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The Power Lesbians Behind Hillary Clinton’s Presidential Campaign

It’s on at her headquarters in New York City. Hillary Clinton‘s campaign staff works vigorously to the sounds of the Indigo Girls. Lesbians have practically taken over the compound, wearing flannel shirts and cargo shorts, rooting for WNBA dream teams that existed in the ’90s. “Here’s to you Cynthia Cooper and Sheryl Swoopes,” is used in place of their sign-off signatures on all the emails. Rugby quietly plays on the television in perpetuity to mentally prepare them for the scrum of their lives; electing Hillary Clinton for President.

Okay, so I’m kidding about all of the above. At least I think I am. I just can’t help but imagine how crazy cool it is to work for Hillary Clinton, running against Donald Trump in what has got to be the most unconventional, most unpredictable campaign in American history. Furthermore, working for Hillary Clinton as a lesbian, people I relate to, someone like me. Are there basketball hoops on the trashcans? Is there a button making and beer tasting room that replaces the traditional water cooler meet-up? I know from my own time working on campaigns that things can be hectic, but running against Donald Trump! Whoo buddy, that’s not just a different ball game, that’s a ball game on another planet. Like Space Jam, if it ended with all the Looney Toons characters being rounded up and deported to Mexico.

You may have noticed by now that AfterEllen had the good sense to send a comedian (that’s me!) to have a chat with the lesbian staffers of Hillary Clinton’s campaign. What a treat it was.

As our live-chat flickers from their New York headquarters, a gaggle of Hillary Clinton’s queer women staffers are sitting side-by-side at a long table. I’m going to go ahead and describe it as the smartest, most talented Last Lesbian Supper in existence (this time with fewer dresses) taking time out of their incredibly busy schedule to give us a frank, funny, interview on what it’s like to work for our heroine, Hillary Clinton.

Aditi Hardikarphotos courtesy Hillary for America

Just like in my dreams; photos, paintings, and portraits of Hillary Clinton line the walls around the room. From the moment I saw the women I could tell I was dealing with Hillary’s Power Lesbians. Several of them had their phones on the table, but not in a rude way, in a power lesbian way. You know what I mean. Like at any moment something important could happen, and it would involve black car somehow.

That’s because queer women are involved in almost every major facet of the Clinton campaign. Everything from setting up campaign events, to running her social media accounts on Twitter, or Facebook, to the woman who is Chief-of-Staff (i.e. Charlene in Charge). Each and every person quoted in this story is a lesbian who works for Hillary Clinton. I write this now to avoid saying a million times, “Lesbian Anne, Aditi who is a Lesbian, Emmy, a queer lesbian, or big time lady lover Brynne,” you get what I’m saying. They’re all lezzzzzzbians, k?

Off the bat, Clinton’s campaign and her inclusion of queer women is a sharp contrast to Donald Trump’s campaign, whose only mention of lesbian includes hiring a campaign manager who referred to the seven sisters schools a “bunch of dykes.” First of all, thank you. Second of all, he might be right. By its geographical definition, a “dyke” is either magmatic or sedimentary in origin. I do believe this describes every lesbian I know perfectly. Are you booed up and never go out? Say hi to your girlfriend, Sedi! You’re single and back on the scene again? Look at you being magmatic again.

Alas, here are Hillary Clinton’s sedimentary and magmatic lesbians.

L to R: Paola Ramos, Emmy Bengtson, Jenna Lowenstein, Heather Stone, Brynne Craig, Anne Haley, Aditi Hardikar

For so many reasons, Hillary’s presidential campaign is already historic. For the first time in history, a woman has claimed the nomination for a major party. Hillary Rodham Clinton follows in the footsteps of women who protested, and fought, and lived and worked and raised the consciousness of this country through child-rearing, through saying no to child-rearing, through friendships, through sacrifice, through tears, through blood coming out of their wherevers. She stands on the shoulder-pads of giants.

And so do these women, Hillary Clinton’s Power Lesbians. They join behind LGBT political trailblazers like Urvashi Vaid, Hillary Rosen and Laura Ricketts. Visible and out politicians like Tammy Baldwin, Annisse Parker, Cathy Woolard, Christine Quinn and Kathy Webb.

When I first reached out to the Clinton Campaign, I thought I’d get maybe talk with one, two queer people. They responded with such enthusiasm. And the proof-is-in-the-pudding that she not only accepts the whole of the LGBT community but seeks us, celebrates us and chooses us.

So who are these women? Let us begin!

