Tag Archives: Chad Griffin

GAY HISTORY- September 20, 1996: The Day Bill Clinton Sold Out The Gay Community And Signed DOMA Into Law

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September 20, 1996:

On this day in 1996, then President Bill Clinton announced his signing of the Defense of Marriage Act, which outlawed federal recognition of same-sex marriage, and which allowed the Federal Government to ignore the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the U.S Constitution and refuse to recognized valid marriages from other states. Clinton said that he signed DOMA to head off a federal constitutional amendment, but LGBT advocates and many in the political pundits agree  that the act was less than a defense against a federal constitutional amendment and more a defense of his 1996 re-election campaign. Those suspicions were confirmed when the Clinton released a campaign ad in 15 Christian radio stations  in conservative states boasting that he had signed the Defense of Marriage Act. After being found out and because of the response to loud protests from LGBT advocates, the Clinton campaign pulled that ad two days later.

In March of 2013 , Bill Clinton finally disavowed the Defense of Marriage Act entirely, urging that the law be overturned by the Supreme Court.

According to Hillary Clinton in 2915:

“On Defense of Marriage [Act], I think what my husband believed — and there was certainly evidence to support it — is that there was enough political momentum to amend the Constitution of the United States of America, and that there had to be some way to stop that. And there wasn’t any rational argument — because I was in on some of those discussions, on both ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ and on DOMA, where both the president, his advisers and occasionally I would — you know, chime in and talk about, ‘You can’t be serious. You can’t be serious.’ But they were. And so, in a lot of ways, DOMA was a line that was drawn that was to prevent going further. It was a defensive action.”

A review of congressional record and news coverage from 1996 found little public evidence that Democratic lawmakers decided to vote for DOMA because of a threat of a constitutional amendment.

Elizabeth Birch, former head of the Human Rights Campaign who fought against DOMA, said the actual threat of a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage came after President George W. Bush took office and vowed to reserve marriage for heterosexual unions. There was not, at the time, a kind of concentrated threat of a constitutional amendment. That came four years later.”

Birch and many others have always said that President Clinton’s support for DOMA was a defensive move in that he wanted to “take it out of play for the 1996 election”

In fact Bill Clinton campaigned using DOMA as a re-election tool and ran a controversial radio ad that touted his signing of the Defense of Marriage Act which aired on Christian radio stations in several states

Fast forward to present day.

“President Clinton has evolved on this issue just like every American has evolved,” said Human Rights Campaign, President Chad Griffin. 

Which bears the comment that if he was really against it at the time why would he have to “evolve”.

A little trivia for those who don’t know. Chad Griffin worked as White House Press Office manager  for Mr. Clinton’s White House administration during the time that Clinton  signed of DOMA. 

It took the gay community almost 20 years and countless millions of dollars to undo the harm that Bill Clinton did by signing DOMA into law.

Clinton has never formally apologized for signing the Defense of Marriage Act into law.

FINALLY! - Human Rights Campaign President Chad "Rosa Parks" Griffin Steps Down

FINALLY! – Human Rights Campaign President Chad “Rosa Parks” Griffin Steps Down

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Via the AP (Take the article with a huge grain of salt)

Chad Griffin, the influential gay rights activist who helped turn the Human Rights Campaign into a powerful political force, announced Thursday that he is stepping down as the organization’s president.

Griffin informed staff at HRC of his decision to step down Thursday. Griffin hasn’t said what he plans to do next. He is expected to stay at HRC until the organization names a new president; that process could take several months.

A prolific fundraiser with deep political ties, Griffin probably will become one of the most sought after advisers for Democrats preparing to undertake White House campaigns.

