After a nearly seven-month search, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) announced Alphonso David as its next president—marking the first time a person of color will lead the nation’s largest LGBT organization, The Washington Blade reported.
David—a 48-year-old gay Black man who has a background as a civil-rights lawyer, legal advisor and law professor—was named after the board of directors launched an extensive search to replace Chad Griffin, who announced in November he’d leave the organization. David is slated to start in August.
“I believe that together, we can harness the strength that’s inherent in our differences, to stand together in the face of fear and division,” David said in a statement. “And that’s exactly what the Human Rights Campaign was built for.”
According to HRC’s website, David most recently made history as the first openly gay counsel to the governor of New York and, before that, served as the first deputy secretary and counsel for civil rights in that state. In these roles, he played an integral role in securing marriage equality in New York in 2011, banning the practice of so-called “conversion therapy” on minors, establishing non-discrimination protections for transgender New Yorkers and more.
The Blade item is at http://www.washingtonblade.com/2019/06/25/human-rights-campaign-taps-alphonso-david-as-next-president/.