…ON GENDER-EQUALITY

Chief-of-Staff Heather Stone is the most powerful power lesbian who ever powered. Her hot tea has secret ingredients in it that the rest of us budding power lesbians only hope to have the recipe for one day. She is Robby Mook’s, Hillary’s Campaign Manager’s, Chief-of-Staff. That means she coordinates all of the departments, and generally, makes sure the entire ship run smoothly.

Heather’s job is an exhausting, and never-ending task. She holds in her hands (when she’s not drinking tea), (confession: I am only assuming she drinks tea) the trust of arguably the most powerful people in the world, and certainly in American Politics. Heather Stone speaks softly but confidently, a queer mom, who talks passionately about the intersections of those worlds and what it means to have the support of the campaign as a woman, as a lesbian, as a mother.

As it turns out, that shit is important. Maybe it’s because we’ve had a majority of straight white males in leadership positions (nothing against them—hi, dad’s friends) but women working as professionals are getting absolutely screwed in the workplace. To say we have leaps to go before we are bestowed equality is a devastating understatement. Yes, we make 79 cents to the dollar that men do for doing the same job. Yes, it is really shitty that women will earn 40% less than men do in their lifetime. Yes, Hillary has a plan for that, as we’ve heard her proclaim, “Equal work for equal pay,” and yes Donald Trump does not have a plan. Does he ever? To his credit, he did have this to say, “You’re gonna make the same if you do as good a job. And I happen to be pro-life. OK? I’m pro-life.”

If that makes zero sense to you, it’s because it makes zero sense.

The U.S. joins only three other countries in the entire world that do not guarantee paid maternity leave. Often maternity leave is so short, that women have reported going back to work still hurting from the human gremlin they’ve either shoved or cut out of their vaginas (I know there’s a ton other scientific layers, but you get my point). Only 16% of all maternity leavers are offered paid maternity leave through their workplace. That means three-quarters of women in U.S. workplaces receive zero support after having a child. And when it’s time for a woman to go back to work, it gets worse. The Economic Policy Institute found that full-time childcare for a four-year-old is more expensive than in-state public college tuition in 23 states. They better get these children some Plato and Socrates! And of course, this financial burden disproportionately impacts women of color, who are 70% likely to be working with children under five.

Emmy Bengtsson, Jenna Lowenstein, Heather Stone, Brynne Craig

Some really smart people who happen to own vaginas are finally stepping up and saying it’s enough. “We are in a child care crisis,” said Michelle McCready, deputy director of policy Child Care Aware of America. “Child care costs are on the rise for American families and parents are spending the majority of their family budget on it.”

This is why Hillary’s position on moms in the workplace is especially dope and needed. Heather Stone spoke with us a little bit about that:

“So I have two little boys, two and five, and so the lens that I approach things, much more now, is actually through a mom’s lens. It’s great. This place is incredibly family friendly, they set up trains in the office for my kids or anyone else’s kids to come by and play with the trains, so the acceptance of family, to be accepted and welcomed, as a mom, I would not have known before hand how important that was, and it’s been a really important part of my experience here. Then I’m explaining to my two little boys that I am here working all the time to elect the first woman president, and they have no idea that is special. That’s amazing.”

With an estimate of two million children raised by LGBT parents this year, Heather represents many facets, here: the queer mom, and the working mom.

She also represents the proverbial glass ceiling and what it will look like once shattered. The need for economic fairness and gender equality that promotes and serves the professional woman with a family is a not a luxury; it’s a necessity.

Hillary Clinton has plans for it. Because of course, she does. Her plan includes subsidizing child care so that working families pay no more than 10% of their income on child care. Suddenly that toy train that Heather Stone so emphatically speaks about, it’s the train of the future, and Hillary Clinton’s driving it.

…ON INTERSECTIONALITY

If you spend any time on social media (or breathing), you know that the millennial generation is not feeling the limitations of identity boxes. From gender identity to sexual fluidity, to gender roles; we are challenging the patriarchy and news reports say we are buying most of the wine on the market (totally related by the way) at the same time. Seriously, we are remarkable, complicated, tipsy humans. We understand the difference between a post-racial society and post-racist one (if you don’t, look it up before you make us all look bad).

And we are a generation that is focused keenly on intersectionality and the part it plays in our world-view.

So when it comes to Hillary, we see an older white woman, and we think, “Does she get it?” This question is often the topic of intelligent, lively conversations with my friends (I have weird friends), and we decided Hillary most definitely might not get it, per se, like we do. But get this: there was a time when Hillary was the teacher to an older generation, too.

