2010 Accomplishments

Together, our success in repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" this month was just one of many tough fights and inspiring victories we were a part of in 2010. Here are some of HRC's other accomplishments over the year:

Repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"

• "Voices of Honor" National Tour: 50 cites, in partnership with Servicemembers United (SU), culminating in DC with Veterans Lobby Day where hundreds of veterans lobbied Congress.
• "Voces de Honor": first Spanish-language Take Action page and event.
• Countdown 2010 Grassroots Campaign: partnership with SLDN to drive constituent visits and letters.
• 625,000 emails generated from constituents urging repeal.
• 50,000 pro-repeal handwritten cards & letters to Congress.
• 1,000 grassroots lobby visits in Congress and in-district.
• Polling in key districts to educate decision makers.
• Print and online advertisements, including full-page ads in Politico, the Cleveland Plain Dealer (Ohio), the Boston Herald (Massachusetts), the Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, Va.), and the Indianapolis Star (Indiana)
• 20,000 veterans mobilized for public events and local media.

Fighting for Marriage Equality

• NEW YORK: Launched campaign to pass marriage equality legislation in 2011 and helped elect three new voices for marriage in the State Senate. HRC's New Yorkers for Marriage video campaign featured Whoopi Goldberg, Julianne Moore, Kenneth Cole and many others.
• DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: Led the effort to enact marriage equality, including two full-time staff members who, working with coalition members; identified hundreds of supporters to testify before the DC Council; co-hosting a rally on the eve of the Council's vote; and hosted three of the first weddings at HRC headquarters. Additionally, the Religion and Faith program helped organize and sustain DC Clergy United for Marriage Equality, one of the key players in the fight.
• DELAWARE, ILLINOIS & HAWAII: Worked to move civil union legislation move forward.
• NATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR MARRIAGE (NOM): In partnership with the Courage Campaign launched NOM Exposed – holding NOM accountable for the misinformation and hate spread in its effort to thwart equality. Additionally, organized marriage equality messaging focus groups in key states (CA, MN, MD, NM, RI, and OR) to learn how to better combat the messaging of NOM with voters.
• CONGREGATIONAL CURRICULUM: First known curriculum developed specifically for faith setting entitled, "Putting Faith Into Action: Building for Marriage Equality One Day at a Time, One Month at a Time." Trainings are planned for CA, WA, MD, RI.

Working to End Discrimination in the Workplace

• Countdown 2010 Grassroots Campaign: generated Senate in-district meetings and letters calling for a fair and inclusive ENDA.
• Facebook application created as advocacy tool.
• Supported city and county non-discrimination ordinances in Bowling Green (OH), Howard County (MD), Missoula (MT), Norman (OK), and Omaha (NE).
• "Make it Right" campaign challenged Target and Best Buy donations to anti-gay conservative PAC.
• HRC's Corporate Equality Index expanded with 337 employers reaching 100 percent scores, the most ever. New criteria for 2011 will increase benefits for employees with same-sex partners and for transgender employees.
• Back to Work empowers transgender job seekers who are unemployed or underemployed by providing essential skill training to make the most of the job market.

Promoting Diversity in the Movement

• Ya Es Hora campaign: HRC is only LGBT national partner organization to join this national non-partisan citizenship and voter registration program. HRC mobilized more than 500 volunteers for 40 citizenship workshops in 20 communities, including Las Vegas and San Diego. As a result of this partnership, many Latino leaders and organizations pledged to support LGBT issues.
• Women & Leadership program: Works to encourage and train women to serve as visionary and courageous social change leaders.
• Gender Identity and Our Faith Communities education and advocacy workshops held in Richmond, VA, Southern New Jersey, and Stockton, CA.
• La Familia: a Spanish language guide for LGBT inclusion.
• Four new African American members joined HRC's Religion Council and spoke in response to the sex abuse scandal involving black mega church pastor Eddie Long.
• Summer Institute for religious and theological scholarship: A mentoring program for the next generation of LGBTQ leaders
• WNBA partnerships at pride events throughout 2010.

Confronting Bullying

• Led the campaign to oust bigoted Arkansas school board member Clint McCance.
• Created a "Fire Clint McCance" Facebook page that began growing at over 1,000 new "likes" per hour. The group reached about 65,000 followers when McCance resigned.
• Created an online action for citizens to write to the school board.
• HRC President Joe Solmonese wrote to the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights, the Arkansas Department of Education, members of the Midland School Board and to McCance himself.
• Partnered with Garden State Equality and spoke at Tyler Clementi Town Meetings in Rutgers & his hometown of Ridgefield, NJ.
• Joined Facebook's Network of Support to address bullying issues.
• Collected hundreds of postcards in support of passing the Student Non-Discrimination Act.
• Submitted recommendations to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius on nine ways the administration could better address harassment and bullying of LGBT students.
• Generation Equality Scholarships generated more than 400 applicants, with 90 percent joining the Action Center and receiving GenEQ News.
• Of the more than 125,000 participants in the 2010 National Coming Out Day Campaign Coming Out for Equality, 64 percent were 34 and under; 73 percent were female and two-thirds identified as straight allies. The campaign garnered 116,000 new HRC email subscribers.
• Attended White House Summit on Community Colleges.
• Welcoming Schools website re-launched with new tools to assess a school's climate, instructions for teachable moments, methods for building broad support, and an extensive list of adult and children's books.
• Hosted Welcoming Schools webinar.

Exposing Anti-Gay Organizations and Leaders

• HRC, in partnership with the Courage Campaign launched NOM Exposed – holding the so-called National Organization for Marriage accountable for the misinformation and hate spread in its effort to thwart equality.
• Challenged the involvement of the Ruth Institute, a branch of NOM, in California's U.S. Senate race.
• Several videos called out NOM's radical, anti-gay leaders and their fringe supporters.
• Developed a robust blog audience.
• Led the call for Mormon leader Boyd Packer to renounce his discriminatory, homophobic remarks.
• Lobbied for elected officials and government representatives to speak out against the bill in Uganda that would have made being gay a crime punishable by death in some cases.

