Hillary Clinton Talks Immigration Reform, LBGTQ Rights and Revenge Porn with Beauty Vloggers

Presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton sat down with digital influencers Tuesday evening at the Beautycon Digital Content Creators Town Hall in Los Angeles — a move that shows how much the candidate clearly values millennials, their opinions and, of course, their votes.

Clinton’s stop at Beautycon reflects a larger trend of world leaders not only wising up to millennials and their interests, but also valuing the contributions of social media leaders in the beauty industry specifically. Just last month, Pope Francis met with a group of YouTube stars, championing beauty vloggers especially. The Pope credited beauty vloggers “preach[ing] beauty” as an effective tool to “neutralize aggression.”

“83.1 million people fall into the category of Gen Z and Millennial,” said BeautyCon CEO Moj Mahdara. “You are the most educated. You are the most likely to protest against injustice. But you’re the least likely to vote. What’s up with that?”

Using the hashtag #creatorsaskHRC, the digital wunderkinds participating in the Town Hall — including Beautycon CEO Moj Mahdara, YouTube star and LGBT activist Raymond Braun, and beauty vlogger, military veteran and immigrant success story Dulce Candy — solicited questions from their followers all day leading up to the event. Questions from the Beautycon crowd touched on everything from student loan debt to pollution to homelessness. Here are some highlights.

Revenge Porn

Bria Chambers, of @briaandchrissy, asked Clinton a question she probably does not hear often on the campaign trail: The young woman in question introduced herself as one of the first public victims of revenge porn, and asked Clinton what she would do as president to ensure that a federal law was passed so that “justice can be pursued and gotten” for revenge porn victims.

Clinton was visibly moved by the woman’s question, saying first, “You are really brave, standing up and speaking out and taking action about the kind of behavior you have experienced. I will do everything I can as president to figure out how to give victims like you the tools you need to protect yourself and in doing so, protect others.”

Clinton also touched on the mounting problem of “bullying online” and “cyber stalking,” noting that these forms of harassment “ruin lives.” She then thanked the Beautycon crowd, saying that what they do through their use of social media is “such a gift.”

“Some of you have kept people alive because you have been able to communicate with a person who has been bullied or is struggling with their sexuality and feeling all alone — and you gave a sense of survival and feeling that they are not all by themselves. You have used your channels and outreach in really positive ways.”

She also said she would need the help of social media influences like Beautycon attendees “to help me figure out how to keep the best of what you all are doing” while combatting the “ugliness” that can also take place online.

This fall, California Attorney General, and Senatorial candidate, Kamala Harris announced the launch of a website resulting from a task force she convened on the topic of revenge porn to help victims access the resources they need to protect themselves and pursue actions against their attackers. There are currently 26 states with some form of “revenge porn” laws on the books, allowing for the prosecution of perpetrators.

At a roundtable in Pennsylvania this April, Clinton told women who have been the victims of cyber bullying to not “take it personally because it can knock you to your knees if you take it personally.” She went on to add that,“The online culture of bullying young women is horrible and even the most confident, well-prepared girl has to be worrying, like why are people picking on me? Why are they saying these things about me? What is happening here? We have got to stand up against that.“

Immigration Reform

The first question of the night was from vlogger Dulce Candy, asking for Clinton’s take on immigration reform given the action by the Supreme Court last week on President Obama’s executive action on DACA and DAPA, or the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and Deferred Action for Parent of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents programs. Clinton clarified that the Supreme Court did not strike down these two programs — described by Clinton as measures implemented by President Obama “aimed at providing more security for the parents of kids who are American citizens by birth or naturalization” — with their ruling, but rather sent them back to lower courts for trial.

Clinton also emphasized that the Court’s ruling did not include DREAMers, or undocumented immigrants who came to America as children, and that those who might qualify for protection under the DREAM Act should sign up to receive the additional protections afforded to them by the President’s executive actions.

She also told the crowd her plan to introduce a plan for comprehensive immigration reform within the first one hundred days of her presidency; she has been vocal in her call for comprehensive immigration reform legislation with a path to full and equal citizenship for undocumented immigrants and their children since first announcing her candidacy last spring. Clinton told the Beautycon attendees that not only is America a “nation of immigrants that has been blessed by the talent, skill, and hard work of immigrants” but that “the economy would be damaged” should her presumptive opponent, reality television star Donald J. Trump, have his way and seen “11 million people deported.”

