Many believe that one of the largest obstacles Hilary Clinton must overcome for potential voters is the constant questioning of her trustworthiness.  Many citizens take issue with the way she has changed positions on several important political stances throughout her career, specifically in regard to the LGBT community. 

With North Carolina House Bill 2 remaining very controversial not only in North Carolina but throughout the country, LGBT rights have continued to be a platform of debate among both presidential candidates. 

Beginning in 1999, Clinton’s opinion on which rights LGBT couples should be granted has evolved significantly.  As her husband, Bill Clinton, signed in favor of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” military policy, Clinton explained to a group of LGBT contributors that although she does support the policy, she still believes that “same-sex unions should be recognized and that same-sex unions should be entitled to all the rights and privileges that every other American gets.”

One year later in January 2000, Clinton announced to a news conference in White Plains, N.Y. that “marriage is as a marriage has always been, between a man and a woman. But I also believe that people in committed gay marriages, as they believe them to be, should be given rights under the law that recognize and respect their relationship.” 

Although Clinton did not exactly change her position from the year before, she further defined that her idea of marriage is between a man and woman while continuing to support the concept of a civil union.

Four years later, the United States Senate debated over a federal amendment to ban same-sex marriage altogether.  Although Clinton did disagree with the proposed amendment, she did speak on behalf of the bill, claiming marriage is “a sacred bond between a man and a woman.” 

Shortly after the amendment failed, Clinton announced that she would support states making their own decision.

Moving into her first run as a presidential candidate in 2008, Clinton realized that she had the opportunity to possibly make history for the LGBT community.  However, when pressured to speak out in favor of the community who had strongly supported her, she continued to only advocate for civil unions, citing her personal and religious beliefs as the cause.  

This response hurt the groups that had been so dedicated to her campaign and what she stood for.  Many believed that Clinton would use her run as president to express her full support for same-sex marriage.

After leaving her position as Secretary of State in 2013, Clinton began preparing and paving the way to her second presidential candidacy. 

In March of that year, Clinton finally gave her full support of marriage equality in a video collaboration with the Human Rights Campaign.  This did not come long after Obama’s announcement of his support for same-sex marriage in May of 2012.

One month later, Bill and Hillary both issued a statement praising the overturning of Defense of Marriage Act that defined marriage between one man and one woman.  However, the congratulatory statement failed to mention anything about why Bill had signed the act in the first place. 

The following year, at an NPR interview, Hillary Clinton was grilled on the reason why she had suddenly changed positions.  Clinton cited it as the evolving of the times and that “we have all evolved, and it’s been one of the fastest, most sweeping transformations.” 

Throughout Clinton’s most recent campaign, she has been endorsed by the Human Rights Campaign as well as several other LGBT activist groups throughout the country.  Amongst the several controversies concerning same-sex marriage rights, she has changed the “H” in her logo to a rainbow colored letter. 

Her new platform on the LGBT community has now become “Every loving couple & family deserves to be recognized & treated equally under the law across our nation. #LoveMustWin #LoveCantWait.” 

Paige Myers can be found on Twitter @paigem6