Cameron Esposito has been on the front line of the fight for same-sex marriage for the last decade.
The stand-up comic, who recently married fellow stand-up comic Rhea Butcher, hosts BuzzFeed’s “Ask a Lesbian,” where she answers questions that viewers would like to ask a lesbian to sexual questions to how her parents reacted when she came out.
“I’m a political person because I live in the world. We should all be political people,” Esposito told CNN when we caught up with her at SXSW in March. “Our lives are affected by the choices politicians make for us, so we need to participate.”
For years, before the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage nationwide last June, Esposito and Butcher toured the country performing as a couple that could not get married.
“In some states, we could be considered a couple legally, and some states, we couldn’t,” Esposito said, adding, “Speaking to local audience members who are affected by this either because they’re also in a same-sex couple or just because they’re like a human being that cares about other people” was a huge part of their careers.
Esposito is a Democrat and is backing Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid.
She said that while the former secretary of state has made some “mistakes,” including not backing same-sex marriage until 2013, her level of political experience is “unmatched” by any other candidate.
“Hillary Clinton did not always advocate for same-sex marriage. You know who else didn’t? Me,” Esposito said. “I didn’t always advocate for same-sex marriage because I grew up in a Catholic household and I didn’t know I was gay.”
She added that “all humans are capable of change” and said that we should “respect” the leaders that are capable of change as well.