NEW YORK, Feb. 3, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Alphonso David, who served as Human Rights Campaign's first Black President from 2019 to 2021, has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) for racial discrimination. As the lawsuit alleges, after twenty years of advancing justice and equality for marginalized communities, Mr. David's tenure at HRC was mired with racial bias, including Board Members admitting that HRC underpaid him in his initial two years compared to his white predecessor, and being told to stop referencing his race in public because it could alienate white donors. Mr. David was further maligned, targeted and ultimately dismissed by HRC after he challenged them to make the findings of an internal review public, which they had promised but ultimately failed to do.
"Today, I am filing a lawsuit for the millions of Black and Brown people who face discrimination every day but fear retaliation or lack the resources to challenge it," said Alphonso David. "I worked at an organization that has been and continues to be plagued by racial bias and operates in secrecy, as evidenced by its failure to make public an internal review that allegedly informed my dismissal. An organization cannot denounce discrimination while disregarding transparency. HRC cannot claim to represent the rights of all LGBTQ+ people while its toxic work culture persists and every Black man in senior leadership positions at the organization has resigned in the last year. HRC cannot ask others to advance fairness and equality when it refuses to do so within its own ranks. We don't achieve justice by hiding in darkness or cowering when institutions with power abuse it."
Mr. David's complaint outlines several instances of clear and unacceptable racial discrimination. Despite confronting challenges regarding his race at HRC, Mr. David overcame institutional and financial obstacles created by COVID-19 and spearheaded the largest fundraising effort in the organization's history, financing both electoral work and programs to support marginalized communities including the HIV and Health Equity Program, the Transgender Justice Initiative, and the Litigation Program. When a report was issued by the New York State Attorney General in August 2021 regarding allegations against his former employer Governor Andrew Cuomo, Mr. David called on his former employer to resign based on the facts presented. Though the report did not allege any wrongdoing on his part, Mr. David also called for and supported an internal HRC review to ensure full transparency. Before the review was even completed, Board members confronted Mr. David late at night asking him to resign -- before any findings from that review were provided to him, the HRC staff, or the public. When Mr. David refused and requested the findings be provided to him and made public, he was fired – learning about his termination in the press. No HRC findings were ever issued.
Mr. David is represented by renowned civil rights law firm Stowell & Friedman LTD and its Founder and Managing Partner Linda D. Friedman and Partner Shona B. Glink and Matt Singer, Founding Member of Matt Singer Law, LLC.
The full complaint can be found here.
More information about Alphonso David can be found at www.alphonsodavid.com.
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SOURCE Alphonso David
