Kelley Robinson
{{Short description|American community organizer and president of Human Rights Campaign}}
{{for|Australian rules footballer|Kelly Robinson}}
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| name = Kelley Robinson
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| education = University of Missouri-Columbia (BA)
| occupation = Community organizer
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| known_for = President of the Human Rights Campaign
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Kelley J. Robinson (born {{birth based on age as of date |36|2022|09|22|noage=1}}{{cite news |last1=Assunção |first1=Muri |title=Who is Kelley Robinson, incoming president of the Human Rights Campaign? |url=https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ny-kelley-robinson-human-rights-campaign-president-full-equality-everyone-hrc-20220922-d3kont67vjcqtmxlhfh3khzdkm-story.html |access-date=November 30, 2022 |work=New York Daily News |date=September 22, 2022}}) is an American community organizer who is the current president of the Human Rights Campaign.{{Cite web |title=Human Rights Campaign, largest U.S. LGBTQ advocacy group, names new president |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/human-rights-campaign-largest-us-lgbtq-advocacy-group-names-new-presid-rcna48597 |access-date=2022-11-15 |website=NBC News |date=21 September 2022 |language=en}} She was formerly the executive director of Planned Parenthood Action Fund.
Education
Robinson received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 2008.{{Cite web |title=Kelley Robinson {{!}} HuffPost |url=https://www.huffpost.com/author/kelley-robinson |access-date=2022-11-15 |website=www.huffpost.com |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Organizing as Advocates {{!}} ovsjg |url=https://ovsjg.dc.gov/event/organizing-advocates |access-date=2022-11-15 |website=ovsjg.dc.gov}} During university, she double-majored in sociology and women's and gender studies. She has also worked as a mixed martial arts fighter and a bartender.{{Cite web |date=2022-09-20 |title=Kelley Robinson, Black Queer Woman, Is New Human Rights Campaign Head |url=https://www.advocate.com/news/2022/9/20/kelley-robinson-black-queer-woman-new-human-rights-campaign-head |access-date=2022-11-03 |website=www.advocate.com |language=en}}
Career
Robinson started working as a political organizer for Barack Obama's presidential campaign in 2008.
In 2009, she worked at Planned Parenthood of the Heartland as a regional organizer. From 2011 to 2015, she served as the associate director for youth engagement for Planned Parenthood Federation of America, until she was promoted to national organizing director in 2015. In 2019, she became the executive director of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund and vice president of organizing and advocacy. In this role, Robinson helped direct efforts to flip the U.S. Senate in the 2020 elections.{{Cite news |last=Hughes |first=Clyde |date=October 9, 2019 |title=Planned Parenthood launches $45M bid to defeat Trump, flip Senate |work=UPI |url=}}{{Cite web |last=Kelly |first=Caroline |date=2019-10-09 |title=Planned Parenthood's political arm to spend $45 million on electing candidates backing reproductive rights {{!}} CNN Politics |url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/09/politics/planned-parenthood-2020-electoral-program/index.html |access-date=2022-11-23 |website=CNN |language=en}} While at Planned Parenthood, the number of supporters increased from 6.5 million to 18 million.
