Biggest LGBT charity in the US to take on Donald Trump with $26 million war chest
The biggest LGBT charity in the US is aiming to hit Donald Trump where it hurts: in next year’s election.
The Human Rights Campaign has pulled together a war chest of $26 million, which constitutes its biggest grassroots investment in the 37 years since it was founded.
And it has begun recruiting at least 20 additional full-time staff to join “more than two dozen existing staff working on the initiative,” according to the HRC.
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The programme will be called HRC Rising, and seeks to “mobilise constituents, register voters and grow the organisation’s grassroots army to flex political muscle in legislatures and at the ballot box.”
This translates into a focused push on winning the Senate races in Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
These are the states where the HRC believes it can displace Republican representatives and replace them with pro-equality candidates.
Meanwhile, the organisation will also attempt to defend the vulnerable seats in states like Florida, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Indiana and West Virginia.
25 Republican House members who won in areas which also voted for Hillary Clinton will also be subject to targeted campaigning from the HRC.
Of these, 23 possess voting records which the organisation considers “anti-equality,” according to TIME Magazine.
In a statement on HRC’s website, the group’s president Chad Griffin said it was “not enough to resist the hateful policies and attacks coming from the Trump-Pence regime”.
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“We’ve got to accelerate the pace of progress toward full equality and secure protections for LGBTQ people in states and communities across the country.
“That’s why we’re going on offence,” he added.
“Our grassroots army of over three million has proven that, even in the face of unprecedented challenges, we can make incredible progress and defeat the hateful politicians who’ve been emboldened by Donald Trump when we organise and mobilise.
“The power and determination of the 10 million LGBTQ voters and our allies across America will only continue to grow stronger in the face of discriminatory attacks on our rights and freedoms.”
The importance of this push was emphasised by Donald Trump’s refusal to acknowledge or celebrate Pride Month throughout the entirety of June.
From 2009 until 2016, President Obama issued annual proclamations recognising the month of June as LGBT Pride Month, and even hosted LGBT festivities inside the White House.
Trump broke this tradition.