Said Grifter Griffin in a released statement:

I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to be a part of this incredible organization at such an important moment in the history of our movement — and our nation. The true strength of the Human Rights Campaign is in its fearless army of staff and volunteers, who are committed to ensuring full equality reaches every LGBTQ person across America, and around the world. For decades, this organization has shown the world that love conquers hate. But this year, in this election, with the future of our democracy on the ballot and the equality of future generations on the line, we proved that votes conquer hate, too. Every single person across this country deserves an equal opportunity to succeed in life, without having to overcome roadblocks put in place by politicians advancing a discriminatory agenda. Even as I step down from my role in this remarkable organization, I remain committed to HRC’s mission and will continue to fight for the rights and dignity of LGBTQ people — and all Americans — as I embark on this next chapter. So now is the time to fight harder and dig deeper. Because there are still more trails to be blazed. There is still more history to be made and more battles.”

Back2Stonewall.com has never been a big fan of the HRC or of Chad “Rosa Parks” Griffin both of whom have taken the credit for work that many grassroots activists have done while sucking up all the money in the LGBT community by throwing garish galas and sending out weekly money begs only to spend more on salaries than actually lobbying for LGBT rights.  Griffin a very good friend of Bill and Hillary Clinton (Griffin worked for Bill as an Aide during his White House years) has been one on the highest overpaid ($500k + benefits a year) LGBT rights org presidents and one of the most ineffectual leaders the organization has ever had. 

We will assume there’ll be a farewell cocktail party forthwith?

Oh and Chad…….

 

HRC's 2017 990 Tax Forms Show Pres. Chad Griffin Now Makes $500.000.00 A Year

DISGUSTING! – HRC’s 2017 990 Tax Forms Show Pres. Chad Griffin Now Makes Over $500.000.00 A Year

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Via San Francisco Gay Activist Michael Petrelis:

The Human Rights Campaign usually publishes its latest IRS 990 filing shortly after filing it with the Treasury Department in mid August, except for this year. It took a week of calling and emailing them to share the filing and today they acceded to my request.

Here’s what’s of keen interest to me from the 2017 filing. HRC had $49.3 million in gross receipts, executive director and LGBTQ Golden Boy Chad Griffin broke the half million salary ceiling and was compensated $502,000 for his services. 15 other executives were paid over $200,000 with two receiving over $300,000, and the organization used the services of eight fundraising firms. 

Have a look at the full 2017 IRS 990 report from HRC and tell me what catches your eye:
https://assets2.hrc.org/…/assets/resources/HRC-990-FY18.pdf….

Follow the money!

Disgusting!

And you thought the Republican’s were the only overpaid grifters.

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HRC Launches Campaign "Exposing" Mike Pence’s Anti-LGBT Record Because They Have To Show They Are Doing SOMETHING

HRC Launches Campaign “Exposing” Mike Pence’s Anti-LGBT Record Because They Have To Show They Are Doing SOMETHING

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The Human Rights Campaign, that gala throwing, money sucking LGBT “advocacy” group that has done jack-shit over the past few year to advance the civil rights of LGBT people. Today launched ‘The Real Mike Pence’, a  multi-pronged campaign exposing the vice president’s anti-LGBT history and views that we all are already aware of to prove they are actually doing something and still relevant so they can beg for more money.

The “campaign” highlights Pemce’s support of  “gay conversion therapy” (We all know that already); his  pursuit of a ‘religious freedom’ license to discriminate against LGBT people (We all know that already); and his attempts to block hate crime legislation and funding for HIV and AIDS prevention. (And yes. We all know that already.)

Said HRC President Chad Griffin: “Mike Pence has made a career out of attacking the rights and equal dignity of LGBT people, women and other marginalized communities. Now as vice president, he poses one of the greatest threats to equality in the history of our movement.” 

In reality there are many who think that the grossly overpaid Griffin ($450.000.,00 a year + benefits) and the HRC which has won not attempted to or won any real battle for the pursuit of LGBT civil rights in over the past decade is also one of the greatest threats to equality in the history of our movement because the do nothing while making believe that they do.

Watch their video. Because this is how they justify the millions of dollars of your donation money a year while doing nothing of any worth to the LGBT movement.

