Joe Solmonese
President
Under Joe Solmonese’s leadership, the Human Rights Campaign has been an effective, strategic and creative force in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights advocacy. Solmonese knows that to promote a better life for all of America’s LGBT people and their families, HRC must make inroads not only in legislatures, but in workplaces, communities, religious congregations, schools, universities and media outlets. HRC’s work reflects this vision: Solmonese has overseen electoral and legislative victories and successful outreach to new audiences. A dynamic speaker with a powerful message, Solmonese is one of the most sought-after political voices in progressive politics today. He appears frequently in the national media as a voice for equality.
Building a Coalition for Fairness and Breaking Down Barriers
Fair-minded legislators are essential to the fight for LGBT rights. Drawing upon his experience as CEO of EMILY’s List, where he oversaw the effort to elect progressive, pro-choice women across the country, Solmonese has steered HRC through two extraordinarily successful election cycles. In the 2008 federal elections, HRC endorsees had such a high win rate in competitive races that it ranked among the National Journal’s top five most effective groups. HRC’s political expertise and grassroots ground game also resulted in key state electoral victories.
For electoral success to result in legislative change, LGBT rights activists must cultivate diverse voices to express our point of view and reach out to communities that have an impact on legislators’ and voters’ decision-making. All too often, we see religions portrayed as anti-LGBT, and LGBT people portrayed as separate from religious communities. This is simply not true, and it harms the cause of equality. That’s why Solmonese launched HRC’s Religion and Faith Program in 2005. Under the leadership of Harry Knox, who sits on the President’s Advisory Council for the Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, HRC’s Religion and Faith Program provides innovative resources for LGBT and supportive people of faith who want to stand up to those who use religion as a weapon of oppression.
Equality at Home, at Work and in Every Community
According to the census, LGBT people are in committed relationships and raising children in 99 percent of U.S. counties. It is essential to foster protections for LGBT people, their partners and their children in the community, at work, in schools and in healthcare. Under Solmonese’s leadership, HRC’s Family Project launched three major initiatives to address this need. Through HRC’s All Children - All Families program, adoption and foster care agencies across the country are implementing policies and practices that welcome all prospective parents, regardless of their gender identity or sexual orientation. Welcoming Schools provides administrators, educators and parents/guardians with resources to create welcoming and respectful learning environments for all families. And HRC’s Healthcare Equality Index rates U.S. healthcare facilities on all policies and practices related to the LGBT community, including patient non-discrimination, visitation, decision-making, cultural competency training and employment policies and benefits.
The workplace is where we spend much of our time, earn our livelihood and, for many, get access to healthcare. Solmonese knows that we must continue to make progress in the workplace and for LGBT families. He has counseled corporate leaders across the country to reach smart and fair business decisions that have an impact on millions of LGBT employees. HRC’s Corporate Equality Index 2009 reported that 60 percent of Fortune 100 companies now include sexual orientation and gender identity in their non-discrimination policies, and 83 percent offer domestic partner benefits.
Solmonese’s comprehensive approach to bringing LGBT equality to this country — changing the composition of legislatures, transforming the face of the movement to reflect diversity and new voices, and encouraging workplaces and communities where LGBT people are welcome, safe and visible — is the groundwork for HRC’s political goal of passing federal and state legislation that protects the entire community. Under Solmonese’s watch, the results have been strong.
Strategy at the State and Federal Levels
At the state level, Solmonese has worked to strengthen HRC’s grassroots function and drive major successes. In New Hampshire, HRC played a role in passing civil unions and second-parent adoption measures as well as marriage equality. In Nevada, HRC was a key player in domestic partnership legislation. And in Massachusetts, HRC defended marriage equality by blocking a discriminatory constitutional amendment from moving to the ballot.
HRC’s success in the U.S. Congress is significant and increasing. Solmonese saw the discriminatory Federal Marriage Amendment defeated in 2006 and, that year, HRC successfully advocated for a groundbreaking pension reform measure that saves same-sex couples from severe, unfair tax penalties. After years of lobbying and grassroots engagement, Congress repealed the HIV travel ban. And the hate crimes bill has passed, and will reach the desk of President Obama, who will sign it. HRC has worked to build support for a fully inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act, securing its historic introduction in the 110th Congress. Under Solmonese’s leadership, HRC built support for critical protections for LGBT people, and Congress held its first hearings on an inclusive ENDA, the repeal of the U.S. military’s discriminatory “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy and on equal employment benefits for federal civilian employees who are LGBT.
Solmonese’s leadership has kept HRC vibrant and viable. Today, HRC has more than 750,000 members and supporters who not only contribute to its annual budget of more than $30 million, but are primed to take specific action, whether at the statehouse or the U.S. Capitol. In fact, over Solmonese’s tenure, HRC has seen a surge in small donors, with half its members contributing $5 or more in the last 24 months.
A native of Attleboro, Mass., Solmonese is 44 and lives in Washington, D.C. He graduated from Boston University in 1987 with a Bachelor of Science degree in communications.