A gay Comcast executive who’s the telecommunications company’s LGBTQ liaison filed a 45-page federal lawsuit filed last week, claiming that he has “been subjected to discriminatory conduct” because he doesn’t conform to “traditional sex and/or gender based stereotypes.”
Klayton Fennell is Comcast Corp.’s senior vice president of government affairs and the company’s highest-ranking openly gay employees. Fennell also serves as the company’s key contact with LGBT advocacy organizations.
In the lawsuit Fennell atets that he was denied promotions by his bosses who told him “on more than one occasion, in essence, that his sexual orientation and manner was the reason he was not promoted.” Also that on more than one occasion he had been called a “faggot” and “high-pitched,” and sent to an “executive coach” when he was told he was “too gay and too flamboyant” for the company’s “conservative” culture.
Fennell complained about the discriminatory conduct, but Comcast failed to investigate the allegations and the company “allowed the hostile environment to persist.” He then filed a complaint of discrimination with the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations, which resulted in further retaliation against him, he says.
Since he started working for Comcast in 2001, the company wanted to present him as “an example of their non-discriminatory or ‘inclusive’ environment in an effort to bolster their public image and further their business as a media company,” Fennell alleges in the suit. But senior executives have consistently subjected him to discriminatory treatment because of his sexuality, he claims.
Comcast denies the discrimination claims.
Fennel is seeking unspecified damages, including back-pay, front-pay, compensatory damages and lawyer fees, according to the suit.
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?
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.
Well they did it. And of course they did it without asking any of us.
The Human Rights Campaign, the LGBT communities failure of a civil rights advocacy agency has installed a rainbow flag window cling at their new DC headquarters of the iconic rainbow flag created by Gilbert Baker by request of Harvey Milk to include a brown and black stripe to be more inclusive of people of color.
The updated flag first introduced in Philadelphia during Pride 2017 to help smooth the city’s ongoing racial problems and generated a major backlash. With many saying that the original rainbow flag was made to be inclusive for everyone and members of the QPOC community claiming that those opposed to the black and brown stripes were “racist”.
There is no evidence that anyone wanted this racialized flag and the one poll on it, from Whitman Insight Strategies, showed that the majority of LGB and T people were not in favor of the change.
The colors never represented any one group before. It only represented diversity. It was a list of all the groups that count in diversity. So, now HRC who refuses to be accountable to no one least of all the community they represent by forging ahead with this change. Now with the addition of race to “our Rainbow” it totally changes the focus of what OUR flag represents.
With all of the attacks on LGBT people in this nation right now, the last thing we need is something to cause division among us.
HRC would not respond to requests from Back2Stonewall.com for a statement.
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) campaign has refuse to stand behind and support African-American workers in Mississippi trying to organize at a Nissan plant.
Seventeen members of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights were asked to sign on to a letter to Nissan North America citing the National Labor Relations Board’s finding that Nissan has “threatened its employees with termination because of their union activities”
Only the Human Rights Campaign and the National Urban League declined to sign on to the letter that was signed by the NAACP, the National Organization for Women, Unidos USA, the National Council of Churches, and Asian Americans Advancing Justice, among others.
Randi Weingarten, the out lesbian leader of the American Federation of Teachers, said, “It’s deeply disappointing that HRC would not stand for the workers’ rights and affirm that human rights and civil rights are synonymous with workers’ rights, particularly at a time when there is an assault on those we represent. We need to stand to together on behalf of all of us. Unions like my own and so many other labor unions have been soldiers in the fights for LGBTQ priorities for decades. And when it comes to LGBTQ issues, we don’t shy away from championing them regardless of what other feathers it might ruffle. I weighed in strongly with Mary Beth Maxwell of HRC [who served in the Obama administration as the principal deputy assistant secretary for policy at the Department of Labor]… who refused to acknowledge the seriousness of this situation.”
Jerame Davis, of Pride at Work at the AFL-CIO, said, “We’ve been documenting HRC’s less than friendly labor policies for a while. HRC gets most of their money from corporations, and they don’t want to bite the hand that feeds them. This wasn’t a big ask. This was almost pro forma — to voluntarily recognize the union after a vote and not to fight it.”
