Lin-Manuel Miranda Has a Cool Connection to Planned Parenthood

It should be no surprise that Lin-Manuel Miranda has a politically-driven mind, given that much of his superstardom is due to on a wildly popular musical about, well, politics. This is also a man who spent the election season waving his banner of Hillary Clinton support.

That support went both ways, too, with HRC not only attending Hamilton multiple times, but even quoting it in her speech at the Democratic National Convention this summer.

So what’s Lin-Manuel up to after the world turned upside down? In addition to taking on a sizeable chunk of all the movies Disney has in the hopper, he’s not giving up the political fight. The way he describes it (in a fantastic interview with The Daily Beast) he woke up the day after the election with “a very pronounced case of moral clarity.” One that made it clear he’s not backing down.

In addition to the disappointment, it was like, oh, this does not change the things that I believe in. The things that I believe in that this candidate doesn’t means we’re going to have to fight for them. You don’t want to go backwards when it comes to our LGBT brothers and sisters; you don’t want to go backwards when it comes to the disenfranchisement of voters of color. We have to keep fighting for the things we believe in, and it just made that very clear: I know who I am, and I know what I’m going to fight for in the years to come. That felt like the tonic of it.

And what form is that fight taking? Among other things, it turns out Miranda’s got a pretty cool connection to Planned Parenthood.

People are going to believe what they’re going to believe. For me, my mother is on the board of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund and my mother has her own personal stories with Planned Parenthood. That’s an organization that’s really saved lives time and again. The thing it’s controversial for [abortion] is a very small part of the health services it provides, and so, like I said, this is a way to support something that is so important. It’s a no-brainer, and the fun bonus is that my mom gets to look like the cool board member because of our efforts. I’m happy to support it, and that’s just that. Women’s health is a priority, it’s worth protecting, and if I can be of service in that way, then that’s how I’ll be of service. Full stop.

That bit about making his mom look like the “cool board member.” That has to be true. Miranda has utilized his insane success to benefit Planned Parenthood on a number of occasions, including a campaign going on right now, offering a chance to win a trip to see Hamilton in three different cities with backstage privileges at each. Oh, and there are some super cool donation prizes in that campaign, including this entirely appropriate magnet.

(Via Prizeo)

I have no trouble believing that’s 100% true.

(via The Daily Beast, featured image via Shutterstock)

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Vivian Kane

Vivian Kane (she/her) is the Senior News Editor at The Mary Sue, where she's been writing about politics and entertainment (and all the ways in which the two overlap) since the dark days of late 2016. Born in San Francisco and radicalized in Los Angeles, she now lives in Kansas City, Missouri, where she gets to put her MFA to use covering the local theatre scene. She is the co-owner of The Pitch, Kansas City’s alt news and culture magazine, alongside her husband, Brock Wilbur, with whom she also shares many cats.

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