Tag Archives: Group: Human Rights Campaign (HRC)

Raw Story: Two LGBT rights groups, the Human Rights Campaign and OutServe-SLDN, have launched a campaign to get Laurie removed as the headline speaker for the Pentagon’s Day of Prayer event on May 2. In a press release, the HRC noted that Laurie had a history of disparaging LGBT people and their relationships.

Chicago Tribune: Kirk’s decision brings to 50 the number of U.S. senators who support gay marriage, including 46 Democrats, two independents and two Republicans, according to Charlie Joughin, spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign, a civil rights group that advocates for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people.

WTKR.com: The Human Rights Campaign Facebook page asked people to wear red and to make their Facebook profiles red to show support for marriage equality . . . “Our most fundamental right in this country is the right to vote and the right to participate in the political process,” said Austin Nimocks of the Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian advocacy group.
“We don’t need the Supreme Court to take that right away from Americans of good faith on both sides of this issue and impose its judicial solution,” Nimocks said. “We need to leave this debate to the democratic process, which is working.”

CBS: Blankfein was the first leader in corporate America to take a public stand supporting same-sex marriage in a commercial recorded early last year for the Human Rights Campaign. He calls it an important issue because he sees how it relates to recruiting and retaining people at the firm.

Matthew Staver at Orlando Sentinel: A national uproar apparently caused the executive board of the Boy Scouts of America to postpone until May a vote on whether to allow homosexual Scouts and Scoutmasters among their ranks.

BuzzFeed: Originally formed to repeal DOMA in Congress, LGBT rights organizations are building a coalition to fight for “securing the freedom to marry nationwide.”

WorldNetDaily: The Boy Scouts of America’s apparent decision to reverse a century-old policy to bar homosexuals from its ranks coincides with a sudden drop in major corporate funding that began last summer after a gay-rights blogger for the Huffington Post published a collaborative report that named the donors and chastised them for violating their own policy of not discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation. At the same time, two prominent board members – including an adviser to the Obama White House – were carrying out a vow to change the policy from within.

AP: Gay rights advocates are renewing their push for President Barack Obama to sign an executive order banning federal contractors from discriminating against gay employees.

The Atlantic: For Gay Catholics, an Alternative to the Collection Plate Still, the reality is this: Every time Catholics tithe at a local parish, they are not only helping to keep the lights on for Mass and to make sure …

Sharon Groves of HRC at the Washington Post: ncorporating faith into equality campaigns is still, at a nascent stage. We need to learn how to better collaborate with the richly diverse religious communities that are part of the fabric of faith in America but that often get left out when campaigns focus on the moveable middle. We need a better understanding of geographical differences that affect communities of faith.

Chad Griffin and Lynn Schusterman at the Washington Post: And yet, too often we turn a blind eye on faith communities that are neglecting these values. The dissonance is acutely felt among our lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) friends, family members and colleagues, who are overwhelmingly less engaged in their faith communities than their heterosexual counterparts because they are unsure of where they are welcome. It is in our power and our interest to work together to change this norm. LGBT equality is the major civil rights issue of our time.

WorldNetDaily: he HRC ranks U.S. companies according to their support and non-support for “gay,” lesbian, bisexual and transgender causes. The scale is from zero to 100, with those closest to zero being firms that are not supportive of homosexual policies, and those nearest 100 being very “gay”-friendly . . . Here is the latest list of companies scoring 100 percent on the index . . .”

AP: Brad Pitt has agreed to donate $100,000 to help the Human Rights Campaign raise money for its efforts to support same-sex marriage initiatives in several states.

Minn. Public Radio: Groups on both sides of the marriage amendment debate are getting a last minute infusion of cash from groups outside of Minnesota.

Pioneer Press (AP): The Human Rights Campaign, Freedom to Marry and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force announced the drive Thursday. They are looking for volunteers willing to spend a full week in one of the four states, or just a weekend.