Davis emphasized, “You can still be fired in 28 states for being LGBT. Union-busting is an LGBT issues because the union contract [with a clause banning anti-LGBTQ discrimination] is the only thing that can protect LGBT workers” in many places.
Could it be? Is the Human Rights Campaign actually doing something?
Perhaps. But the real question is can they pull it off?
Personally I’m sure this will be as efficient and effective use of funds as the HRC has a reputation for.
The nation’s largest LGBT organization is setting aside $26 million to fund opposition to President Donald Trump’s agenda, the largest grassroots investment in the group’s 37-year history.
The Human Rights Campaign’s move, which leaders are set to announce Tuesday, signals the group will ramp up spending on grassroots activism even after going all-in with Hillary Clinton in 2016 and coming up short.
Instead of retreating, it plans to boost its spending to help pro-LGBT candidates win at all levels of government and assist rank-and-file activists as they take action to block Trump’s plans. – Time Magazine
According to the HRC they plan to send staff and cash to Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin—each a state with a top-tier Senate race.
Look forward to receiving an invitation to make a donation to their next fund raising event soon.
The Human Rights Campaign. Changing the world one black-tie gala at a time.
Well its that time of year again and the Human Rights Campaign has released their yearly 990’s and once again Chad Hunter (Rosa Parks) Griffin the man who tried to steal the credit for same-sex marriage obsene salary has been bumped up once again and now stands at $438.000 dollars a year.
Breakdown (Minus weekends and 10 paid holidays a year)
$1745.00 a day.
$218.00 an hour
$3.63 a minute
While the LGBT community has homeless kids sleeping in the streets, members of the community unable to afford food or the basic necessities, and gay men who cannot afford their AIDS medication Griffin’s salary is not only obscene but a slap in the face to all of us.
Read and get disgusted at HRC’s entire new IRS 990 filing here.
Many thanks to longtime LGBT activist Micheal Petrelis .
Last week the Human Rights Campaign endorsed Republican Senator Mark Kirk for re-election touting that Kirk was the first Republican Senator to co-sponsor the Equality Act, co-sponsored a bill to help schools combat anti-LGBT bullying and supporting marriage equality,
The problem is that Kirk’s Democratic challenger Tammy Duckworth is not only more progressive on issues like Americans earning a living wage, abortion and gun control. But Duckworth also has a 100 percent rating by HRC while Mark Kirk only has a 75% HRC rating and his re-election would help the GOP to continue to control the Senate.
Duckworth has taken several actions to push for equality for the LGBT community including:
· Joining 166 members of the House and 44 Senators to write an amicus brief to the Supreme Court arguing that Americans deserve the freedom to marry.
· Cosponsoring the Respect to Marriage Act, which would repeal the Defense for Marriage Act (DOMA), restore the rights of same-sex couples and allow them to receive all the benefits of marriage under federal law.
· Cosponsoring the Restore Honor to Service Members Act, which ensures members of the armed forces who served honorably, but were discharged and given a punitive discharge classification solely because of their sexual orientation have their records corrected to reflect their honorable service.
· Cosponsoring the Student Non-Discrimination Act, which would prohibit public schools from discriminating against any student on the basis of actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.
But STILL Chad Griffin and the Human Rights Campaign endorses he Republican opponent who has a lesser rating.
Just one more example of “HRC doesn’t stand for me”.
Back2Stonewall proudly endorses Illinois’ 8th District Democrat Tammy Duckworth for United States Senate
The Human Rights Campaign, (HRC) the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, today announced its endorsement of Hillary Clinton for President. HRC’s Board of Directors, comprised of 32 community leaders from across the nation, unanimously voted to endorse Secretary Clinton — an endorsement she will accept next Sunday, January 24 at an event in Des Moines, Iowa with HRC President Chad Griffin and the organization’s members and supporters.
Today’s endorsement comes at a time when the stakes could not be higher for the LGBT community. Over the last seven years under President Obama’s leadership, the nation has made substantial progress on LGBT equality — from the end of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” to his Executive Order protecting LGBT employees of federal contractors from discrimination, to his historic support for nationwide marriage equality, to signing landmark hate crimes legislation, speaking out against so-called “conversion therapy,” and working to protect LGBT students. Despite the fact that a majority of Republican and Independent voters today support federal protections for LGBT Americans, the leading Republican candidates for president have threatened to halt progress as well as revoke, repeal, and overturn the gains made during President Obama’s two terms.
