Human Rights Campaign

HRC logo

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Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is an American LGBT rights advocacy group founded in 1980. With over 3 million "members and supporters"^[1] and significant political clout, it is the largest and arguably the most important pro-LGBT organization.^[1] According to the group's website, its mission is "to improve the lives of LGBT Americans by advocating for equal rights and benefits in the workplace, ensuring families are treated equally under the law and increasing public support among all Americans".^[2]

Fun with fundamentalists[edit]

Peter LaBarbera has complained that the Human Rights Campaign is against religion because they "are exploiting the tragic suicides of sexually confused kids to attack religion".^[3] The nerve of people, criticizing the religious freedom of Christians to reject their own flesh-and-blood children to satisfy their lord protector!

Transgender relations[edit]

The HRC (not to be confused with Hillary Rodham Clinton, of course), has been criticized for its support of the 2007 version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) which excluded gender identity as a protected category while enumerating sexual orientation as just that.^[4] Other high-profile LGBT advocacy groups united in opposing the bill.^[5] This case is emblematic of how the Human Rights Campaign, quite simply, has never really included transgender people in its advocacy. The HRC also has a "pathetic history of refusing to deal with trans people as equals not only in terms of civil rights legislation but even in hiring talented transgender people for their organization."^[6] There are no trans people in HRC leadership, after the last one resigned over the ENDA situation.^[7]

In late March 2013, protesters in favor of same-sex marriage were gathered outside the Supreme Court in wake of the cases before it, regarding California Proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act. Among protesters led by the HRC, a transgender activist was asked to remove their trans pride flag from the display on the grounds that marriage equality was "not a transgender issue", while undocumented immigrants were told to give no mention of their migrant status from their speeches.^[8] Soon after, the HRC apologized for the incidents via a coalition group,^[9] followed by an independent statement that they had nothing to do with asking for the flag to be removed.^[10]

At the time of the incident, the HRC was taking the online spotlight as a red and pink variant of their logo became popular on various social networking websites, with people adopting it as their avatar to show support for those in favor of marriage equality^[11]. Taking the glory while shoving anyone lower down the social ladder under the bus. Sound familiar?

See also[edit]

• Human Rights Watch
• National LGBT+ Police Network - a British organization designed to advance the rights of queer law enforcement officers

External links[edit]

• Human Rights Campaign website
• Bernie Sanders is right: The Human Rights Campaign is definitely part of the 'establishment'

References[edit]