LifeSiteNews: Twenty-three organizations supporting gay rights have condemned a shooting at the Family Research Council headquarters Wednesday morning, saying that although the motive of the attack hasn’t been clearly established, the leaders “utterly reject and condemn” such violence.

Morning Sentinel: The Human Rights Campaign, based in Washington, D.C., said the $1 million will be divided equally among same-sex marriage advocacy groups in Maine, Maryland, Minnesota and Washington. That means Mainers United for Marriage will receive $250,000.

LA Times: A new survey by the gay-rights group Human Rights Campaign found that just 34% of House and Senate members support same-sex marriage while 44% oppose and 23% have unknown or unclear positions.

The New Civil Rights Movement: When asked if the Republican Party specifically needs to do a better job of accepting opinions on gay marriage and other cultural issues that do not align with party orthodoxy, Cantor said “absolutely.”

Washington Post: An increasing number of U.S. hospitals have adopted policies that explicitly ban discrimination against lesbian, gay and bisexual patients, according to a report to be released Tuesday.

LA Times: Both President Obama’s campaign and gay activists reject the idea that his endorsement of same-sex marriage was tied to fundraising. But there’s no doubt that the community’s influence has broadened.

CNN’s Responses to Obama’s marriage announcement includes this: Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus: “Because our children’s future is best preserved within the traditional understanding of marriage, we call for a constitutional amendment that fully protects marriage as a union …

Fox News: Both the gay advocacy group the Human Rights Campaign and the Huffington Post posted the documents — the National Organization for Marriage has claimed it appears someone in the IRS fed the documents to the Human Rights Campaign.

MetroWeekly: Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) plans to introduce an amendment on Wednesday to the National Defense Authorization Act in a mark-up of the bill before the House Armed Services Committee that is aimed at creating “a conscience protection clause” for military chaplains in the wake of the end of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” . . . Among the advocates included in the planning for the amendments being offered and from whom Johnson was seeking input were Elaine Donnelly of the Center for Military Readiness; Brian Duggan, a lobbyist for the National Organization for Marriage; Austin Nimocks and Daniel Blomberg, lawyers with the Alliance Defense Fund . . .

NOM: “The American people are entitled to know how a confidential tax return containing private donor information filed exclusively with the Internal Revenue Service has been given to our political opponents who also happen to be co-chairing President Obama’s reelection committee.”

One News Now: A lesbian couple from Pennsylvania legally “married” in Canada and then settled in Illinois. Then one partner — Sarah Farley — died of cancer, leaving her retirement fund to her parents. However, the surviving lesbian — Jennifer Tobits — then sued, claiming a legal right to the fund, even though same-gender “marriage” is not legal in either Pennsylvania or Illinois.

Human Rights Campaign Blog: ADF President Alan Sears has declared this upcoming Sunday “National Pray for Marriage Day.”

Blankfein to Speak Out for Same-Sex Marriage – NYTimes.com (includes video): Lloyd C. Blankfein, the chief of Goldman Sachs who has become a lightning rod for Wall Street critics, might seem an unlikely advocate for same-sex marriage. But his credentials — a public figure in a conservative industry — could make him a powerful voice for that cause.

NYTimes.com: Gay rights advocates from Wall Street to Hollywood poured donations into the coffers of four little-known Republican state senators after the lawmakers provided the decisive votes for same-sex marriage in New York last June, according to new campaign finance filings released on Tuesday.

LaTimes.com: The corporate world — especially at law firms and big banks –- is a much better place for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees than it was a decade ago, according to a new report from LGBT advocacy group Human Rights Campaign.

News from The Associated Press: The Human Rights Campaign said in a report to be published Thursday that 207 of the 636 businesses it surveyed for its annual Corporate Equality Index either are already providing transgender- inclusive employee health benefits . . .

ADF Attorney Gary McCaleb at The American Thinker: Foley & Lardner, LLP is a large and successful law firm. Focused on serving business clients, it has more than 1,000 attorneys in over 60 offices throughout the United States and across the globe. And although a firm that large is necessarily diverse, we recently found that diversity is not enough when the Human Rights Campaign is looking over your shoulder.