Protecting Health and Increasing Safety

• The Healthcare Equality Index 2010 found that while the vast majority of U.S. healthcare facilities don't have fully inclusive policies, sweeping new changes will soon dramatically alter how LGBT people interact with the healthcare system. The index sets benchmarks and highlights best practices in healthcare facility policies. Notably, Kaiser Permanente became the first healthcare network to have a fully inclusive non-discrimination policy.
• The Family Project worked with the Joint Commission, which accredits most hospitals, to establish LGBT-specific accreditation standards to eliminate discriminatory policies in healthcare facilities.
• Worked with the White House and Department of Health and Human Services staff on a presidential memorandum that directs the secretary of HHS to protect the visitation and healthcare decision-making rights of LGBT people.
• Trained Justice Department employees on the topic of sexual orientation and gender identity to help the federal government implement the new hate crimes law.
• Helped lay the groundwork for repealing the HIV travel and immigration ban. HRC has been a lead lobbying organization for the statutory repeal and worked to ensure that Department of Health and Human Services' regulations were changed.
• Supported 24 local Transgender Day of Remembrance events across the country. This day memorializes those who were killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. HRC's participation and support spans nine years.

Electing Fair-Minded Leaders

• Endorsed 21 candidates for U.S. Senate, more than 200 candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives, 16 candidates for governor, and 14 candidates for the New York state Senate.
• Contributed more than $850,000 through HRC's federal PAC to pro-equality Congressional candidates and political committees. Engaged in online and member event fundraising efforts for pro-equality candidates.
• Contributed nearly $400,000 to support pro-equality state and local candidates.
• Deployed 39 staff to 17 states to work for pro-equality candidates and to mobilize HRC members.
• Sent more than 3.3 million election-related action alert e-mails to HRC members and supporters.
• Activated HRC steering committees to support pro-equality candidates through fundraising and volunteering opportunities.
• Recruited more than 4,500 volunteers to support pro-equality candidates.
• Made more than 85,000 phone calls to mobilize HRC members throughout the country.

Positioning HRC in the Media

• Placed ads in both mainstream and LGBT print publications across the country on issues such as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," bullying, exposing the National Organization for Marriage and more.
• Raised HRC's profile on TV news programs such as Hardball with Chris Matthews, CBSnews.com's "Washington Unplugged" and more.
• Spoke out for the repeal of DADT with an op-ed in Politico and an open letter to President Obama.
• Analyzed state- and federal-level LGBT news with timely, concise updates on the HRC Back Story blog.
• Secured the first-ever Univision feature on LGBT Latinos through our local Ya Es Hora partnership with the Latino community in Phoenix. The feature aired on KTVW-33, the highest-rated television station in Phoenix. The feature included an interview with an HRC Latino steering committee leader and his mother.
• Helped generate the support of businesses that publicly expressed support for the Hawaii civil unions bill.
• A New York Times article highlighted HRC's work with Google to expand its benefits to include compensation to offset the unfair taxation of domestic partner benefits. As a result, HRC has been receiving several calls per month from other firms interested in implementing the same benefit.
• Amplified the voices of HRC's Religion Council, including program director Harry Knox and DC Clergy United Chairs Rev. Drs. Dennis and Christine Wiley, who have been featured countless times in local press and more than 50 times in major news outlets

Advocating for All Families

• Called on Congress for the passage of the Domestic Partner Benefits and Obligations Act, which would provide the same family benefits to lesbian and gay federal civilian employees as are already provided to employees with different-sex spouses.
• Passed a milestone with the All Children—All Families initiative when the 50th agency, Casey Family Programs, signed the Pledge of Commitment to implement LGBT-inclusive policies and practices.
• Reached more than 500 child welfare professionals in more than 10 states across the country with the new All Children—All Families certified trainers program.
• Urged Congress to take action on the Uniting American Families Act, which would allow U.S. citizens and permanent residents to sponsor their same-sex partners for immigration purposes. Pressed the State Department on meeting obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, suggesting steps to increase compliance.
• Worked to defeat anti-adoption legislation in Arizona and Louisiana.
• Created a new online resource center for LGBT individuals and couples interested in adoption to mark National Adoption Month 2010. The site contained FAQ, information on events and links to detailed information on state-by-state adoption laws.

Leading through Innovation

• 2010 Coming Out application on Facebook attracted historic support, connecting visitors with helpful tools for coming out to friends and loved ones, while simultaneously demonstrating the strong support of straight allies around equality issues.
• Actively utilized social media networks as a major form of communication. Our Facebook fan page now has more than 650,000 fans and our Twitter base is growing with more than 20,000 followers.
• A three-day campaign generated participation from more than 1,000 people in support of World AIDS Day. HRC created a photo mosaic, allowing individuals to upload their own photos.
• Buying for Workplace Equality iPhone application now helps consumers make informed purchasing decisions on the go. The application now has more than 50,000 subscribers.
• Innovative Countdown 2010 website allows visitors to learn how their elected officials have voted on LGBT-inclusive legislation, and the messages members of Congress needed to hear about ENDA and DADT.
• Live virtual streaming of the film Living Adoption: Gay Parents Speak followed by a chat with experts, moderated by Family Project Director Ellen Kahn, as the culmination of National Adoption Day work.
• Congressional Scorecard website launched, rating members of Congress on LGBT equality votes in this and past Congressional sessions.
• ENDA and DADT Facebook applications allow users to show their support for this crucial federal legislation.

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