The landscape of rights and health protections in the United States feels precarious to many communities. As someone who has spent decades organizing for LGBTQ equality and labor justice, I am compelled to speak up about the candidate I believe can make a difference in Washington.
I am Cleve Jones, and I am asking readers to join a campaign that prioritizes healthcare, workers’ power and civil rights. This endorsement focuses on why Marni von Wilpert deserves support: her record in public service, her work fighting corporate wrongdoing, and her commitment to the LGBTQ community and frontline workers.
Why this moment matters
The current political climate has rolled back or threatened many of the protections that keep people healthy and secure. Programs that matter to working families have been weakened, and institutions that support research and treatment face cuts. From the erosion of health insurance access to attacks on transgender youth and the reconsideration of long-settled rights, we are seeing an unraveling of the safety net that millions depend on.
When fundamental supports like Medicaid or global health funding are reduced, it isn’t just policy on a page — it is real consequences for people’s lives. We learned that lesson painfully during the early years of the AIDS crisis, when political indifference translated into delayed responses and countless preventable deaths. Those lessons guide my judgment about who can be trusted to protect public health and dignity.
Marni von Wilpert’s record and why it matters
There are concrete reasons I support Marni. Her background combines public service, legal expertise and on-the-ground experience with health crises. As a former Peace Corps volunteer working in Botswana during the height of the HIV epidemic, she supported treatment access when international attention was lacking. That formative experience shaped her commitment to pragmatic solutions in health.
As a lawyer and public official, Marni has a track record of confronting corporate abuse and defending workers. She helped craft rules to protect employees as a labor attorney in the Obama administration and later used prosecutorial powers to pursue environmental and pharmaceutical wrongdoers. These are the kinds of actions that translate into stronger protections for communities when they have a seat at the table in Congress.
Policy priorities that protect people
Marni has promised to prioritize restoring and expanding access to care. That includes efforts to rebuild Affordable Care Act supports that have been weakened, advocating for a public option that broadens choices, and enabling Medicare to negotiate drug prices so medicines become affordable for more people. Her approach treats healthcare as essential infrastructure, not a luxury.
Standing with workers and unions
Labor rights are central to Marni’s platform. With her legal background defending unions and immigrant workers, she understands the structural obstacles that depress wages and erode bargaining power. She intends to support policies that raise pay, protect collective bargaining and challenge corporations that manipulate the rules to enrich executives at workers’ expense.
The intersection of LGBTQ rights and labor solidarity
My activism has always been rooted in coalition-building: labor and LGBTQ constituencies supporting each other when it mattered. Historic campaigns, such as boycotts that united unions and gay activists, show how broad alliances can shift power. Marni’s record demonstrates she not only recognizes that history but embraces it. She is part of the LGBTQ community and has consistently treated our rights as nonnegotiable.
That solidarity is more urgent than ever. Legal challenges to marriage equality, targeted state legislation against transgender youth, and federal policies that strip funding from research and treatment require representatives who will defend people’s dignity and health without compromise. Marni has shown she will do that.
What I’m asking readers to do
I am borrowing the spirit of a rallying call I heard long ago because the stakes demand collective action. If you care about accessible healthcare, strong labor protections and unwavering support for LGBTQ rights, consider supporting Marni von Wilpert. That can mean volunteering, donating, or simply encouraging eligible voters to turn out.
Concluding appeal
Our movements were built by people who showed up when it counted. The candidate we send to Congress should be tested by experience, committed to public health and unafraid to take on powerful interests. For me, that candidate is Marni von Wilpert. I am Cleve Jones, and I’m asking you to join this effort — to help elect someone who will defend healthcare, labor rights and the civil liberties of our communities.