SeattlePI.com: Calling itself Washington United for Marriage, the coalition is also comprised of Equal Rights Washington, Human Rights Campaign, Legal Voice, and Planned Parenthood Votes Northwest. It includes unions and such major faith groups as the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle.

NYTimes.com: In its infancy the H.R.C. effort, called Americans for Marriage Equality, has showcased three prominent black Americans in a row. That’s no accident.

The Washington Post: Venerable talk show host Larry King, hip hop mogul Russell Simmons, ice cream icons Ben and Jerry and presidential daughter Barbara Bush all stepped forward in New York, making attention-grabbing appearances in a long-running ad campaign.

Politics in Minnesota: Supporters of marriage ban amendment hope to continue an unbroken string of victories nationwide

New York Daily News: The Human Rights Campaign’s annual dinner – which features a keynote address by President Obama – will honor Bloomberg Saturday night, officials announced Thursday.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State: Americans United for Separation of Church and State has joined a coalition of religious, education, civil rights and health organizations in a letter to President Barack Obama expressing concern over his approach to hiring bias in the “faith-based” initiative.

Times Union: Time Warner Cable gave advocates of same-sex marriage $70,846 of free airtime this spring, lobbying records show.

OneNewsNow.com: udy Bruns reports that hundreds of thousands of dollars in teachers’ union dues are going to homosexual organizations. “In just two year’s time, between $350,000 to $400,000 … was given . . . ”

GantDaily.com: Also on the witness list were Tom Minnery of Focus on the Family and Austin Nimocks, senior legal counsel of the Alliance Defense Fund and one of the lawyers for proponents of Proposition 8, California’s ban on same-sex marriage.

The Washington Post: Daniel Blomberg, an attorney for the conservative Alliance Defense Fund, denounced the administration’s decision. “Our perspective is that it’s not only incorrect, but deeply disappointing, to have a politician claim support for marriage between one man and one woman on the campaign trail, then actively undermine that once in office,” said Blomberg, whose organization will testify in support of DOMA during Wednesday’s Senate hearing. “We are confident Congress will make the right decision here.”

Business Wire: McCarter & English LLP is pleased to announce that the Firm’s Executive Committee has adopted a compensation gross-up policy that offsets the tax disadvantage previously faced by the Firm’s Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual and Transgender employees who cover domestic or civil union partners under their health insurance plans.

AZ Republic (6/25): Attorneys at the Alliance Defense Fund, a Scottsdale-based alliance of attorneys representing conservative Christian issues, said it was disappointing that legislators did not represent their constituents on the issue. “It’s not a circumstance where the expertise of legislators is required,” said Austin Nimocks, ADF senior legal counsel. “People know marriage. They live it and understand it, and they don’t need legislators to dictate to them the definition of marriage.”

HRC : “We are delighted to recognize Hands Across The Water for removing barriers to qualified LGBT adoptive parents and for placing a high value on our families. It is wonderful that LGBT individuals and couples in Michigan have a trusted resource to turn to when pursuing adoption,” added Ellen Kahn, HRC’s Family Project Director.

Joe Solmonese at CNN: Slowly, as those in and around professional sports come out of their closet and embrace simple equality, the axis shifts just a bit more. It’s a forward movement that even our staunchest opponents know marks a new beginning and a new conversation.

Politico: In a statement released by the Human Rights Campaign on Thursday, Clinton said that the next step in the expansion of rights in the United States should be same-sex marriage in his adopted home state.

. . According to its website, King & Spalding represents a majority of states (plus many local municipalities) in municipal bond work (emphasis mine): It just so happens that almost every state in the country has either DOMA constitutional amendments or DOMA legislation, including Georgia. Here is a map . . .

Family Research Council: Yesterday, the Weekly Standard got its hands on a series of internal emails from the HRC, and it seems the group has been strong-arming U.S. law firms for a month, warning them to take the DOMA case at their peril.