Hillary came up at a time where intersectionality wasn’t a thing in public discourse yet, it was more like either, or. She was born in Chicago, into the most segregated city in America. At a time where racism was de jure discrimination; blacks go left, whites go right. Blacks don’t eat at this counter; white people can. Signs that literally support discrimination hung everywhere, and the law backed it up. You passed as either/or, and your qualify of life depending on which category you fit into.

Like most 12-year-olds, she did what her dad wanted her to. She had a budding interest in politics, and she, at 12, campaigned alongside her father for a deeply unpopular candidate, due his ultra-conservative positions, Republican Barry Goldwater.

Do yall know who I campaigned for at 12, at my Southern Baptist school? A Republican dude named George W. Bush. Also, basketball.

Twelve years old is middle school, a.k.a humans who are awkward and smell like trumpet spit, lunchroom pizza, and P.E. loaner uniforms, combined. But let me hear one more person talk about Hillary Clinton’s convictions at age 12.

Hillary entered college, thanks to her dad’s upbringing, a damn Republican when these fools were at the height defending “state’s rights” and hiding their discrimination behind pride for their heritage. (p.s. has ANYTHING changed?) Coded words then, and coded words now (though maybe not conscientiously) for discrimination and segregation.

It’s safe to say Hillary didn’t stay Republican for long.

Because here’s what history tells us about Hillary Rodham Clinton. Unlike most everybody now in politics (and social media) who starts with a thesis and staunchly proceeds to disprove it (House Hearings on Planned Parenthood, Benghazi, whatevertheeffeelse), she was open to figuring it the hell out. And figure it out she did. Once she heard the message of moral responsibility delivered by Martin Luther King, it struck her to the core, because she’s not an asshole.

In college, Hillary Clinton not only became a Democrat, but she also protested and fought like hell for equal rights for blacks and whites. With her church’s motto of, “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can,” she started right where she was at Wellesley College.

Photo by John M. Hurley/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

This meant protesting against Wellesley’s admission policies, making sure people of color were being admitted as fairly as whites. She relentlessly protested the administration with her black sisters, and urged the student body to care for each other, not as separate groups but, “for our lives, as members of a collective group.” No more either/or, but we.

Then, on Hillary Rodham’s graduation day she was asked by her class to be the commencement speaker. Let that sink in—Commencement. Speaker. I don’t know about yall, but I barely got to graduation. (As class president I actually did speak at graduation, where I was introduced as having a semi-finalist position for The Real World. A smattering of people clapped, definitely not my parents.) Moral of the story: Hillary Clinton is the real deal, and the rest of us can take a seat.

So she’s at her graduation, ready to speak when Republican Senator Edward Brooke gets up to the podium. Senator Brooke was nation’s first African-American Senator. This dude (Mr. Dude, respectfully) essentially tells everyone, white and black, during the height of civil rights protests to “calm down.” He said not to protest for equal rights. To preserve the status quo. That equal rights would come eventually, but not like the kids were doing it.

Then, Hillary got on stage after him. You know what she did yall, she put aside her speech, walked up to the mic, and she showed us her roar. She roared (quietly cuz her voice was kinda quiet back then):

“Empathy? Part of the problem with empathy with professed goals is that empathy doesn’t do us anything. We’ve had lots of empathy; we’ve had lots of sympathy, but we feel that for too long our leaders have used politics as the art of making what appears to be impossible, possible.”

She’s saying that politicians do their best to pretend, to imagine, to try to convince us that politics is the art of making the impossible, possible. And that it either is, or it isn’t. Which is it?

Simba continued roaring (May I call you Simba, Madam Secretary? Just feelin’ the visual):

“What does it mean to hear that 13.3 percent of the people in this country are below the poverty line? That’s a percentage. We’re not interested in social reconstruction!; [we are interested in] human reconstruction.”

Y’ALL HEAR THAT? Not merely social reconstruction, but the change and thoughts of attitudes for a human reconstruction.

Young. Idealistic. Telling our forefathers and mothers that we are not here for incremental change, we are here to rip the roots up and replant it in new, healthier, soil.

So yes, does Hillary struggle with the idea of intersectionality, like so many others of her generation? Maybe. But I want to know, “What is she doing to figure it out.”

To quote HRC, “We’ve had lots of empathy; we’ve had lots of sympathy, but we feel that for too long our leaders have used politics as the art of making what appears to be impossible, possible.”

That’s why I was delighted to meet Brynne Craig, National Deputy Director of State Campaigns and Political Engagement and hear how passionate she is about bringing the topic of intersectionality to Hillary’s campaign, and moreover, how the campaign is receiving it.

