BOARD OF DIRECTORS
O
n a chilly Sunday night in January, I joined Hillary Clinton and hundreds of our members, supporters and allies in Iowa as she accepted our official endorsement in the 2016 presidential election. It was one of the most exciting — and most important — moments in this organization’s history. That’s because the stakes couldn’t be higher for LGBT Americans this November. Over the last seven years under President Obama’s leadership, the nation has made substantial progress on LGBT equality — from the end of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” to his Executive Order protecting LGBT employees of federal contractors from discrimination, to his historic support for nationwide marriage equality, to signing landmark hate crimes legislation, to speaking out against so-called “conversion therapy” and to working to protect LGBT students. Despite the fact that a majority of Republican and Independent voters today support federal protections for LGBT Americans, the leading Republican candidates for president have threatened to halt progress as well as revoke, repeal and overturn the gains made during President Obama’s two terms. We cannot let that happen — and that’s why HRC is launching an unprecedented mobilization effort to register and organize the nation’s pro-equality majority and elect another champion for LGBT equality to the White House. We believe that champion is Hillary Clinton. In the U.S. Senate, Clinton helped lead on bills to protect LGBT workers from employment discrimination, and had a strong record on key votes and legislation that mattered to LGBT Americans. As Secretary of State, Clinton gave a historic and
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EQUALITY
WINTER 2016
Thanks,
Chad Griffin, President
FOUNDATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS Gwen Baba CA, Bruce Bastian UT, Jay Biles NC, Scott Bishop NC, Todd Canon TX, Edie Cofrin GA, Bill Donius MO, Patty Ellis PA, Anne Fay TX, Charlie Frew GA, Suzanne Hamilton OH, Britt Kornmann TX, Tom Kovach NV, Joan Lau PA, Andy Linsky CA, Joshua Miller NV, Bryan Parsons CA, Cheryl Rose OH, John Ruffier FL, Cathi Scalise TX, Judy Shepard WY, Mol Simmons GA, Ashley Smith DC, Michael Smithson OH, Steve Sorenson CA, Deb Taft IL, Faye Tate CO, Paul Thompson CA, Rebecca Tillet PA, Robb Webb IL
BOARD OF GOVERNORS Marilyn Abalos NY, John Affuso MA, Jack Albers CA, Steve Amend NV, Tal Anderson MN, Debra Bacchi NY, Jennifer Bajorek TX, Greg Battaglia NY, Andrew Beaudoin FL, Christa Berry TX, Brittany Binler PA, Brooke Bishop OH, Angel Boord VA, Stefani Borg OH, Blake Brockway TN, Linda Brown OR, K Jason Bryan MN, Brian Buzby TX, Rory Cahn OH, Jeremy Carter NC, Blaise Caudill AZ, Steven Cayton GA, Angie Cottrell MO, Dolores Covrigaru NY, Thomas Cowley CA, June Crenshaw DC, Lynn Currie TX, Lance Demaline OH, Brad DiFiore GA, Cristina DiGoia NV, Jaime Duggan TX, Ann Dyste MN, Cate Eble NC, Cordy Elkins MA, Alex Ernst NY, Xavier Esters IL, Melanie Falls OH, Chris Fasser NY, Maria Fasulo NY, Michael Fifield UT, Gabe Fischer CO, Taylor Fiscus IL, Jenny Ford TN, Ashley Fowler IL, Sarah Garber MO, Matt Garrett GA, Ben Gibbs GA, Melinda Greene GA, Jon Groppe OH, Anne Groth AZ, Lisa Guillory LA, Erin Gurak TX, Randall Hance TX, Matt Hendry CA, Gary Hilbert NJ, Ann Hooper NC, Lon Hurst TN, Bob Jacobson AZ, Korrine Johnson FL, Alyssa Jones MA, Ann Kanner-Roth MN, Clayton Katz TX, Dean Keppler WA, Champ Knecht NY, Kevin Knoblock MA, Keith Laepple WA, David Lahti CA, Andrew Land GA, Jason Laney DC, Duane Lefevre MA, Christine Lehtonen CA, Luigi Lewin NY, Victor Lim IL, Alex Lindquist CO, Chris Lindsey TX, Anna Lineback NC, Michael Long OR, Thomas Macias CA, Lisa Marchbanks CA, Cody Martin CA, David Martinez III AZ, Dan Mauney NC, Colette Melancon LA, Rich Meyers CA, Michael Moore OH, Earnest Morgan MN, Karen Morgan OH, Missy Morgan NV, Chris New GA, Khoa Nguyen DC, Roger Nyhus WA, Derek Osterman MA, Tonya Pachetti-Perkins TX, Brandon