As the executive director of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, Robinson was interviewed about reproductive rights, the Hyde Amendment, and Supreme Court nominees by several media outlets such as the Associated Press, CNN, The Guardian, and The New York Times.{{Cite web |date=2019-06-05 |title=Joe Biden stirs anger by backing 40-year-old 'discriminatory' abortion law |url=http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/05/joe-biden-abortion-supports-hyde-amendment |access-date=2022-11-23 |website=the Guardian |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2021-04-20 |title=Why Trump doesn't want to talk about abortion rights |url=https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-joe-biden-donald-trump-amy-coney-barrett-voting-rights-dac550f943f2b4a56681ec7ac72787eb |access-date=2022-11-23 |website=AP NEWS |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Kelly |first=Caroline |date=2020-10-09 |title=Amy Coney Barrett's potential role in abortion battle surfaces in debates {{!}} CNN Politics |url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/08/politics/2020-debates-amy-coney-barrett-abortion-roe/index.html |access-date=2022-11-23 |website=CNN |language=en}}{{Cite news |last=Astor |first=Maggie |date=2020-08-18 |title=Abortion Fight Evolves, Overshadowed in 2020 but With Huge Stakes |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/18/us/politics/abortion-2020-election.html |access-date=2022-11-23 |issn=0362-4331}}
Robinson became the president of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) in late 2022. She is the first queer Black woman to lead the organization. Robinson has stated that she will focus on issues such as voting rights, reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ rights, living wages and health care; she will focus on the voices and concerns of impoverished people.{{Cite news |title=Nation's largest LGBTQ group picks first Black woman as president |language=en-US |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/20/hrc-president-kelley-robinson/ |access-date=2022-11-06 |issn=0190-8286}}{{Cite web |last=Haines |first=Errin |date=2022-09-20 |title=Kelley Robinson to be first Black, queer woman to lead Human Rights Campaign |url=https://19thnews.org/2022/09/kelley-robinson-human-rights-campaign/ |access-date=2022-11-15 |website=The 19th |language=en-us}} In one interview, Robinson stated that HRC was planning to work towards the passage of the Respect for Marriage Act.{{Cite web |last=Stebbins |first=Laina G. |date=2022-11-04 |title=New Human Rights Campaign leader: 'We're not going back' on LGBTQ+ rights ⋆ Michigan Advance |url=https://michiganadvance.com/2022/11/04/new-human-rights-campaign-leader-were-not-going-back-on-lgbtq-rights/ |access-date=2022-11-15 |website=Michigan Advance |language=en-US}} In one of the first interviews that she gave as HRC president, to El País, Robinson addressed the rise of hate acts against LGBTQ communities.{{Cite web |last=Seisdedos |first=Iker |date=2022-11-28 |title=Kelley Robinson: "Han declarado una guerra cultural contra nuestros hijos" |url=https://elpais.com/sociedad/2022-11-28/kelley-robinson-hay-una-guerra-cultural-contra-nuestros-hijos.html |access-date=2022-11-30 |website=El País |language=es}} In the month of December of the year 2022, Robinson testified before Congress on the rise of anti-LGBTQ+ extremism and violence.{{Citation |title=HRC President Kelley Robinson Testifies on Rise of Anti-LGBTQ+ Extremism and Violence |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvRjYIlEM9o |language=en |access-date=2023-01-25}}
On December 29, 2024, Robinson said former President Jimmy Carter was an ally of the gay and lesbian community in the United States. https://www.ebar.com/story.php?ch=news&sc=national&id=337184&title=former_president_jimmy_carter,_supporter_of_lgbtq_rights,_dies_at_100
Robinson is a senior fellow at the Kettering Foundation, an American non-partisan research foundation.{{Cite news |title=Kelley Robinson |url=https://kettering.org/fellow/kelley-robinson/ |access-date=2025-03-06 |work=Kettering Foundation |language=en-US}}
Awards and recognition
In April 2024, Robinson was included in the Time 100 list of the most influential people of the year.{{cite magazine |author1=Sarah Kate Ellis |author1-link=Sarah Kate Ellis |title=Kelley Robinson |url=https://time.com/6964843/kelley-robinson/ |access-date=April 17, 2024 |magazine=Time |date=April 17, 2024}}
Personal life
Robinson married her wife, Becky George, in 2020; they have one child together. Robinson is Catholic.{{Cite web |last=Walrond |first=Karen |date=2024-05-13 |title=5 Questions With Kelley Robinson |url=https://brenebrown.com/articles/2024/05/13/5-questions-with-kelley-robinson/ |access-date=2024-11-09 |website=Brene Brown |language=en-US}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{C-SPAN|100238}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Kelley}}
Category:American community activists
Category:American health activists
Category:African-American LGBTQ people
Category:21st-century African-American people
Category:21st-century African-American women
Category:University of Missouri alumni
Category:American LGBTQ rights activists
Category:African-American Catholics