“So, I’m kind of a triple threat,” Brynne points to herself, referencing that she is black, queer, and a woman. “It’s really about having an understanding that if we’re talking about something, we need to look at it from different lenses,” she said.

Jenna Lowenstein, HRC’s Digital Director quickly follows up: “At the beginning of the campaign Brynne was one of the people who said, based our identities and based on her identity and just based on the people we know, people like us, [we] said the way we have boxes is kind of … not reality.” She continued, “We have to be flexible and look at this in an intersectional way. Voters aren’t just black or just lesbians; sometimes they’re both. We have to treat people that way. As a whole person. And really how a lot of how our political shop has been organized is because of that lens that people like us bring to the work.”

Then, she said, the campaign is listening and learning, “And is remarkable that this campaign has been flexible enough to allow us to build an apparatus that reflects that kind of politics.”

Yes, it is remarkable for a modern day political campaign. But it really isn’t so remarkable that Hillary is embracing it when you look at the heart of the candidate. Is she perfect? No. But I’d be wary of anyone claiming to be.

It is also why it’s crucial for diverse people with varying experiences to be at the table. And why Hillary Clinton is made better by our presence, and we are made better by her knowledge.

Aditi Hardikar, Clinton’s Coalition Finance Director (aka she raises money honey), who came over to the campaign from the White House, as Obama’s LGBT Liasion, followed up: “I think having the various areas we do have of intersectional and representations we have, I think it allows us to know who isn’t there and whose voice isn’t included. I think political campaigns in this country have been run by straight white men, but particularly fundraising, it’s your stereotypical old straight white men that have been hosting The Secretary or President Clinton and others, not just in this campaign, but that’s sort of how it’s been across the board.”

Aditi has been hard at work within the campaign promoting diversity. She has helped launch the Latinos for Hillary Finance Council, African Americans for Hillary Finance Council, AAPI, LGBT, Lawyers, Young Professionals (which we call “for45”), for Hillary.

“It’s really exciting and important that even something as traditional as fundraising, we are sort of advocating for people who don’t always get to host the secretary. So suddenly, this great lesbian couple in Chicago is hosting The Secretary in their home, and that’s really huge and awesome. Then, diving in more and talking about even in LGBT fundraising, is it all white gay men? Or, how can we make sure more women are involved, people of color, how can we do better outreach and not just expect people to come to us, but us go to them, to give them opportunities to make them feel like they matter and their support will matter.”

…ON EVOLVING

I wondered how the staff felt about the criticism Hillary receives about not being quick enough to accept gay marriage. It doesn’t seem to matter much that the entire Democratic party was also slow to accept gay marriage. I remember how it felt to watch the President Obama’s historical election, but then watching eleven out of eleven gay marriage amendments pass in 2004. It was a punch in the gut. It felt like our community was being used then like Islamaphobia is being used now; as a political pawn for the vote of the ignorant. But Hillary especially was railed for it, more during the primary, as the apparent standard bearer of evolvers everywhere, I wanted to talk with them about how they felt.

“It comes down to who can afford to have a purity standard? I think that’s the question. If we wanted candidates who were perfect on everything, we wouldn’t have any candidates. To me, I see Hillary in two ways. I see her now speaking for marriage equality and beyond marriage equality in an authentic way, and I’m good with that. But two, Hillary has been out on LGBT rights forever. It wasn’t just about marriage equality for her. It was the Matthew Shepherd Act, and as Secretary of State she said, “gay rights are human rights.” She is so specific about ending conversion therapy, ending violence against trans women of color, and for me, that helps me trust that.” — Emmy Bengston, Social Media Director

“If you look at our campaign offices, I would bet that there’re tons of queer people looking in places like Iowa and New Hampshire, those who volunteer and knock on doors for her, I think there’re so many queer people drawn to HRC. It’s not like we’re all living in a delusion and somehow she’s hoodwinked us right, I think there’s a reason why we so many of us have chosen Hillary Clinton, and I think that’s really important. I think too if you look at the LGBT policy platform, this time around, it is the most progressive LGBT policy platform in presidential history. In any political history. The things that she is championing and things that she is vehemently against, it would be bonkers for even President Obama to be saying. So the fact that we’ve taken really bold steps and putting them in writing for the world to see, I think that’s awesome. So sure there’re steps that were taken to evolve fully, but this is where we are right now, and her values couldn’t be clearer, and the support she has for our community could not be stronger.” — Aditi Hardikar

…ON LATINOS (& TACO TRUCKS)

To say that American media seems to be grading Donald Trump on a curve is a cute understatement. The media is actually grading Donald Trump on a curve powered by an electromagnetic force, and he is still at failing at about a 62 percent. So many of his statements, and actions, if Hillary made them, would be disqualifying. Period.

