Critics have taken HRC to task for its working environment. In the fall of 2014, HRC commissioned outside consultants to conduct a series of focus groups and surveys with the organization's staff. In the report, which was obtained by
BuzzFeed News, staff of the organization described the working environment at HRC as "judgmental", "exclusionary", "sexist", and "homogenous". The report stated that "Leadership culture is experienced as homogenous — gay, white, male." Acknowledging the report, HRC president Chad Griffin said: "Like many organizations and companies throughout our country, HRC has embarked on a thoughtful and comprehensive diversity and inclusion effort with the goals of better representing the communities we serve." In August 2015,
Pride at Work, an LGBT affiliate of the
AFL–CIO, approved a resolution that calls on member organizations to stop funding HRC until the group addresses what Pride at Work sees as problems with HRC's Corporate Equality Index. HRC has been accused of overstating the number of its actual members in order to appear more influential in politics. Former HRC President Joe Solmonese responded, saying that "[m]embership is about more than contributions ... [i]t's about sending e-mails to elected officials, volunteering time or lobbying members of Congress" and more than half of its members made contributions during the previous two years. Earlier, HRC spokesperson Steven Fisher stated that its membership includes anyone who has donated at least $1.
Employment Non-Discrimination Act Some transgender people have criticized the HRC for its stance on the 2007 version of
ENDA, which at the time included sexual orientation as a protected category but not
gender identity and
expression. Once the legislation was submitted by Rep.
Barney Frank, HRC officially neither opposed nor supported it. This followed a speech by former HRC President Joe Solmonese at the transgender
Southern Comfort Conference the previous month, where he said that HRC "oppose[d] any legislation that is not absolutely inclusive". HRC later explained that it could not actively support a non-inclusive bill, but did not oppose it because the legislation would strategically advance long-term efforts to pass a trans-inclusive ENDA. However, in a letter to
U.S. Representatives, HRC did express support for the bill, stating that while HRC is "greatly disappointed that the current version of ENDA is not inclusive ... we appreciate the steadfast efforts of our ... allies ... even when they are forced ... to make progress that is measured by inches rather than yards."
2025 mass layoffs On the evening of February 3, 2025, HRC announced to staff that the organization would be laying off approximately 20% of all employees across all levels, departments, and programs. On February 10, 2025, affected staff were notified if they had been laid off. The final number of layoffs significantly exceeded the 20% figure provided to press, including complete cuts to HRC's programs focused on transgender people and youth, as well as the leader of the organization's internal
DEI team. In an interview, a staff member said, "To avoid layoffs, we explored a range of cost-saving measures, from attrition to aggressively pushing revenue and evaluating program expenses, but ultimately, both strategic and budget reasons" led us to this restructuring. Departing staff members were incentivized to sign a
non-disparagement agreement with an additional month's worth of severance pay, as well as an additional month of health coverage. The layoffs drew significant criticism from the LGBTQ+ community, with journalist James Factora noting the significance of the layoff's timing amidst the first 100 days of the
second Trump administration.
Organizational stance on Israel and Palestine HRC has been criticized for its failure to call for a
ceasefire in the
Gaza Strip, as well as allegations that senior leadership routinely silence internal criticism of HRC's position on the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It has been alleged that official statements from the organization downplay the impact of the occupation on Palestinians, and focus on the impact of the crisis on Americans. On June 6, 2024, journalist and
Them contributor Samantha Riedel published a lengthy report uplifting multiple accounts of the organization's dismissal and ostracization of anti-Zionist staff stretching back at least a decade. On February 3, 2024, a protest organized by
ACT UP New York took place outside Human Rights Campaign's 2024 Greater New York Dinner in
Manhattan. The protestors publicly denounced HRC's acceptance of donations from
Northrop Grumman, a weapons manufacturer that supplied weapons to the
Israeli military during the
Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip. The protestors additionally demanded HRC leadership to publicly call for an end to Israel's bombardment of Gaza. HRC events continue to be met by protests from members of the LGBTQ+ community demanding that the organization end its relationships with weapons manufacturers and stand in solidarity with Palestine.
