WASHINGTON -- Today, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) civil rights organization, announced its endorsement of Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) for re-election to the U.S. Senate. Senator Gillibrand will speak this Saturday at the 2018 HRC Greater New York Gala -- one of organization’s largest events of the year, attracting more than 1,000 of HRC’s most active leaders, supporters and members.

“Senator Gillibrand has spent her career fighting for equality -- for LGBTQ people, for workers, for women and for families,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “From fighting back against Donald Trump’s transgender military ban to pushing for LGBTQ non-discrimination protections through the Equality Act, she fights for what’s right and she never backs down. New Yorkers and all Americans need her leadership now more than ever before as we pull the emergency brake on the Trump-Pence administration’s hate-fueled agenda.”

A leader for LGBTQ equality in Congress, Senator Gillibrand has consistently scored a perfect 100 percent on the HRC Congressional Scorecard throughout her time in the Senate. In response to President Trump’s discriminatory attempt to implement a transgender military ban, Gillibrand announced bipartisan legislation to protect currently serving transgender troops from being discharged. She also recently spoke out against violence targeting LGBTQ Americans and the critical need for equality voters to make their voices heard at the ballot box.

HRC recently announced a bold, proactive grassroots expansion with the launch of HRC Rising -- a campaign to accelerate progress in states from coast-to-coast, resist the politics of hate, fight anti-LGBTQ legislation, and fuel pro-equality candidates and initiatives. The expansion is the biggest strategic investment in the organization’s 37-year history. HRC has identified more than 5 million New Yorkers as likely Equality Voters, meaning they are strong supporters of progressive LGBTQ policies including same-sex marriage, adoption by LGBTQ people, and laws that would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people. HRC envisions a world where LGBTQ people are embraced as full members of society at home, at work and in every community

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Paid for by Human Rights Campaign PAC and authorized by Gillibrand for Senate