Between tweeting a photo himself eating a taco bowl and talking about loving Mexicans, to his Hispanic Outreach Representative warning that if we don’t stop immigration, America will have a taco truck on every corner; Trump’s immigration policy seems to be as complicated as the Diablo sauce at a Taco Bell. And as full of crap, too. (No offense Taco Bell, we tight).

So who on Hillary’s team listens to this racist commentary and works with Hispanic Media, I wonder? Well, from what I learned, there is actually very little reacting from the Clinton campaign, because there’s a lot of being proactive.

Have you ever heard the phrase “don’t get caught on your heels?” As the Deputy Director of National Hispanic Press, Paola Ramos epitomizes this, mostly because she’s got trendy men’s sneakers on, and mostly because she won’t.

Paola Ramos

Hispanic women like Paola start her day eating a taco for breakfast. Latina lesbians actually invented breakfast tacos out of desperation to feed their addiction at any time of day. Also, these are not true statements, but Donald Trump for President 2016.

“I grew up in Spain. I didn’t come to the U.S. until 17, 18,” she said, with serious swagger. Her international experiences are indubitably why.

Paola was moved get involved in American politics after hearing Hillary Clinton give a commencement speech at her college graduation from (a woman’s college, uh oh!) Barnard. She dove into the American political scene to bridge the gap between cultures. As women, Hillary noted then; we have a special obligation to get involved in politics. Paola heeded the call.

“I had plans to go back to Spain and get back involved in politics there, but when she spoke, I really connected with her. 1. On Human Rights and 2. My dad is from Mexico, and my mom is from Cuba, so I wanted someone who would improve the situations there. She also spoke to me as a woman; she said we had a responsibility to break down these barriers. I think that really impacted me.”

“So now my job is to make sure that the secretary’s message, platform, and ideas are reaching the Latino immigrant community. So making sure her voice is out there from Univision to Telemundo, to make sure there is an understanding of who Hillary is.”

That means, as much as I would like for Paola and her team to be answering every one of Donald Trump’s ridiculously racist statements on Mexican Americans, she’s pretty serious about getting the message out regarding Hillary’s policy to these same Mexican-Americans. It reminds me that two campaigns are going on: Donald Trump’s circus, and then an actual adult in the room trying to get elected based on policy and experience. Paola explains:

“What we see in reaction to Donald Trump, we have Dreamers knocking on doors which never have before. We see Latino’s lining up with their grandmothers and their cousins. It’s our job to capture those positive stories and to keep it going.”

“I think the beauty is that Hillary understands that Latinos are not only worried about immigration, but they’re also worried about jobs, and so many different issues. So when we craft the message we make sure that she’s talking to Latinos as Americans, with all of their concerns.”

…ON SURVIVING SOCIAL MEDIA

Oh, dear. If you have a pulse and/or a Facebook account, you know that social media can be a trifling place full of political opinions and half-researched declarations of knowledge.

When my feed gets too overwhelming, I have the option to unplug for as long as I want.

Which is why when I meet Jenna Lowenstein, Digital Director for HRC, I immediately perceive her to be extremely positive for someone who works on the Internet, and generally, can’t unplug. Especially as someone works for Hillary Clinton on the internet. Not sure if she’s doing the yoga that Hillary does to stay sane or what, but whatever is happening I need some of it.

It is maddening to me how much the internet seems to miss that a good portion of all criticisms against Hillary is rooted in sexism. They absolutely are. I wonder if Joe Biden had been the nominee if Bernie Sanders would have stood a chance. I wonder if Hillary Clinton had run on Donald Trump’s record if Hillary would stand a chance. Or if she would simply be a universal laughing stock.

I know I just spouted some serious truth there, and my bad. But humor me.

Hillary Clinton, in a patriarchal society, is about to take over as leader of the free world; a free world that has been held by the masculine, without much thought by them on that privilege, and whether it was earned or given.