Please consider donating to Lambda Legal or grassroots LGBT organizations. The ones who do the REAL work of fighting for our rights. 

 

 

Hillary Clinton Tells Rachel Maddow That DOMA and DADT Were Used As ‘Defensive Actions’ by Bill – Video

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Clinton on Maddow

 

Last night Rachel Maddow sat down with Hillary Clinton and during her interview asked Hillary about both the Defense of Marriage Act and Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell two anti-gay bills that her husband then President Bill Clinton signed into law despite running on a “pro-LGBT platform his first term. two issues which have taken over “a decade of progressive activism to unwind.” And have harmed  hundreds of thousands of gay and lesbian lives.

Asks Maddow in the clip below:

“Whether it was ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ or the Defense of Marriage Act or the – you know, tough on crime (ph) mandatory sentences.  Former President Clinton is progressive on all those issues now… but the policies that he signed – for politically practical reasons – in the ’90s have taken – you know, the political miracle of Barack Obama’s election and a decade of progressive activism to unwind those things to get back to zero. …And so I know that you and President Clinton are different people, and I know that you’re not responsible for what he did as president.  But is your approach to civil rights issues the same as his, or is it different? “

Clintons reply?

“Well, I want to say a word about the issues you mentioned, because my take on it is slightly different. On Defense of Marriage, I think what my husband believed – and there was certainly evidence to support it – is that there was enough political momentum to amend the Constitution of the United States of America, and that there had to be some way to stop that. And there wasn’t any rational argument – because I was in on some of those discussions, on both ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ and on DOMA, where both the president, his advisers and occasionally I would – you know, chime in and talk about, ‘you can’t be serious. You can’t be serious.’ But they were.  And so, in a lot of ways, DOMA was a line that was drawn that was to prevent going further.

“It was a defensive action. The culture rapidly changed so that now what was totally anathema to political forces – they have ceded. They no longer are fighting, except on a local level and a rear-guard action. And with the U.S. Supreme Court decision, it’s settled. ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ is something that – you know, Bill promised during the ‘92 campaign to let gays serve openly in the military.  And it’s what he intended to do.”

I call total Bill-shit. The only “defensive move” was that to get Bill re-elected for a second term which he then blew. Or at least Monica did.

This excuse has been 10 years in the making with the help of former Clinton staffer and current Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin.

I wish Rachel would have asked her about Bill using his signing of both the anti-gay laws in his re-election campaign.  And all the lives both DADT and DOMA  harmed and the millions upon millions of tears, dollars and man-hours spent trying to undo them..

I will admit it.  just don’t 100% trust Hillary Clinton.  But unfortunately I am probably going to have to vote for her using the “lesser of two evils” voting strategy.

I tell you know though.  If Hillary Clinton comes back and bites us in the ass if elected.  You will see an “I told you so”  of biblical proportions.

 

Hillary Rodham Clinton Calls Out Ben Carson and Ted Cruz At HRC Staffer Speech – Video

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HRC meets HRCHillary Rodham Clinton who cancelled last nights Human Rights Campaign Gay-la appearance to appear on Saturday Night Live yesterday morning addressed HRC staff, unpaid interns and volunteers. Clinton urged the assembled activists to resist the temptation to relax after the Obergefell ruling, noting that there are people “literally standing in the courthouse door” in an attempt to thwart LGBT civil rights.  

ABC News:

“Ben Carson says that marriage equality is what caused the fall of the Roman empire,” the Democratic presidential candidate said to laughter during a breakfast at the LGBT rights organization’s annual gathering in Washington, D.C. Clinton then mentioned Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, which drew hisses and boos from the crowd gathered inside the grand ballroom of the Mayflower Hotel, and went on to challenge him to join her at a gay pride parade. “Ted Cruz slammed a political opponent for marching in a pride parade. He clearly has no idea what he’s missing. Pride parades are so much fun. I was marching in them back when I was first lady. You should join sometime Senator, come on,” she said. Both Carson and Cruz have said they believe marriage is between a man and a woman. ABC News has reached out to their campaigns for comment to Clinton’s remarks. “Hillary would have everyone believe she’s been in favor of marriage equality since the fall of the Roman Empire,” Carson campaign spokesman Doug Watts said. “When she’s not lying, she’s spinning!”

