Chad
H. Griffin was appointed today as the next president of the Human
Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, by the organization’s
Board of Directors. Griffin, a national communications and policy
strategist, is widely credited for being the mastermind behind the
federal lawsuit to overturn California's Proposition 8, which has now
been ruled unconstitutional by two federal courts.
Griffin’s appointment follows an extensive six month search by the
board that included the consideration of over one hundred diverse and
extremely well-qualified candidates from the worlds of business,
academia and activism. Griffin will assume his new responsibilities on
June 11, 2012. Current HRC president Joe Solmonese will continue to lead
the organization until that time.
The founding partner of strategic communications and campaign
firm, Griffin|Schein, Griffin has taken on entrenched, well-financed
interests like Big Tobacco, Big Oil and the far right, and
shaped national policy debates around equal rights, clean energy,
universal health care, stem cell research, and early childhood
education. He has also led groundbreaking ballot initiative campaigns
including the largest ballot initiative ever recorded, Proposition 87:
California’s Clean Alternative Energy Initiative; the Proposition 10
campaign, which generates $600 million a year for early childhood
education; and Proposition 71, which secured billions of dollars for
stem cell research despite the Bush Administration ban.
Griffin is a founding board member of the American Foundation for Equal Rights
(AFER), the sole sponsor of the Prop. 8 lawsuit. He is personally
responsible for recruiting the legal dream team of Theodore Olson and
David Boies to successfully argue the case. Griffin will remain on the
board of directors of AFER.
A veteran of the Clinton White House communications team, and a native
of Arkansas, Griffin was highly motivated by young people in taking this
new endeavor. “All over this country in big cities and small towns,
there are families and young people who long to be accepted for who they
are, and who want be treated with the same dignity and respect as
everyone else," said Griffin. "I’m honored by the board’s confidence in
my ability to lead HRC. While there’s no doubt that we’ve made
tremendous progress on the road to equality, we must not forget that
millions of LGBT Americans still lack basic legal protections and suffer
the consequences of discrimination every day. Today's generation of
young people, and each generation hereafter, must grow up with the full
and equal protection of our laws, and finally be free to participate in
the American dream. As HRC president, I’ll approach our work with a
great sense of urgency because there are real life consequences to
inaction.”
HRC Co-Chair Tim Downing and HRC Foundation Co-Chair Sandra Hartness
spoke on behalf of their colleagues on the Board of Directors, “We’re
ecstatic to have someone of Chad’s caliber as our next president. His
superior credentials and achievements, both as a visionary and
strategist, make him uniquely qualified to lead this organization
forward. Chad has a proven track record of consistently delivering
results during his career. That’s something that our community rightly
expects and deserves.”
With over a million members and supporters, HRC works to secure equal
rights for LGBT individuals and families at the local, state and federal
levels by mobilizing grassroots supporters, lobbying elected officials,
proactively educating and changing the hearts and minds of fair-minded
Americans, and investing strategically to elect fair-minded officials.
Founded in 1980, HRC seeks 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 through innovative advocacy, education and outreach
programs.
HRC consists of two separate non-profit organizations: the Human Rights
Campaign Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization that focuses on research,
advocacy and education and the Human Rights Campaign, a 501(c)(4)
organization that focuses on lobbying Congress, state and local
officials for support of pro-LGBT bills, and mobilizing grassroots
action amongst its members. The combined annual budget of both
organizations was approximately $40 million in 2011.