And since the beginning of time, women have been depicted as inherently evil, right? We’re a species that cannot be trusted. What a snore, too. In Christianity, we see it as Eve tempts Adam into biting the apple. Eve was the one who gave into the serpent and is, therefore, sssssiiinnnnfffffuuuuuuull. And in the Greek world, ever heard of Pandora’s box? It was a woman who opened it and let all the evil into the world. Fast forward to Witch Trials where women were like 99.9 percent more likely to be hung and burned for witchcraft than men. “A woman is, by her nature, quicker to waver in the faith and consequently quicker to abjure the faith, which is the root of witchcraft.” (Kramer 1486)

Women have been banned, punished, even killed for… having a period.

Combine centuries of oppression, with women who hold power and what do you get? A discrediting campaign of epic proportions. And I’m not talking about Hillary Clinton. She’s not the first and will not be the last. I’m talking the Middle Ages; it was women who stepped up as medical healers to the peasant class because they were living among them. Instead of being celebrated for healing people who could not ordinarily afford medical care, the Church, and the government accused them of staging a “peasants rebellion.”

Fox News’ first ever spin.

So while I know the campaign has to keep it positive, I can’t help but want to stomp around and declare “YOU SUCK, INTERNET!” How you gonna turn a woman who has provided stoves to third world countries, and whose foundation provides water to literal dying people around the world, THAT YOU THINK SHE SHOULD STOP DOING THAT WHEN SHE BECOMES PRESIDENT, ON THE OFF CHANCE THAT SHE IS SINISTER, AND MORE SUSCEPTIBLE TO BRIBERY BECAUSE YOU FEEEEEEEEEL LIKE IT COULD HAPPEN? Forget that the Clinton Foundation is rated an A+ by Charity Watch. Let’s just make this an issue JUST IN CASE. BECAUSE YOU ARE “UNBIASED” AND FEEL THIS WAY. JUST SOMETHING YA CANT PUT UR FINGER ON.” (p.s.s.: It’s sexism) But somehow, no one is worried about Donald Trump bragging outright that he makes money renting property to Gadaffi: “I dealt with Gaddafi. I rented him a piece of land. He paid me more for one night than the land was worth for two years, and then I didn’t let him use the land.”

Could you imagine if The Clinton Foundation provided a drop of water to Gadaffi in his final hours of death, what the outcry would be? I can tell you what it would be; it would be the internet comment section.

Clearly, I’d be fired if I worked for Hillary Clinton. So I had to ask her social media team how they do it. How they handle it.

The answer, they keep it positive.

“We can’t read every response. If you want to see if misogyny is real, look at HRC’s responses on Twitter. With that said, politics is a game of optimism. We are in this to change the world for the better every day. Yes, Trump gives us plenty to work against but it’s more about what we’re working for,” Emmy said.

“I think Emmy is right, it can be difficult, but we also get the best kinds of things. Like, hearing from little girls, who send letters to the office, so excited about history being made. We also hear stories from women who are in their early 100s, women who were literally born before the right to vote. And how much this means to them. So in some ways we get a front row seat to some really sustaining stuff to all of us,” said Jenna.

I told you. They. Are. Positive.

It gives me hope too, though, to know that lesbians are leading the Digital Media team. Jenna proves that we’re not only smart, but we’re also witty, and we design incredibly eye-catching moving graphics. Those videos you see expertly contrasting Hillary to Donald Trump? Jenna leads the team that creates those, the campaign emails, and so much more that you and I don’t think about but consume through social media every day.

I wondered if being a queer woman played into her job. So I asked her, and I also asked Emmy, who runs Hillary Clinton’s Twitter handle and Facebook account. Which first of all, incredible. No sweat, right? Hillary only has every news outlet in the world hanging on to every tweet. With 8.5 million followers, this is an incredibly awesome responsibility. One that is met with equal thoughtfulness.

“Working on social media, we think a lot about how we communicate. My experience being a queer woman I think has taught us a lot about sort of re-centering things.” Emmy said. “I think that helps when we think of how to communicate Hillary’s policies.”

And there it is. The reason why lesbians are so talented (I am biased, but I’m pretty sure this is fact).

It’s the “re-centering things,” comment that I find particularly poignant. As queer women and as women, we work our entire lives to adapt, to get our message across in a way that it will really be heard (mostly by men), to pick up and move forward to navigate strange things happening around us in a heteronormative world (i.e. your cousin’s baptism picnic). We use this very specific experience of both masculine and feminine point of view and life experience to craft our messages.

And they do it for Hillary Clinton, who faces similar struggles for making history as the first woman nominee for president. A woman who is daring to take a man’s position as the leader of the free world.

How valuable are the queer women who bring massive empathy to the table, who break gender norms and expectations, authentically crafting messages to move the dialogue forward?

Then, there’re fun parts of the job too:

“Delete Your Account.”

