A Few Thoughts About The HRC

There was an editorial in Lavender Magazine in one of its recent issues about the national LGBT advocacy group the HRC, or the Human Rights Campaign. It is important to note that the writer doesn't want to negate or belittle the efforts of the HRC and its role in providing a visible face and voice for the LGBT community to Congress and the White House. At the same time as recognizing that is also recognizing that there are some limitations inherent in the current functions of the HRC that affect its efficacy in activism outside Washington.

Primary among its limitations is the fact that its headquarters is in Washington and most of its activities and energy is focused there. This is vitally important when dealing with policy on the national stage. It doesn't, however, meet the needs of elections and policy in other parts of the US. While some areas, such as the Twin Cities in Minnesota get attention from the HRC and while they do make an effort to bring awareness to our issues during election season, Minneapolis and St. Paul already have a visible gay community and wide recognition of our needs and our positions on legislation.

This is true for many large cities across the country. What is not effective in this course of action is addressing the often more critical issues in smaller cities and rural areas. Many of these areas of the country, which compose most of the geographical area of the country and sometimes represent the majority of a state's population, are conservative and very often vote Republican in elections. They are also areas that have little to know visible gay community or recognition and sympathy for policies effecting our communities, and can also be places with the least understanding of who we are and thus places where public officials use the most offensive rhetoric.

Take, for example, Zach Harrington of Norman, OK, one of the latest youths to take their life because of the bullying and culture of the environment in which they live. He was bullied and often feared for his safety. After attending a town council meeting in which the public officials openly used hateful rhetoric about LGBT people, Zach took his own life. Now, according to Wikipedia, Norman isn't even that small of a city, over 115,000 people. It is also the home of the University of Oklahoma, which has 30,000+ students. The fact that the city council of a community that size would allow openly homophobic rhetoric is worrisome. It is especially worrisome as it is home to such a large University, which would suggest a diverse student population if nothing else.

But what about the many communities smaller than Norman. What about the Oak Point, TX or Whitewater, WI? Even relatively larger cities like Bartlett, TN or Bismark, ND? While statistically the LGBT population, including the number of young people who are LGBT, may be higher in metropolitan areas than any single smaller city like Norman, Odessa or Bismark, The vast majority of settlements in the United States are in the population range of those smaller cities, or even smaller towns. Statistically, as that is about the only reliable indicator we can use to estimate, a town with a population of 437 would have a population falling within the LGBT orientation of about 6 to 10%, or roughly 26-43 people. A city of 115,000 would, with a guesstimate of 6%, have 6,900 people of the LGBT orientation, and in the case of a city like Norman probably significantly higher given the presence of a major university.

So, what does the HRC do for these areas? They encourage and promote the idea of grassroots efforts, of local activism, but do they have local HRC chapters that they fund and who concentrate their efforts on local issues? While they have chapters in cities across the country, and those chapters work to raise money through gala benefits and at Pride festivals, at least from my experience that is all they do in MN. The money they raise ends up mostly funneling back to Washington, with the local chapter being mostly if not totally comprised of volunteers. Even when they do take action on the state level, there is no recognition of issues affecting individual cities.

Perhaps they don't have the capacity to take such a broad role in American politics. That is understandable. But recognizing that should push them to use some of those funds raised across the country to organize training sessions for grassroots organizations or community leaders looking to form those organizations. They should fly people out to hold a rally once or twice a year or train activists in effective strategies to lobby politicians. They should be sending letters and testimonials to town councils and school boards to try and educate those groups in the problems that face LGBT youth and adults in smaller communities. They should help to fund ad campaigns that can reach youth struggling with their identity further into rural areas.

Even if they collect the information from local activists, i.e. their own state and local chapters, it would make such a difference on election day if they had some list or review of political candidates supportive of LGBT rights and who may have voting records proving their support or their denial of support to the gay community. Official chapters of HRC even have their own pages linked back to the groups national organization website that could be used to host information on these local elections and where local chapters can inform people of policies going on in their area.

Bottom line is that the HRC has the ability to help local activists organize and to train them in effective ways to make their voices heard both in the public and in lobbying politicians directly. By reaching out through their chapters across the country they can help change occur in areas where there are serious legal threats to the rights of LGBT people. As our rights are beginning to move forward on the national stage, I hope that we can begin to increase awareness and movement on the local level and thus have a greater effect on the evolution of our American culture.