Endorsements HRC has been criticized both for favoring the
Democratic Party and for endorsements of Republican candidates.
Andrew Sullivan, a gay political columnist and blogger, has called HRC "a patronage wing of the Democratic party." However, HRC has also received backlash and criticism for several nominations of Republican candidates when their Democratic opponents scored higher on HRC's own index.
Endorsements of Republicans HRC was criticized for its endorsement of New York Republican
Al D'Amato in his 1998 campaign for re-election to the U.S. Senate. HRC defended the endorsement because of D'Amato's support for the
Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) and the repeal of "
Don't Ask, Don't Tell". However, many liberal LGBT leaders objected to D'Amato's conservative stances, including his opposition to
affirmative action and
abortion, and thought that HRC should have taken those positions into account when deciding on the endorsement. On March 11, 2016, HRC voted to endorse Republican U.S. Senator
Mark Kirk over his Democratic Party challenger Representative
Tammy Duckworth in his re-election bid to the
United States Senate. Though Kirk later announced his support for same-sex marriage, the endorsement was met with widespread surprise and criticism in news media and social media as HRC had given Kirk a score of 78 percent out of 100 percent on LGBT issues, while it had awarded Duckworth a score of 100 percent. David Nir at
Daily Kos called the endorsement as "appalling as it is embarrassing" and "pathetic and stupid", while
Slate observed that Democratic control of the Senate was effectively necessary for passing the
Equality Act of 2015 and beneficial for many other LGBT equality issues, and thus it would be in line with the organization's stated goals for Duckworth to be elected rather than Kirk. Meanwhile,
The New Republic stated that, in light of a recent internal report revealing HRC's "serious diversity problem", "Choosing the white male candidate in this race over the Asian-American female candidate—someone who happens to have a better voting record anyway—is probably the worst way of convincing your detractors that you are taking a core problem seriously." HRC president Chad Griffin defended the endorsement in a column published by the
Independent Journal Review, describing the senator's work on behalf of LGBT equality issues, including co-sponsoring the Equality Act of 2015. Griffin stated: "The truth is we need more cross party cooperation on issues of equality, not less", adding "when members of Congress vote the right way and stand up for equality — regardless of party — we must stand with them. We simply cannot ask members of Congress to vote with us, and then turn around and try to kick them out of office." debate comment on Tammy Duckworth's heritage, HRC explicitly stated their endorsement of Kirk "remains unchanged" while asking him to "rescind" his comment.
Slate stated this proved HRC's "worst critics right" and that HRC "is simply irredeemable". revoked its endorsement of Kirk, and instead endorsed Duckworth for the U.S. Senate. This resulted in considerable controversy, causing thousands of users on HRC's Facebook page to post comments critical of the decision. Many cited HRC's own "congressional scorecard" (which records a 100% rating for her rival for the
Democratic nomination,
Bernie Sanders, while Clinton herself only scores 89%) as inconsistent with their endorsement. In the 2018 New York gubernatorial election, the Human Rights Campaign endorsed incumbent governor
Andrew Cuomo. However,
Cynthia Nixon, who is bisexual, announced that she was
running on March 25, 2018. Despite this, HRC still supported Cuomo. In response, HRC received criticism for not supporting an LGBTQ+ candidate, and supporting her opponent instead.
Jimmy Van Bramer, a gay New York City Council Member who endorsed Nixon, said, "The HRC endorsement hurts Cynthia Nixon's chances," and that "coming out against a viable progressive queer woman is the wrong thing to do." The HRC committed to spend $15 million on
Biden 2024 reelection efforts in May 2024. Robinson stated, "Any vote that is not for Joe Biden is a vote for
Donald Trump. Full stop and period" On September 6, 2021, David was fired as president of HRC. In February 2022, David filed a lawsuit against the Human Rights Campaign, alleging discrimination. He argued that the organization underpaid him and eventually fired him because of his race, while also saying the organization has a "deserved reputation for unequal treatment of its non-white employees." ==Awards==