“It’s so much more fun to watch FOX when it’s someone else being blitzed & sacked! #SuperBowl”

“I’m with you.” – @realdonaldtrump. *Not included: Women, African Americans, LGBT people, Muslims, Latinos, Immigrants.”

I imagine a smiling Hillary Clinton shaking her head in amusement. I wonder too, how in the world do they decide what to respond to during any given day.

Jenna answers, “We do look at each other and say, which of these nine bonkers things is most important for us to respond to today? We get more material in one morning than a presidential campaign might get in a cycle. I think it might be easy for Voters to get — I mean we spend time thinking about this — if you’re hearing this from him all of the time, when do you feel shocked, when do you feel outraged? When does it become normal for a presidential candidate to drop all form of decorum, to be ill-informed on issues? And then we figure out what to respond to.”

…ON HILLARY AT PULSE NIGHT CLUB

There’s not one of us in the queer community who wasn’t deeply touched by the shooting at Pulse Nightclub. What an absolute horror, any loving person’s greatest nightmare. As a member of the LGBT community, I was moved when I saw Hillary visit the site. And to see one of my best friends walking beside her, Anne Haley, made the moment even more personal for me. I had to speak with Anne on what that was like.

Anne grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas, is a hell of an ambassador for the state (I’ve tasted their tomatoes, tubed down their rivers, and taken in a fire pit under their stars), and frankly, Arkansas is lucky to have her as a political contributor. The Clinton’s have been a part of Anne’s political lexicon for most of her life. Anne’s grandmother Maria Haley helped found AAPI (Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders) for the Clinton Group, so Anne has inherited a legacy of sorts of advocating on behalf of minorities both to the Clintons and as a representative of them. And she’s just getting started.

Anne would be the first to describe her job as a working advance for Hillary as totally unglamorous. Anne’s job is hands on, working with a team to make sure the secretary arrives at events with everything in order; everything from setting the chairs up, the stage, painting the backdrops, crowd control, to where Hillary walks and stops.

“I get to play with power tools, and that’s pretty rad. I do kind of live up to the [lesbian] stereotype on the road sometimes, which I have no problem with,” Anne joked. Combine Anne’s serious woodwork savvy with the fact that she recently graduated with straight A’s with a Masters from Clinton School of Public Service, and you’ve got a pretty impressive member of the team on the ground.

Growing up in Little Rock and attending Christian schools, Anne was always a bit of a misfit figuring herself out in a sea of conformity. It is perhaps not a surprise that growing up queer in Arkansas isn’t the easiest path in life, but that never stopped Anne from wishing it could be easier. I think that’s why it’s pretty full circle, for Anne, to be working for Hillary, to speak this way now:

“I feel really comfortable expressing myself visually more on this job than I have on any other. So, being on the field and working with thousands of people every time we have an event is a very visual position, and it feels good to have that H lapel pin and have so many queer people of all shapes, sizes, colors, be so stoked to be there, and see me and make a beeline to me and have someone to connect with as a supporter of our community. Then to hear Hillary embrace our causes so genuinely in her speeches is so great, it’s like “is this real life? This is so great.”

And why it felt a little unreal to be escorting Clinton through her stop at Pulse Night Club Memorial. Anne talks a little bit about what that was like:

“I had the extraordinary honor of being able to accompany the Secretary on her trip to Orlando shortly after the shooting. We had a really fantastic event where she had a round table conversation with members of the Muslim community, LGBT community and the greater Orlando community about how we can support each other, to make things better. My primary job was to facilitate the memorial at Pulse Night Club. It was an intense experience obviously, and upsetting. It took my breath away after it was all over, looking at the pictures, and processing it when I was out of work mode.”

“And you could see the weight of the pain in her face, and you could hear her voice when she met with the survivors of the victims, it comes from such a deep, genuine place, the care that she holds for people she’s never met before. She compassionately cares about their life experiences; You can see from the photos of the event, the personal pain she’s got visiting.”

“Our job is to kind of be invisible; to be a fly on the wall so in a way I was, and to watch the woman who is going to be our next president openly embrace our community and our pain, and who is fighting for us so fiercely, it just takes my breath away to see it happening now when it just hasn’t been the norm for so long.”

