Chelsea Clinton on Sunday called LGBT rights “the unfinished business of the 21st century.”
“After all the incredible progress we saw in 2013, I think it’s sometimes easy to think that progress actually marks success and that our work can stop on the steps of the Supreme Court,” Clinton said during a speech at a Human Rights Campaign Foundation conference in Las Vegas designed to promote the safety, inclusion and well-being of LGBT youth.
{mosads}“We did witness progress on multiple levels. Today, 17 states and the District of Columbia … now recognize same-sex marriage. Last week, the DOJ instructed all of its employees across the country to extend equal protection to legally recognized same-sex couples,” she added.
But the former first daughter and vice chair of the Clinton Foundation said there is “a lot more work to do.”
“We made tremendous progress on the legal, political and cultural fronts,” Clinton said. “But we should not mistake progress for success because we have a lot more work to do.”
“Changing laws and changing the political dialogue, while necessary, isn’t sufficient to ensure that bullying stops, to ensure that every young person is supported by their parents and their teachers as they question who they are and discover who they are, regardless of their sexuality,” Clinton added.
“In school hallways and homes, the impact of family rejection, bullying and safety concerns weigh all too heavily on too many young people.”
Clinton told the crowd that she’s often asked why issues of equality are so important to her.
“Frankly, I never understand why I’m being asked that question,” she said. “Because to me this is fundamentally about the premise and the promise of our country. Of always marching toward a more perfect union.”