion and grace.
(2) After the bruising campaign of 2008, where mere mortals like myself probably would have slunk away to tend to my wounds and never want to be anywhere near a camera, HRC rose up and answered the call of duty, and she has served admirably and amazingly as S.O.S. There's no way in hell (sadly) that she will challenge the current president in 2012, and she probably might retire from politics once she feels she's done her job in her current capacity. She surely would make one helluva POTUS! *sigh*
Posted by: Martin | Oct 19, 2010 7:36:10 PM
Thanks Martin. You're so right. She didn't have to do this. It might carry a political risk, something a lot of these guys don't understand. She did it anyway.
And thanks Brian. Hot heads usually don't bother with the facts. But you put them out there calmly and clearly. Sweet.
Posted by: Wilberforce | Oct 19, 2010 8:17:04 PM
@Steve- what does the State Dept have to do with DOMA or DADT?
One of the first things Hillary did as SoS was enlarge the rights and protections for GLBT FSOs and their families, including increasing the opportunities for same sex partners to accompany (where the receiving state allows it) on overseas postings.
It may just be a 'nice gesture' but its a nice gesture she didn't have to make, and one which has been backed up by her actions at State.
Posted by: Clifw | Oct 19, 2010 8:24:24 PM
@Brian In Texas-- Obama responded to a QUESTION at the town hall. In other words, he was FORCED to address the issue. There is no video of his statements, only a transcript. And his answer does nothing to address young people directly to let them know they have a friend and to give them advice on how to survive, like Hillary did. Only a handful of people even know that he has "spoken out on gay bullying" as you put it. But I guess in your apologist world, he has dealt with the subject and we should be ever so grateful that he is our fierce advocate in chief.
Posted by: StillmarriedinCA | Oct 19, 2010 8:27:48 PM
"...amazed that so many of you love the triangulating incremtalist [SIC]..."
Amazed that you could call still her that (not to mention spell it incorrectly) when Obama has been exactly that: a triangulating incrementalist
Posted by: JeffNYC | Oct 19, 2010 8:43:44 PM
This video brought tears to my eyes as well...because I sat on my balls. Obama doesn't know gay people, and doesn't associate with them. We are purely an abstraction to him and those who he surrounds himself with. Hillary does know gay people, and we are not just an abstraction to her. Would she have been a better choice with regard to gay rights? I don't know...but she would have been a better choice...because she wouldn't have allowed the health insurance reform bill to be basically stripped of just about everything...not after her go about with the american hating right back in '94. Obama simply doesn't understand how politics works outside of a campaign. But, it's too late...we're stuck with him.
Posted by: TANK | Oct 19, 2010 8:45:34 PM
Nice gesture, but I'm still very comfortable that I didn't vote for her in the primaries.
Posted by: Tyler | Oct 19, 2010 8:47:41 PM
I don't know what a triangulating incrementalist is but...it's cool she did this. Yes she's publicly opposed gay marriage but at least this is a start. It's a shame kids had to die for this issue to get attention but I'm glad it's finally getting the attention it's needed for a long time. I hope now school administrators, teachers, parents and students will change the culture where gay bullying and harrassment is tolerated and even encouraged.
Posted by: Hank | Oct 19, 2010 8:50:07 PM
This is gross. This is scripted and probably not even written by Clinton. Her monotony alludes to the possibility that she has not even read this script before the recording.
This is a cheap political stunt. I'd rather see Clinton speak from the heart.
While I complain, I'm still elated that she is reaching out, how ever slightly.
Posted by: brentcreelman | Oct 19, 2010 9:11:10 PM