Actresses Lena Dunham and America Ferrera teamed up for a joint speech in support of presidential nominee Hillary Clinton at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday, during which Dunham said that Clinton has stood up for her “fellow sexual assault survivors” in her home state of New York.
“I am a pro-choice, feminist sexual assault survivor with a chronic reproductive illness, the 30-year-old Girls star and creator said. “Donald Trump and his party think I should be punished for exercising my Constitutional rights. His rhetoric about women takes us back to a time when we were meant to be beautiful and silent.”
“Meanwhile, 22 years ago, Hillary Clinton declared that women’s rights are human rights. And she made it possible for my fellow sexual assault survivors in my home state of New York to have access to safe, immediate care in any emergency room,” Dunham went on as Ferrera looked on in approval.
“Hillary knows that access and opportunity are the American promise, not transphobia, Islamophobia, xenophobia and systemic racism,” Dunham added. “She knows we have to fight hatred of all kinds, and not ignite it for the craven purpose of seeking power.”
In her 2014 book of memoirs, Not That Kind of Girl, Dunham wrote that she was sexually assaulted on the campus of Oberlin University by a conservative she identified simply as “Barry.” A subsequent exhaustive investigation by Bretibart News later cleared Dunham’s innocent suspect of any wrongdoing.
Both Dunham and Ferrera began their speech Tuesday with jokes, with the Girls star quipping that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump probably thinks her body “is a two.”
“And I’m America Ferrera, and according to Donald Trump, I’m probably a rapist,” the 32-year-old former Ugly Betty star said.
“We know what you’re all thinking,” Dunham continued. “Why should you care what some television celebrities have to say about politics?”
“We feel the same way,” Ferrera added. “But he is the Republican nominee, so we need to talk about him.”
Dunham closed out the speech by asking her progressive audience a series of questions.
“Do you want equal pay for equal work? The right to make decisions about your own body? Paid family leave?” the actress pressed, getting a resounding “Yes!” from the audience each time. “As Hillary Clinton says, ‘Deal us in!'”
Watch Dunham and Ferrera’s full speech above.
Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum