Actors’ Equity Association Votes to Endorse Hillary Clinton for President

New York City, August 30, 2016 – In an historic decision, the National Council of Actors’ Equity Association (Equity), the labor union representing professional stage actors and stage managers, voted during its August meeting to endorse the Democratic nominee for President of the United States, Hillary Clinton. This marks the first time in Equity’s 103-year history that the organization has endorsed any political candidate.

Though the union’s practice has uniformly been to remain neutral with regard to elections, throughout its history Equity has taken strong positions and adopted numerous policies meant to help provide a voice to the disenfranchised of this country.  

Advising the Council, Equity’s Executive Director Mary McColl said, “If you look back at your history, you have taken political stands on many occasions. You have been leaders and staked out political positions opposing blacklisting and segregation; you have marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. You have stood up and led the charge at key moments when society had tears in the fabric. I think this is one of those moments in time when you must stand again.”  

“What do people actually look to the union for?” asked Councillor Francis Jue. “This election is about whether people can carry guns into theaters, about whether or not people can take adolescent gay and lesbian teens and torture them into believing that they are straight. It’s about whether or not we are going to have a Department of Education. This election is about so many of the values we believe in and policies that we put into practice. I think it is incumbent upon us to lead.” 

The union’s core values are workers’ rights, fair pay and a safe workplace free from discrimination for its members. Additionally, Equity has long-standing policies that promote arts funding and education, affordable housing, single-payer health care and marriage equality. Equity continues to advocate for human rights, on behalf of those with HIV/AIDS and for voting rights for all Americans. Most recently, Council authorized the union to support responsible gun law reform.

Equity President Kate Shindle said, “Our union has historically chosen to remain nonpartisan and above the fray. But at such a critical time in our country’s history, this union does not have that luxury if we hope to protect our members. We have to fight with everything we have for our survival.  God forbid we stand passively on the sidelines and watch as some of these people get elected, people who aggressively want to dismantle unions. We will look back at this moment knowing that we could have said something and we chose not to because we were afraid people wouldn’t like it. I don’t think that’s the way a union in 2016 America can afford to operate.”

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September 8, 2016 [at 10:58 p.m.]      
Today, after receiving the endorsement of the Actors’ Equity Association, Hillary Clinton issued the following statement. This is the first time the professional stage actors and managers’ union has endorsed any political candidate.

“I am honored to have earned the first-ever endorsement of the Actors’ Equity Association.

“I have spent my life fighting to even the odds for those who have had the odds stacked against them. That means making it possible for every child to live up to his or her God-given potential, no matter where they come from, what they look like, or who they love. And, although this is an unusual thing for a candidate for President to say, it means working to create more love and kindness in our country.  

“The Actors’ Equity Association shares these core values. And I couldn’t be prouder to have them standing with me in this election. The stakes could not be higher.

“From the beginning, Donald Trump has based his campaign on prejudice and paranoia. He has insulted immigrants and demeaned women. He has called for banning 1.5 million people from so much as entering this country because of their religion. He mocked and mimicked a reporter with a disability. He would appoint Supreme Court justices who would overturn marriage equality, and when the time came to choose a running-mate, he selected a man who signed a law that would have allowed Indiana businesses to discriminate against LGBT people.

“Donald Trump does not understand a basic truth about America: we are stronger together. 

“Americans don’t tear each other down—we lift each other up. We don’t build walls—we break down barriers. Together, we’ll fight to finally guarantee equal pay for women, protect workers' rights to organize and bargain collectively, and build an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top. We’ll pass the Equality Act and make it illegal to discriminate against LGBT people in employment and housing—and we won't let up in the fight against HIV and AIDS until we reach the goal of an AIDS-free generation, which is finally in sight. We will face up to the reality of systemic racism and fix it—and we’ll fight back against those who are trying to deny Americans their fundamental right to vote. “And above all, we will never forget that we are in this together, one nation, indivisible.

“The future we want is within our reach—let’s build it together.”