HRC’s new CEO Alfonso David (via HRC video)
Human Rights Campaign has named nationally-recognized civil rights attorney Alphonso David as its new CEO.
David, 48, served as head of New York state’s Office of Civil Rights, and as a staff attorney for Lambda Legal, and he has served in the governor’s cabinet. He helped achieve marriage equality in the state three years before the U.S. Supreme Court’s Obergefell marriage equality decision. Under his counsel, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed executive orders banning conversion therapy for minors and put in place protections for transgender New Yorkers by expanding Medicaid to cover transition-related care and making it easier to correct birth certificates.
David has also helped craft policies to combat HIV and fight housing discrimination, and he has worked for reproductive justice.
Born in the U.S., David was raised in Liberia. His family escaped that country when he was 14 after a coup overthrew and killed his uncle, who was serving as president. The family moved to Baltimore where he faced discrimination as an immigrant, as a black person and later as a gay man. He will be the first person of color to head HRC.
HRC released a video about David:
— David Taffet