Clinton also highlighted her support for the Equality Act, the legislation introduced this spring to ban LGBT discrimination in a variety of areas, including employment, housing, credit, and education. She added that she hoped that some of the people in the room on Saturday morning would be with her when, she said, “I sign it into law.”

In an interesting note.  When HRC President Chad Hunter Griffin introduced Ms. Clinton to the crowd, Clinton said to Hunter. “You know I’ll always be your first HRC”.  What Clinton was referencing is that Griffin worked for Bill Clinton during his time in the White House.  The same time that DADT and DOMA was signed into law.

*At this time Back2Stonewall.com does not endorse any specific candidate in the 2016 Presidential election.

 

 

BREAKING: Fred Sainz OUT As Senior VP of Communications At HRC, Obama Aide IN.

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Fred Sainz

Micheal Petrelis of the longtime LGBT activist blog  The Petrelis Files is reporting that Fred Sainz, Vice President of Communications at the Human Rights Campaign is finally cashing in chips and leaving the organization and that FLOTUS aide Olivia Alair Dalton will be soon replacing him.

Via The Petrelis Files:

I received this auto-reply from Fred Sainz, one of the five top executives under Chad Griffin, who was in charge of communication, is on his way out:

“Thank you for your email. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be transitioning out from the Human Rights Campaign. I will no longer be actively checking this account. It’s been my great honor to work for this organization that I admire deeply.”

Sainz is gone and here’s who has replaced him, according to a July 14 release:

“Olivia Alair Dalton, who was senior VP for SKDKnickerbocker and spokesperson for First Lady Michelle Obama, has joined the Human Rights Campaign as senior VP-communications & marketing. […] At SKDKnick, she worked with HRC to help manage a communications “war room” in support of the Respect for Marriage Coalition. […] The new HRC staffer also served as spokesperson for former Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Vice President Joe Biden.”

From Dalton’s perch as an aide to FLOTUS and the Veep, not to mention collecting a paycheck from the powerhouse lobbying and PR firm where Hilary Rosen, former HRC board of directors president, is a longtime managing director of political affairs, we’re witnessing Democrats rearranging the pieces on their political chessboard.

Mighty small 1% of the LGBT elites from HRC to SKDKnickerbocker on over to the DNC still running the show for themselves, and ordinary LGBT folks are barely on the radar. These moneyed queers are looking out for themselves first and foremost.

Petrelis also goes on to mention that there have been rumors that Chad “Rosa Parks” Griffin might also be looking for greener pastures. (But at over $400k a year, one has to think how much greener this welp can actually get on talent and not bullshit.)

As to another rumor circulating — that, with marriage done, Griffin is readying to leave the organization — he laughed. ‘I did not come here to this organization for marriage,” Griffin said. “I have my dream job. I have never had a job that I’ve loved and enjoyed more than this one.'”

Remaining or leaving, expect Griffin to put all of his skills toward (re)electing Clinton to the White House where he worked during Billary’s first Oval Office stint and where he probably wants to find himself again employed.

Sainz leaving is definately a start.  After all this is the man who said that he thought the whole “Duck Dynasty” debacle was a GOOD thing.  But even if Griffin does let the door hit is flat ass on his way out after Sainz,  HRC will not be cured until there is a full overhaul of its board of directors and it gets itself off it’s high horse and becomes a more “inclusive” organization which cares more about the members of the community and less about “galas” and “starfucking”.

 

 

HRC’s Chad “Rosa Park” Griffin To Ass Kiss Pro-Gay Republican Donors Today At Dr. Evil’s Super Secret Hideout

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Gay Inc

 

Chad “Rosa Parks” Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is due to speak at at confidential and off-the-record American Unity Conference of high-dollar Republican  pro-gay (and anti-everything else human)) donors today in Washington, D.C.

