Kelley Robinson (born 1985 or 1986[1]) is an American community organizer who is the current president of the Human Rights Campaign.[2][3] She was formerly the executive director of Planned Parenthood Action Fund.

Education

Robinson received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 2008.[4][5] During university, she double-majored in sociology and women's and gender studies. She left college for a while and worked as a mixed martial arts fighter and bartender.[6]

Career

Robinson started working as a political organizer for Barack Obama's presidential campaign in 2008.[6]

In 2009, she worked at Planned Parenthood of the Heartland as a regional organizer. From 2011 to 2015, she served as the associate director for youth engagement for Planned Parenthood Federation of America, until she was promoted to national organizing director in 2015. In 2019, she became the executive director of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund and vice president of organizing and advocacy. In this role, Robinson helped direct efforts to flip the U.S. Senate in the 2020 elections.[7][8] While at Planned Parenthood, the number of supporters increased from 6.5 million to 18 million.[6]

As the executive director of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, Robinson was interviewed about reproductive rights, the Hyde Amendment, and Supreme Court nominees by several media outlets such as the Associated Press, CNN, The Guardian, and The New York Times.[9][10][11][12]

Robinson became the president of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) in late 2022. She is the first queer Black woman to lead the organization.[2] Robinson has stated that she will focus on issues such as voting rights, reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ rights, living wages and health care; she will focus on the voices and concerns of impoverished people.[2][13] In one interview, Robinson stated that HRC was planning to work towards the passage of the Respect for Marriage Act.[14] In one of the first interviews that she gave as HRC president, to El Pais, Robinson addressed the rise of hate acts against LGBTQ communities.[15] In the month of December of the year 2022, Robinson testified before Congress on the rise of anti-LGBTQ+ extremism and violence.[16]

Personal life

Robinson married her wife, Becky George, in 2020; they have one child together.[1] Robinson is Catholic.[17]

References

  1. ^ a b Assunção, Muri (September 22, 2022). "Who is Kelley Robinson, incoming president of the Human Rights Campaign?". New York Daily News. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
  2. ^ a b c "Nation's largest LGBTQ group picks first Black woman as president". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2022-11-06.
  3. ^ "Human Rights Campaign, largest U.S. LGBTQ advocacy group, names new president". NBC News. 21 September 2022. Retrieved 2022-11-15.
  4. ^ "Kelley Robinson | HuffPost". www.huffpost.com. Retrieved 2022-11-15.
  5. ^ "Organizing as Advocates | ovsjg". ovsjg.dc.gov. Retrieved 2022-11-15.
  6. ^ a b c "Kelley Robinson, Black Queer Woman, Is New Human Rights Campaign Head". www.advocate.com. 2022-09-20. Retrieved 2022-11-03.
  7. ^ Hughes, Clyde (October 9, 2019). "Planned Parenthood launches $45M bid to defeat Trump, flip Senate". UPI.
  8. ^ Kelly, Caroline (2019-10-09). "Planned Parenthood's political arm to spend $45 million on electing candidates backing reproductive rights | CNN Politics". CNN. Retrieved 2022-11-23.
  9. ^ "Joe Biden stirs anger by backing 40-year-old 'discriminatory' abortion law". the Guardian. 2019-06-05. Retrieved 2022-11-23.
  10. ^ "Why Trump doesn't want to talk about abortion rights". AP NEWS. 2021-04-20. Retrieved 2022-11-23.
  11. ^ Kelly, Caroline (2020-10-09). "Amy Coney Barrett's potential role in abortion battle surfaces in debates | CNN Politics". CNN. Retrieved 2022-11-23.
  12. ^ Astor, Maggie (2020-08-18). "Abortion Fight Evolves, Overshadowed in 2020 but With Huge Stakes". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-11-23.
  13. ^ Haines, Errin (2022-09-20). "Kelley Robinson to be first Black, queer woman to lead Human Rights Campaign". The 19th. Retrieved 2022-11-15.
  14. ^ Stebbins, Laina G. (2022-11-04). "New Human Rights Campaign leader: 'We're not going back' on LGBTQ+ rights ⋆ Michigan Advance". Michigan Advance. Retrieved 2022-11-15.
  15. ^ Seisdedos, Iker (2022-11-28). "Kelley Robinson: "Han declarado una guerra cultural contra nuestros hijos"". El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-11-30.
  16. ^ HRC President Kelley Robinson Testifies on Rise of Anti-LGBTQ+ Extremism and Violence, retrieved 2023-01-25
  17. ^ Johns, Merryn (2023-03-06). "Kelley Robinson is on a mission to bring equal rights to all LGBTQ+ people". Queer Forty. Retrieved 2023-04-17.
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