The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and Human Rights Campaign Foundation (HRCF) have announced that Kelley Robinson (she/her) — a widely respected leader in the progressive movement — will become the organization’s ninth president and the first Black, Queer woman to lead the organization. Robinson comes to HRC after serving as the executive director of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund (PPAF), where she led the organization and its 18 million supporters in an effort to ensure all people have access to healthcare as a human right.
Robinson started her career as a community organizer for Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign in Missouri, and has spent more than 15 years on the frontlines of the progressive movement and the fight for equality. Developing and leading campaigns and programs that have secured major electoral and legislative wins federally and in states, Robinson has cultivated a reputation as a champion for inclusion, a fierce optimist, a battle-tested organizer and a changemaker. Her career has centered around the fight for bodily autonomy and racial and gender equity, with a focus on lifting up marginalized communities and building political power.
“I’ve seen Kelley fight for justice and equality — particularly for underrepresented and people on the margins — for years,” Bex Ahuja, managing director for the Rockwood Leadership Institute said. “She is a leader with deep optimism and strength who sees and believes we can win through dark moments and never gets deterred… Kelley believes in the power of grassroots organizing and has an inspiring ability to lead and galvanize people internally and externally to keep moving forward.”
In tandem with her activist efforts, Robinson has also been working at the helm of the PPAF. During her time, Robinson led the largest electoral programs in the organization’s history, helping to quadruple the annual budget and expanded membership and engagement, increasing the number of supporters from 6.5 million in 2012 to over 18 million today. She held the position of associate director of Youth Engagement and National Organizing Director, where she successfully tripled Planned Parenthood’s campus presence, growing the youth and campus program to represent over 350 affiliated campus groups and 1.5 million activists nationwide, reflecting the diversity of the communities served.
In 2019, Robinson became the executive director of PPAF in 2019. Her collective work — which emphasized supporting young people of color and LGBTQ+ youth — earned her recognition as a “Shero of the LGBTQ+ community” in Washington, D.C.
“I’m honored and ready to lead HRC — and our more than three million member-advocates — as we continue working to achieve equality and liberation for all lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people,” Robinson said upon accepting the position as president. “This is a pivotal moment in our movement for equality for LGBTQ+ people. We, particularly our trans and BIPOC communities, are quite literally in the fight for our lives and facing unprecedented threats that seek to destroy us… We are facing a generational opportunity to rise to these challenges and create real, sustainable change. I believe that by working together, this change is possible right now. The next chapter of the Human Rights Campaign is about getting to freedom and liberation without any exceptions — and today, I am making a promise and commitment to carry this work forward.”
Source: Human Rights Campaign
