The Hrc (Human Rights Campaign) Essay Example

group feel that gay marriage should be legal because who are they to say what’s a true and pure marriage.

Also people join to receive some sort of justice of the many gay, lesbian and transgender people who are discriminated against and deserve to be treated as equals. Some goals of the HRC are stricter laws for committing hate crimes, equal marriage rights, advocating for all families, equality in the work place and equal rights for gay, lesbian and transgender people. Currently the HRC is working on getting the equal marriage act passed in all of the states. Also the HRC is currently working on National Coming out day, which pretty much is a day in which many gay people can come out without any feeling of persecution.

Also on national coming out day many people come out as an ally to the movement as a way to support the cause. President Obama has declared his support of same sex marriage on national coming out day. The HRC is also trying to gain equality for gay, lesbian and transgender people in the work place. They are trying to accomplish this by enacted non discriminatory policies in the work place. The HRC is advocating for gay couples to be able to adopt children without any real problems and to be able to have normal families.

The actions of the lobbyists and the volunteers in the HRC are very efficient and effective. When HRC was trying to pass the Matthew Sheppard and James Byrd J. hate crimes prevention act they had to work extremely hard. This act called for the government to provide grants

and assistance to state and local authorities investigating and prosecuting hate crimes. It took a lot to get this bill passed it took over 600,000 YouTube views of their hate crime advocacy videos. More than a million emails /faxes and phone calls sent to Capitol Hill since 2002 in support of the hate crime legislation.

It took more than 300 organizations who signed on in support of the Matthew Sheppard act. It took more than 14 floor votes in the house and the senate over 12 years to finally get the bill to the president’s desk. In 1992 the HRC endorsed Bill Clinton’s presidency. After his election the HRCF’s executive director took part in the first ever meeting between LGBT leaders and a sitting president. In 2008 the HRC endorsed Barack Obama for president and worked tirelessly across the country to elect him. They helped him by raising money online to rallying volunteers in key states.

President Obama was the one to sign the Mathew Sheppard act. For the repeal of the don’t ask don’t tell it took a lot of lobbying. It took “voices of Honor” national tour which was 50 cities in partnership with service members united, culminating in DC with Veterans lobby day where hundreds of veterans lobbied congress. It took 625,000 emails generated from constituents urging repeal. For equal marriage to be passed in New York it took a lot of work. The HRC led the largest field campaign ever in support of state LGBT rights legislation.

An unprecedented 30 full time field organizers were employed by HRC across the state and they generated over 150,000 constituent contacts

to targeted legislators. The political action committee for the HRC is among the National Journals top rated PAC’s. The following components make up the criteria for determination of whether the Human Rights Campaign will endorse a candidate: support for issues of concern to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community; (2) demonstrated leadership on HRC’s issues and (3) viability.

In 2008 the HRC engaged in the largest electoral campaign in history by endorsing an aggressive 7 million to mobilize and motivate millions of LGBT voters. Then in 2012 the HRC supported Barack Obama once again but contributed 20 million dollars to the effort. The HRC had a strong presence in the first ever congressional hearing that focused exclusively on transgender American and workplace discrimination. The hearing was an effort to educate federal lawmakers on transgender issues and lay the groundwork for congressional action.

The HRC’s religion and faith programs bring more than 200 religious leaders from every U. S state and every faith tradition to Washington, D. C for clergy call for justice of equality. The leaders lobby their members of congress to pass legislation to advance LGBT equality. The HRC for this year has spent so far 1,050,000 dollars on lobbying alone. Also 13 out of 18 of the HRC lobbyists have previously held a position in government. The HRC has had a lot of successes towards their goals. One success that the group has had is the passage of the Mathew Sheppard act.

This law was such a huge success for the group because since 1968 federal law has covered a very narrow class of hate crimes. The important civil

rights law doesn’t cover crimes motivated by bias against the person sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or disability. Then 11 years of advocacy work had paid off in 2009 when president Obama signed the Mathew Sheppard act. So this act permits the government to provide grants and assistance to state and local authorities investigating and prosecuting hate crimes.