LA Times: DOMA is a regressive law. But both sides in any case are entitled to “hired guns.”

LA Times Editorial: The Human Rights Campaign has been a powerful force for the rights of gays and lesbians, but the organization has stumbled in objecting to the hiring of a former solicitor general to defend the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act. The tradition of lawyers defending unpopular or controversial clients is an honorable one.

Baptist Press: The Tennessee House of Representatives is expected to vote soon on legislation to prevent local governments from enacting ordinances such as a controversial one approved by the Nashville City Council that protects employees based on their “sexual orientation” or “gender identity.”

Houston Chronicle: Kobe Bryant has been fined $100,000 by the NBA for using a derogatory gay term in frustration over a referee’s call.

NY Times: New York’s two senators, Charles E. Schumer and Kristen E. Gillibrand, joined a growing list of celebrities and public officials on Thursday by appearing in a series of 30-second ads supporting same-sex marriage rights. The ad series is being coordinated by the Human Rights Campaign . . .

Greg Scott writes at the Speak Up Movement Church Blog: Things that make you go hmmmmmmm…  NWI reports: Marriage amendment debate pits social conservatives against businesses . . . …Jill Cook, vice president of human resources for Cummins Inc., said her company, which employs 5,500 workers at its Columbus, Ind., headquarters, would think twice about expanding if the amendment is approved . . .  So why now would Cummins, which boasts of its “top rating” by the radical Human Rights Campaign, publicly gnash its teeth over a proposed marriage amendment in one state after just months ago heralding their expansion into a state that already had a powerful amendment in place?

Politico: “The legislative roll out comes a day after a interest-group-sponsored poll was released revealing that 51 percent of voters oppose DOMA, while just 34 percent favor it. The poll, a collaboration of gay-rights group Human Rights Campaign and Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research . . . ”

U.S. News and World Report carries opposing pieces by Tony Perkins of Family Research Council and Joe Salmonese of the Human Rights Campaign.

USA Today: The Alliance Defense Fund brands its coverage with a headline: “The Homosexual Agenda: The Principal Threat to Your Religious Freedom” – Their strategy is twofold: dilute moral values so that homosexual behavior is thought to be normal, natural, and good, while suppressing the religious and free speech rights of those who disagree…

Lisa Keen writes at theWindy City Times: It is possible—just as happened in California—that some other entity might attempt to mount its own defense of DOMA in the pending cases. Last October, U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, filed a motion in the two First Circuit cases, seeking to be named intervenor-defendant. Smith, aided by the right-wing Alliance Defense Fund, said at the time that the Justice Department was providing “no defense at all” for DOMA. He withdrew his motion a few weeks later, without comment. [this report contains a lengthy list of responses from homosexual groups]

MSNBC:  ”The number is expected to spike this year, when HRC adds availability of surgery-inclusive medical benefits for transgender employees or transgender dependents to the criteria in its annual corporate diversity report card.  To maintain the coveted 100 percent rating when the next Corporate Equality Index is published in the fall, companies will have to offer at least one insurance plan that covers at least $75,000 worth of surgery and other treatments recommended by a patient’s doctor.”

Pink Paper: “‘For almost two years, the National Organisation for Marriage and the Alliance Defense Fund, along with Bishop Harry Jackson, have fought a losing battle to shamelessly harm gay and lesbian couples in D.C. who seek nothing more than to share in the rights and responsibilities of marriage,’ said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese.”

LGBTQ Nation: “The nation’s largest LGBT legal group –- Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund — took in $17 million in its most recent fiscal year, 2009, compared to $677,360 in 1987 and $26 million in 2008. By comparison, the right-wing’s largest political group -– Focus on the Family — expected $100 million in 2010 and the largest right-wing legal group – the Alliance Defense Fund — has an annual budget of $32.7 million in 2009, according to its website.”

Ms. Magazine: “Yesterday the US Supreme Court declined to hear a case filed by Bishop Harry Jackson, the National Organization for Marriage, and the Alliance Defense Fund challenging the District of Columbia’s law allowing same-sex couples to marry.”