HRC President Chad Griffin said, “All the progress we have made as a nation on LGBT equality — and all the progress we have yet to make — is at stake in November. In most states, LGBT people are still at risk of being fired, evicted or denied services simply because of who they are. Today, 63 percent of LGBT Americans report having experienced such discrimination, and we are seeing other troubling trends, from the onslaught of state and local anti-LGBT measures to the national scourge of anti-transgender violence to backsliding on HIV/AIDS prevention and youth homelessness. Against this backdrop, we’ve heard the leading Republican presidential candidates repeatedly threaten to block our progress, and to revoke, repeal, and overturn the gains we’ve made during President Obama’s two terms.
“While they fight to take us backwards, Hillary Clinton is fighting to advance LGBT equality across our nation and throughout the world. We are proud to endorse Hillary Clinton for president, and believe that she is the champion we can count on in November — and every day she occupies the Oval Office.”
This news does not come as a shock to anyone within the LGBT Beltway. HRC honored Hillary’s husband former President Bill Clinton in 2014 despite the fact that he signed BOTH DOMA and Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, into law. And Hillary is the only candidate that HRC has invited to speak at its offices this past year.
Honestly it makes sense the Human Rights Campaign would endorse Clinton. They both love corporate America and they don’t have to change the monogram on their luggage.
——————————————————
*NOTE: Hillary Clinton has responded to HRC’s endorsement:
“I’m honored to receive the endorsement of the Human Rights Campaign—the nation’s largest organization working to achieve full equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans. Thanks to the Human Rights Campaign and millions of advocates across the country, we’ve made tremendous progress. But our work is far from over. Too many LGBT Americans still face discrimination—in employment, in housing, in education, in health care—because of who they are or who they love. And the stakes in this election couldn’t be higher. The Republican candidates for president have not only hurled hateful, insulting rhetoric about the LGBT community—they’ve made it clear that if elected, they will roll back the rights that so many have fought for.
“As President, I will continue to fight alongside the LGBT community to pass the Equality Act. I’ll support efforts to allow transgender personnel to serve openly, and I’ll end the dangerous practice of ‘conversion therapy’ on minors. I’ll expand access to HIV prevention and treatment, and confront the epidemic of violence facing the transgender community, especially transgender women of color. And I’ll continue the efforts I led as Secretary of State to advance the human rights of LGBT people around the world. I’m proud to stand with the Human Rights Campaign in this fight. Together, we can and will make our country—and our world—more just, fair, and equal for generations to come.”
Well Chad (Rosa Parks) Hunter Griffin needs to keep those coffers overflowing and sucking up all the money in the LGBT community to cover his $425.000.00 dollar a year salary for being MIA somehow and taking credit for things he didn’t do somehow.
From: Dane Grams <hrc@hrc.org>XXXXXX Date: Mon, Dec 28, 2015 at 8:15 AM Subject: Your membership invoice XXXX To: XXXXXXXX@gmail.com
Deadline’s approaching — please help. We are counting on you to reach our year-end membership goal. Join the Human Rights Campaign today.
XXXXXXXXX Donate to HRC Before 2015 Ends
2015 Gifts to the Human Rights Campaign: 0
Membership Status: Pending
Suggested Membership Level: $25
Deadline: December 31
2015 Year-End Challenge Ends In: Just 4 days
XXXX, Donate Now
XXXX, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in our country still lack basic rights. We’re counting on YOU to change this. Make a gift today to stand up for the…
LGBT Americans in 31 states who lack explicit protections against discrimination in housing, employment and public places.
LGBT teens who continue to face harassment at school.
Same-sex couples who are being denied the ability to adopt children together in their home states.
Transgender Americans who face higher rates of discrimination and violence in their communities simply because of who they are.
Help us reach our goal by 12/31. Step up as a member today.
Thanks,
Dane Grams Director of Membership Human Rights Campaign