Twice in 2004 and 2006 HRC led the successful fight against the Federal Marriage Amendment, which would have banned marriage equality. The massive field and lobbying effort in 2004, coupled with a $1 million TV, print and online advertising campaign, effectively communicated the message that the FMA was discriminatory and unnecessary, and would undermine the U. S. Constitution. HRC led the way again in 2006, in a campaign that culminated in the delivery of nearly 250,000 postcards to Capitol Hill offices just ahead of a second congressional defeat of the federal marriage act.

A huge success for the HRC was the repeal of the “don’t ask, Don’t tell” law. This law basically stated the prohibition of gay and lesbian people serving openly in the military. The president signed this legislation on December 22, 2010, but DADT was not repealed until September 20, 2011. After it was repealed it was the beginning of a new chapter for LGBT in the military. After the law was repealed LGBTs that were previously discharged because of DADT could come back in the military openly and with pride. Another growing success of the HRC is marriage in the states.

The HRC is currently trying to pass the marriage equality law in all the states. In 2006 Massachusetts was the

only state to recognize equal marriage rights. Then the HRC led an effort to enact marriage equality in the District of Columbia. In 2012, HRC remains at the forefront of the marriage equality fight. HRC campaigned tirelessly alongside state and local partners to secure passage of marriage equality in Maine, Maryland and Washington State, to defeat a proposed constitutional ban on same-sex marriage in Minnesota, and to help successfully defend marriage rights in New Hampshire.

With an eye toward future challenges from our opponents, HRC and its allies continue to work toward full marriage equality across the country. Same sex marriage is currently legal in New York, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Hampshire, Vermont and Washington. With just those states 15. 8% of the population is in favor of same sex marriage which is about 48,916,570 people. Also the HRC helped end the HIV travel ban end. The U. S. prohibition on HIV-positive people entering the country for travel or immigration purposes was finally reversed in 2009.

HRC had been a lead organization lobbying on Capitol Hill for the statutory repeal and working to ensure that Department of Health and Human Services' regulations were changed. In July 2009, when the proposed regulation lifting the ban was open for public comment, more than 19,000 HRC members and supporters submitted statements in favor of ending the discriminatory policy. The issue of repealing the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act had its first hearing in congress in 2011, nearly 15 years after its enactment. Former HRC President Joe Solmonese testified before the U.

S. Senate Judiciary Committee in favor of the Respect

for Marriage Act, which would repeal the Defensive Marriage Act. So this group has seen a lot of success. Even though the HRC has a lot of support there are a lot of critics of the HRC. Critics of the HRC have accused the organization of favoring the Democratic Party. But typically people who oppose the HRC are conservatives or a majority of the Republican Party. The HRC had publically came out and said that they didn’t like Mitt Romney and believed that he would say anything to get elected.

Another group that opposes the HRC is the anti-gay right-wing groups. They are pursuing their own political and ideological agenda explicitly oppose marriage for same-sex couples, and civil unions and domestic partnership rights of any kind. They even work to deny lesbian and gay employees health insurance coverage for their life partners and kids, and are campaigning state by state to cement sweeping anti-gay discrimination not just into the law, but into the federal and state constitutions, while also dismantling laws already in place that protect gay and lesbian couples and people.

Some unattained goals of the group are the same sex marriage law. The HRC is currently working on getting the law either passed in all the states or making it a federal law. Currently the law is pending in California. If it’s passed in California it will give the law the momentum it needs. But this law could be passed because president Obama has given his support on the issue of same sex marriage. Another unattained goal of the HRC is the issue of LGBT parents.

The HRC is trying

to secure quality, fairness and respect for LGBT parents and their children. Also the HRC is currently working on getting the domestic partnership of benefits and obligation act to get passed. The Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act would provide the same family benefits to lesbian and gay federal civilian employees as are already provided to employees with different-sex spouses. Also the HRC is currently working on The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA).

This act will require employers to provide COBRA continuation coverage to any persons who are covered under the employer’s group health plan prior to an employee’s COBRA qualifying event, including same-sex partners and spouses. The human rights campaign is very diverse and effective. I personally feel that this interest group is very efficient and sticks to their ground for the issues they hold near and dear to their heart. The HRC has been proven successful and will overcome any obstacle that comes in their way. This interest group isn’t going away anytime soon and will hopefully fulfill any unattained goals they have.