Human Rights Campaign press release: “‘Today’s action by the Supreme Court makes abundantly clear that D.C.’s human rights protections are strong enough to withstand the hateful efforts of outside anti-LGBT groups to put people’s basic civil rights on the ballot,’ said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. ‘For almost two years, the National Organization for Marriage and the Alliance Defense Fund, along with Bishop Harry Jackson, have fought a losing battle to shamelessly harm gay and lesbian couples in D.C. who seek nothing more than to share in the rights and responsibilities of marriage. The D.C. Council and Mayor courageously made marriage equality a reality last year, and the courts have since upheld the rights of D.C. residents to govern ourselves and take the necessary steps to eliminate discrimination in our community.’”

SDLGN: “‘For almost two years, the National Organization for Marriage and the Alliance Defense Fund, along with Bishop Harry Jackson, have fought a losing battle to shamelessly harm gay and lesbian couples in D.C. who seek nothing more than to share in the rights and responsibilities of marriage. The D.C. Council and mayor courageously made marriage equality a reality last year, and the courts have since upheld the rights of D.C. residents to govern ourselves and take the necessary steps to eliminate discrimination in our community.’”

Politico: “Gay groups are furious with a Justice Department brief defending — though in quite narrow terms — the Defense of Marriage Act, which candidate Obama, unlike even his Democratic rivals, had pledged to repeal in full.”

Concord Monitor: “The Family Research Council in Washington, D.C., has vowed to do ‘whatever it takes’ to repeal gay marriage in New Hampshire. Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders in Boston is promising to do ‘whatever it takes’ to stop them.”

Sam Stein writing at The Huffington Post: “Whereas conventional wisdom holds that legislative victories beget future ones, there was no clear sense that the president’s signing of DADT’s repeal would have such a domino effect.”

National Catholic Register: “‘We will be closely monitoring the repealed law’s replacement with new regulations that will prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual harassment,’ [ADF Attorney Daniel Blomberg] said the day before Obama signed the bill. ‘Such regulations [in civilian life] have been shown to be applied quite broadly, and used to squelch the free expression of one’s religious liberty. We expect this to be especially problematic in the military, which forges the closest of all relationships between the government and a “private citizen,” who really isn’t a private citizen [but swears an oath to obey the president and his military superiors]. There’s no comparable vocation in American life.’”

Human Rights Campaign: “Today the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization, praised the bipartisan proposal under the leadership of Sens. Lieberman and Collins that emerged this evening to pass repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ as a stand-alone piece of legislation. The news comes from a bipartisan group of Senators after today’s failed vote to proceed to debate on the National Defense Authorization Act.”

“President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) will press forward to repeal the ban on openly gay people serving in the military.”

Washington Post / Federal Eye: “On Monday, three groups that support lifting the gay ban — the Palm Center at the University of California Santa Barbara, OutServe and Knights Out — said they want lawmakers to pass the [defense authorization bill] whether or not it includes language ending ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ . . . It’s a risky political calculation that puts them in direct conflict with four larger groups more directly involved with lobbying efforts to end the ban: the Human Rights Campaign, the Center for American Progress, Servicemembers United and Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.”

Human Rights Campaign: “Senator Lisa Murkowski has the opportunity to prove once again that she represents all Alaskans. In 2009, she voted for the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which included the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.  Now, she can again vote for that same bill which funds our military and will also repeal DADT.  That’s why I’m here on the ground in Alaska. . . ”

Human Rights Campaign: “Today NOMExposed is launching an effort to fight back against what the National Organization for Marriage did in Iowa.”

Human Rights Campaign Press Release: “Today the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization, launched an aggressive grassroots campaign to urge Senate action on ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ repeal in the upcoming post-election session. Field organizers on the ground are focusing on eight key states to amplify the voices of veterans and other fair-minded Americans who know the time is right to repeal this law and strengthen our national security.”