Today, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and Human Rights Campaign Foundation (HRCF) announced that Kelley Robinson (she/her) — a widely respected leader in the progressive movement — will become the organization’s ninth president and the first Black, Queer woman to lead the organization. Robinson comes to HRC after serving as the Executive Director of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund (PPAF), where she led the organization and its 18 million supporters in its efforts to ensure all people have access to healthcare as a human right. Her first official day as president of HRC will be November 28.
Robinson started her career as a community organizer for Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign in Missouri and has spent more than 15 years on the frontlines of the progressive movement and the fight for equality. Developing and leading campaigns and programs that have secured major electoral and legislative wins federally and in states, Robinson has cultivated a reputation as a champion for inclusion, a fierce optimist, a battle-tested organizer, and a changemaker whose career has centered around the fight for bodily autonomy and racial and gender equity, with a focus on lifting up marginalized communities and building political power. During her time at the helm of PPAF, Robinson has led the largest electoral programs in the organization’s history, helped to quadruple the annual budget, and expanded membership and engagement, increasing the number of supporters from 6.5 million in 2012 to over 18 million today.
“I’m honored and ready to lead HRC — and our more than three million member-advocates — as we continue working to achieve equality and liberation for all Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer people,” said Kelley Robinson, HRC’s incoming president. “This is a pivotal moment in our movement for equality for LGBTQ+ people. We, particularly our trans and BIPOC communities, are quite literally in the fight for our lives and facing unprecedented threats that seek to destroy us. The overturning of Roe v. Wade reminds us we are just one Supreme Court decision away from losing fundamental freedoms including the freedom to marry, voting rights, and privacy. We are facing a generational opportunity to rise to these challenges and create real, sustainable change. I believe that working together this change is possible right now. This next chapter of the Human Rights Campaign is about getting to freedom and liberation without any exceptions — and today I am making a promise and commitment to carry this work forward.”