Patterson GA, Byron Pelt MO, Angela Pisecco TX, Densil Porteous OH, Kaitlin Porter GA, Ron Quinn NV, Layne Rackley CA, Victor Ravago CA, Catherine Reid WA, Brandie Reiner AZ, Barry Robertson TX, Marvin Rocha PA, Geri Rochino CA, Mario Rodas MA, Liz Rodriguez TX, Christian Rogers LA, Andrea Rubin LA, Brigid Scarbrough GA, Paul Schiminsky NV, Elizabeth Schlesinger MO, Shelly Schoenfeld NC, Dustin Schrecengost UT, Alicia Schwarz MN, Candice Shapiro MA, Camron Shelton CA, Dan Slater CA, Matt Smith TX, Neil Smith NC, Michael Smithson OH, Greg Snow MA, Katherine Sprissler-Klein PA, Rick Straits OH, Jeff Strater TX, Rick Taylor OH, Julian Tovar TX, Bonnie Uphold CA, Sean VanGorder NV, Lauren Verrusio NY, Melissa Vivanco TX, Lou Weaver TX, Jamaul Webster NY, Aaron Weiner OH, Amy White WA, Andrew Winters MD, Phillip Wright TX
EMERITUS COUNCIL David Beckwith CA, Ken Britt GA, Lawrie Demorest GA, Tim Downing OH, Mike Holloman TX, Barry Karas DC, Joni Madison NC, Lucilo Peña TX, Dana Perlman CA, John Sullivan MN, Rebecca Tillet PA CURRENT AS OF FEB. 1, 2016
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Photo: Matt McClain / Getty Images Cover: Eleanor Skrzat
DEAR FRIENDS,
forceful speech to the United Nations making clear that LGBT rights are human rights. She helped lead the U.N. to pass the first-ever U.N. resolution on the human rights of LGBT people and created the Global Equality Fund to advance the human rights of LGBT people around the globe. She has also made LGBT equality a key pillar of her presidential campaign — and recently unveiled the most robust and ambitious LGBT agenda any candidate for president has ever laid out. She has vowed to fight for the Equality Act — a bill that would finally offer explicit, clear and permanent non-discrimination protections for LGBT people at the federal level — and her detailed LGBT policy platform specifically calls for dropping the ban on open transgender military service, outlawing dangerous “conversion therapy” for minors, ending the epidemic of transgender violence and supporting HIV prevention and affordable treatment, among other proposals that would advance equality and support the LGBT community. Make no mistake: Hillary Clinton is fighting to advance LGBT equality across our nation and throughout the world, and that’s why we’re proud to endorse her. We believe that she is the candidate we can count on in November — and every day she occupies the Oval Office. And in order to win the fight for full equality nationwide and ensure Hillary Clinton is elected president, we’ll need you — our members and supporters — more than ever before. As people who value equality and as voters, we need you to speak out for justice for all and against discrimination wherever it lives. Exit polls show that at least 6 million LGB Americans — they did not identify transgender voters — voted in the 2012 election, which was decided by fewer than 5 million votes. Today, in key states like Ohio, North Carolina and Florida, the population of LGBT adults is greater than the average margin of victory in the last three presidential elections in those states. This year, your vote could literally mean the difference between another four years of progress or a president ready and willing to roll back all the gains we’ve made. In 2015, the LGBT community showed the nation and the world what we can do when we work together. This year, let’s do it again.
Lacey All WA, Ian Barrett TX, Bruce Bastian UT, Vanessa Benavides TX, Michael Berman DC, Scott Bishop NC, Chris Boone CA, Paul Boskind TX, Ken Britt GA, Todd Canon TX, Chris Carolan NY, Bill Donius MO, Patty Ellis PA, Christopher Flynn MA, Kirk Hamill DC, Suzanne Hamilton OH, James Harrison TX, S. Kelly Herrick CA, Tom Knabel MN, Chris Labonte PA, Ryan Levy TX, DyShaun Muhammad MN, Robert Newhart IL, Bryan Parsons CA, Lester Perryman LA, Cat Reid WA, Cheryl Rose OH, Linda Scaparotti CA, Mol Simmons GA, Steve Sorenson CA, Meghan Stabler TX, Ben Waldman WA