As a senator, Clinton co-sponsored the DREAM Act in the Senate to grant conditional residency and then permanent residency to qualified undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children. During her time in the Senate, Clinton also sponsored legislation to expand Medicaid and SCHIP to immigrant children and pregnant women. As a presidential candidate, Clinton has spoken of the creation of a national Office of Immigrant Affairs, to proactively coordinate federal, state and local efforts to best integrate immigrants and ensure they receive the support they need to apply for naturalization and seek out educational opportunities and job training. She’s also said she supports letting individuals buy insurance through the Affordable Care Act regardless of immigration status and opposed family detention.

A study done by the conservative think tank the American Action Forum released this spring showed that even temporarily deporting the 6.8 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. who are currently employed would decrease the economic output of the private sector between 3 and 5 percent. (The group also noted that Trump’s proposed mass deportation plan would cost the U.S. economy approximately $1 trillion dollars.)

LGBTQ Rights

When asked by Raymond Braun what she would do as president “to tackle homophobia and transphobia,” Clinton pointed out that she had marched in New York City’s Gay Pride Parade on Sunday to show that she “unequivocally” supports that LGBT community.

“We must keep standing up against homophobia, the disrespecting and demeaning of all people is all too common,” Clinton said before pointing out the need to pass federal legislation to prevent workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

“You can get married on Saturday, post pictures on Sunday, and get fired on Monday,” she said to articulate her support for measures like the Equality Act, which would implement federal workplace protection measures for LGBTQ individuals.

She also said that as president, she would also “work to set a good example of an inclusive society and government and includes everyone and looks like America…There are a lot of people who are scared all the time in other countries [because of their sexual orientation or gender identity], and I don’t want people to be scared all the time in our country.”

On her campaign’s website it is made abundantly clear that Clinton believes that “lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals deserve to live their lives free from discrimination.” Clinton has likewise made campaign promises around ensuring federal equality for LGBT Americans, supporting LGBT families and improve school safety for LGBT youth, protecting transgender rights, promote the human rights of LGBT individuals worldwide, and securing affordable treatment for those living with HIV and AIDS. Clinton has also called for an end on the military ban on openly transgender service members and outlawing “conversion therapy” — a controversial topic that made headlines recently after Supergirl star Jeremy Jordan launched a GoFundMe campaign to release his cousin from such a program.

In 2011, Clinton spoke in Geneva on Human Rights Day while still Secretary of State on the importance of LGBT rights as human rights, during which she noted that LGBT people are “one group of people whose human rights are still denied in too many parts of the world today….Many are treated with contempt and violence by their fellow citizens while authorities empowered to protect them look the other way or, too often, even join in the abuse. They are denied opportunities to work and learn, driven from their homes and countries, and forced to suppress or deny who they are to protect themselves from harm.”

And she made clear that the problems facing LGBTQ people was not just in other countries, calling America’s track record “far from perfect” and underscoring the “bully and exclusion” that are “daily experiences” for far too many LGBTQ young people. The Secretary went on to explain how protecting the human rights of the LGBT community is “not a luxury only wealthy nations can afford” and that “religious or cultural values” cannot be used as validation for the violation of the rights of LGBT people.

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) endorsed Clinton in January of this year, a decision reached through unanimous vote by the organizations board of directors, pointing towards the way in which Clinton has “made LGBT equality a pillar of her campaign” which includes “the most robust and ambitious LGBT plan any candidate for president has ever laid out.”

The LGBT advocacy group noted that “the stakes could not be higher for the LGBT community” while emphasizing that even today, 63 percent of LGBT Americans report having experienced some form of discrimination because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. The group also points out that with 60 percent of Americans in support of marriage equality, nearly 80 percent of Americans in support of federal protections for LGBT people, and 55 percent of voters saying they would be less likely to vote for a candidate opposed to marriage equality, LGBT voters comprise a key electorate headed into November’s presidential election.

Last week when presumptive Republican nominee and former reality television star Donald J. Trump suggested that voters “ask the gays” about what the candidate believed was their support for them, many LGBT individuals participated in an epic social media meme-based takedown.