Anne Haley with Hillary ClintonPhoto by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Why They’re Here

“I worked at Planned Parenthood before, which made me think of this. I think working there; you’re constantly swatting down attacks on women’s rights. The states, municipalities, federal level, and the only thing that reassured us was that we had this Democratic president. That’s one of the reasons I wanted to work here was to protect women. There was a town hall and a primary where HRC was asked about abortion rights. She specifically mentioned she wanted to repeal Hyde. And that was the moment for me. Hearing the words come out of her mouth really, just really hit home.” — Emmy Bengston

“I have a family member that’s a young vet and suffers from addiction. And I think early in the campaign, we set out an agenda, and that’s what we talked about. And as she spent more time on the trail, I believe it was New Hampshire, she came back to the campaign and said there’s this thing that everyone is thinking about, this crippling issue of addiction. We’re not talking about it enough; we need to have more conversations about this. And it became a part of what she wanted to talk about every single day on the trail because she was hearing people were really impacted by it. For me, I show up every day to work and in the crazy, try to think about all the issues that affect me. But Hillary, as busy as she is, she still took the time to make it a priority even though it wasn’t something like a family member. To me, that was really meaningful. Particularly because it wasn’t like it was a big issue in New Hampshire, so she talked about it and didn’t ever talk about it again. It became like a thread throughout her campaign, and something that she always talks about, and I think that is very important. I want her to be our leader because she actually takes the time and listens and talks to people and puts it into action.” – Jenna Lowenstein

“It’s a different world to think about what my kids are experiencing when they walk past TV sets in this office. I do not want them to hear a lot of what is being spoken about and what TV sets are showing. I don’t want them to hear the language; I don’t want them to hear the hate. Again, that’s not me as someone who works on his campaign it’s just me as a mother, thinking about how am I raising two kids about what their job is to be a part of this country. For the past two months, we have had some scary discourse. I am very proud that I can point to someone who has a lifetime of service, who has spent their life working for the little guy, so on one time this campaign feels like an awesome choice, but it’s hard to think about what your kids see…luckily they haven’t had the hard questions.” – Heather Stone

“I think that she has a lot of things I hear from people who meet her for the first time at campaign events is one, that she is so well informed. It’s not just this idea of equality of whatever the topic is; she doesn’t just understand the nuances, she gets the micro part of it; she knows it inside and out and on every topic, its mind boggling. She has like an Encylopedia for a brain, kinda thing. That, paired with genuine kindness and care, and you realize instantly when you’re in the same room as her, that I don’t think many people really understand, but it’s true. It’s not just talking about ideas as an abstract; she has plans for what she hopes to do, like for her first 100 days, she has concrete plans for them, I think that’s the most important thing to me.” — Anne Haley

“I have a friend who is a lesbian, and her parents are not super supportive. They heard HRC say on the campaign trail that changed their mind about her and helped them shape how they think about their daughter. HRC said, “In so many states you can get married on a Sunday and get fired on a Monday. It’s our job not to be content but to keep fighting for equality for everybody.” I think what I find so inspiring about HRC is that she has been bold on the side of equality for a long time. She said Women’s rights are humans rights, gay rights are human rights, clean water is a human right. When she sees people that need help, she is there, and that is a quality that I think we should want in a president.” — Jenna Lowenstein

“These past eight years have been so historic, but now is the time that we need someone who is going to protect that progress and move that ball forward. She is that person; she knows how to work on both sides of the aisle. She knows how to be tough and get the job done, while caring about the human side too, not just policy or legislation. A lot of policy that we passed in the past eight years, we had to make a lot of Executive Orders because of the obstruction of Congress, and that progress could be ripped away. Hillary Clinton is the one who is going to keep up this progress.” — Aditi Hardiker

Why I’m Here

As a human being who admires Hillary Clinton, I am in awe of her accomplishments. As a woman, I am even more inspired, that she has a resume that outshines any man or woman seeking this position. As a woman, disappointed that she’s clearly having to work ten times harder than a man, as evidenced by Donald Trump getting every benefit of the doubt, at her expense.

And lastly, seeing Republicans for Hillary after all they’ve put her through. Sweet irony for this politics nerd turned comedian. Sweet irony for her, too, I’m sure.

And lastly, lastly, I applaud all of the lesbians working behind the scenes for Hillary. Thanks for the flannel. For the rugby. For the basketball hoops around your trash bins. For the future you are creating for all of us, straight or gay, lesbian or lesbianish, to love who we can, in all the ways we can, in all the worlds we can.

And lastly, lastly, lastly, you are welcome Hill, for the pantsuit.

#imwithher

NOTE: AE reached out to the Trump campaign to speak to any queer women on staff, we did not receive a reply.

Lianna Carrera is a comedian in Los Angeles, CA. You can follow her on Twitter and Facebook.

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