The American Unity Fund and the American Unity PAC, are related groups that seek to elect pro-LGBT Republican candidates  (Isn’t that what the Victory Fund does now? )  and both organizations are funded by philanthropist and billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Singer who “virtually invented vulture funds”: a form of speculation that’s one of the worst contributors to Third World poverty, is also in bed with the Koch brothers, is anti-union, anti-immigration, and also anti-woman’s choice.   Singer – whose son Andrew is gay – is also scheduled to deliver remarks this morning to kick off the event.

Also appearing will be Ken “My political career is over and I am out now”  Mehlman former Chairman of the Republican National Committee who from 2005 to 2007  supported and fought for the anti-gay social positions of the Republican Party, including opposition to same-sex marriage and helped craft numerous anti-gay statewide campaigns and set the groundwork that has destroyed MILLIONS of lives and greatly hurt our fight for equality while being in the closet and doing his job with no regret.

Remember kids there is no “I”  for INTEGRITY in HRC!

Queer Nation’s Ken Kidd Reacts To Chad Griffin’s Obscene $507k A Year Salary: “What A Money Suck HRC Is”

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Ken Kid Queer Nation
Yesterday with the help of Todd Swindell and longtime gay activist and San Francisco District 8 Supervisor Candidate Michael Petrelis of The Petrelis Files;  Back2Stonewall.com was able to post the 2013 net earnings of Human Rights Campaign President and born a poor gay rural boy in Arkansas (until he was 19 and moved to Washington, D.C. to become a the youngest member of a Bill Clinton’s presidential staff working as White House Press Office Manager.) Chad “Rosa Parks” Griffin

After hearing the news Ken Kidd of the ever fantastic LGBT activist group Queer Nation shared out post and after dealing with someone who was attempting to softpeddle Griffin’s obscene $507,000.00 paycheck and the fact that after receiving donations of over 50 Million Dollars in 2013, that HRC spent a measley $650,000.00 of it on lobbying.

Kidd summed up nicely what many in the LGBT community are feeling after hearing the news of Griffin’s obscene paycheck.

“You can’t unring the bell and your comments above may now have clouded the issue for folks who are interested in this topic and learning what a money-suck HRC is to now be confused when there’s really no reason to be.  Moreover, this is not a ‘cry’ of scandal, and it is absolutely a fair statement. HRC’s sole mission is lobbying, yet they raise money on the backs of every other organization’s work. over causes to which they have contributed absolutely no effort whatever. And Chad’s over ONE HALF MILLION DOLLAR salary last year (which represents a $150,000.00 dollar raise for him over the year before– when his individual donors demanded that he cut his pay by nearly 20 grand from the year before that) is way out of line.

One need look at only two things:

(1) The salaries paid to other LGBT EDs, like Lorrie Jean of the LA LGBT Center, who is constantly having verbal skirmishes with Chad over which of their organizations is larger (and always wins on which one provides more actual service), and (2) the fact that HRC repeatedly refused to make public its most recent 990s and only did so under threat of legal action, then finally releasing the information at 6:30 PM on the Friday night of Labor Day weekend.

I really, truly have a problem with people trying to defend this top-heavy organization whose sole purpose at this point is fundraising to keep itself in business. Especially when they agree that HRC isn’t the best org to contribute to and are forthcoming about not being privy to the particulars of the situation. HRC is an ineffectual organization, top heavy in its admin, that banks on people feeling good becoming a part of ‘the movement’ by contributing to the ‘name brand’ LGBT organization (“BE ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF HISTORY”, they beg, at every turn), only to have their 25 or a hundred buck annual donation go to pay for Chad’s beach house or 5 star travel doing development cultivation. I resent the hell out of them for all of that.”

And so do we all Ken.  Maybe its time we do something about it.