Chad Griffin Chosen HRC President

Chad H. Griffin has been appointed as the next president of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation’s largest GLBT civil rights organization. A national communications and policy strategist, Griffin is widely credited as the mastermind behind the federal lawsuit to overturn California’s Proposition 8.

Griffin is a founding board member of the American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER), sole sponsor of the Prop. 8 lawsuit, and recruited the legal team of Theodore Olson and David Boies, who successfully argued the case. Griffin will remain on AFER’s board of directors..

Griffin acknowledged, “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. 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 for their Board of Directors colleagues, saying, “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.”

Current HRC president Joe Solmonese will continue to lead the organization until Griffin assumes the post on June 11.