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HRC Foundation announced it is launching an intensive, capacity-building fellowship program for young leaders at the front lines of the fight to end the spread and stigma of HIV. HRC’s HIV 360° Fellowship program, which is made possible by the tremendous support of the Elton John AIDS Foundation, will provide training and support for innovative young professionals and nonprofit leaders as they tackle the challenges facing communities hit hardest by HIV, including Black and Latino gay and bisexual men, transgender women of color, and LGBT people living in the South. “We all must act with renewed urgency to combat this epidemic […]

  This Monday, in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) Day, HRC members and supporters across the country will gather for an annual Day of Service, writes Hayley Miller on the HRC Blog. Each year, millions around the country treat MLK Day of Service as a “Day On, Not a Day Off.” Working together, HRC hopes to transform Dr. King’s life and teachings into community action to help bring together people, strengthen communities and meet national challenges. This year, we will work to ensure the safety and well-being of our LGBTQ youth. Youth homelessness in the United States is a […]

According to the legislation tracker Protect Thy Neighbor, there are presently 59 anti-LGBT bills active nationwide in state legislatures. The site is tracking this post-Obergefell avalanche in multiple categories including same-sex marriage, adoption, healthcare, public accommodations, and religious liberty. Hit the link, check out your home state, and bookmark the site, which is a project of Americans United For Separation of Church and State. Protect Thy Neighbor is monitoring and fighting bills across the country that would allow individuals, businesses, and government employees to harm others in the name of religion. The most common bills would allow discrimination against LGBT […]

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) previewed state and local legislative battles in the year ahead, including anti-LGBT bills likely to be considered in at least 27 states. HRC anticipates that, as in 2015, anti-LGBT activists will push for measures that give legal cover to discrimination against LGBT Americans in dozens of states. The analysis also highlights opportunities to advance LGBT equality in 2016. “2016 will prove a critical year for the fight for LGBT equality in states across the country,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “The progress our movement has made is threatened by an organized effort to pass discriminatory legislation that seeks to rollback […]

 In a new poll, only 22 percent of respondents said they’d be angry at a hypothetical headline that read: “More Than 100,000 Couples Have Wed Since Supreme Court Ruling.” As we inch closer to the 2016 election, a new survey by Esquire and NBC News called American Rage polls 3,000 Americans to get a sense of what makes Americans angry. The findings are surprisingly pro-LGBTQ. Only 22 percent of respondents said they’d be angry at a hypothetical headline that read: “More Than 100,000 Couples Have Wed Since Supreme Court Ruling.” Apparently, 45 percent of those surveyed are angry at the […]

  Today, House Republicans defeated a motion in the U.S. House of Representatives to safeguard President Obama’s executive order protecting LGBT employees of federal contractors from discrimination. Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI) During consideration of a bill to require federal agencies to cut costs by eliminating existing regulations, Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI) offered a procedural motion to exempt regulations implementing the federal contractor executive order, guaranteeing these important protections would be shielded from any potential cuts.  As is often the case with these procedural motions, the amendment failed along party lines on a vote of 178 to 239. “We’re disappointed that […]

Gay rights activist Tim Campbell died December 26, 2015, in Houston, Texas, at the age of 76, from esophageal cancer. Campbell was perhaps best known as the publisher of the GLC Voice newspaper in Minneapolis, which came out from 1979 through 1992. During that period he was the go to person in Minneapolis for the media whenever they needed a quick quote on some gay related event. Because Campbell was also known for a number of street theater type gay rights protests scattered over the years, it chagrined a few more polite gays and lesbians when he became their “voice”. […]

Two New Mexico lawmakers have pre-filed a bill that would give state business owners the right to refuse business to gay, lesbian and transgender people and their families on the basis of religious freedom. Republican Reps. David Gallegos and Nora Espinoza are the sponsors of the bill, HB55. “The intent of the bill would be to ensure people would not be forced to operate their business that was in a way inconsistent with their religious beliefs,” said Rep. Gallegos in a Friday interview. Such a law would have allowed businesses like Elaine Photography to get away with refusing to photograph […]