Your Austin Steering Committee

The Austin Steering Committee of the Human Rights Campaign is a diverse volunteer group of individuals working each and every day to bring the mission of HRC to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender and straight-supportive people in this area. Read More »


Local News

Call Your Member of Congress Today, Tell Them to Pass the Matthew Shepard Act!

Posted on Tuesday April 28, 2009


 

 

We've received word that the House will vote on the Matthew Shepard Act very soon and we know that right-wing groups are flooding Congress with calls, emails and sickening ‘fact sheets’ full of lies about the lives of LGBT Americans. We need more calls to Members of Congress, and we need them right away. It has been ten long years and tens of thousands more victims since the Matthew Shepard Act was first introduced in Congress. We are poised for a presidential signature this year but lies from the radical right could easily derail our efforts. We must not allow them to continue to demagogue and distort the truth.

Watch this video by Judy Shephard on the 10 years she has waited for this day to come.

We ask you to call Congress in support of the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, a bill which would provide local police and sheriff’s departments with
federal resources to combat hate violence. After more than a decade of lobbying on Capitol Hill and
seven successful votes on the bill, this critical piece of legislation is again expected to see a vote in the House this week. The call-in campaign is set for April 27-29.

 

It takes about 45 seconds. Members of the community are urged to call 202-224-3121.
Callers are urged to tell the Member’s office:

Read More » Read More »

  • Hate crimes against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are on the rise.
  • One out of every six hate crimes is because of the victim's sexual orientation.
  • Hate crimes have more than one victim.They are intended to create an atmosphere of fear and terrorize entire communities.
  • The Matthew Shepard Act targets onlyviolent acts –not speech.
  • It does not tell any clergy member what he or she can or can't preach.

Annual Dinner Wrap Up

Posted on Monday March 30, 2009

What an amazing evening!! The 2009 HRC Austin Gala was held March 28, 2009 at the Downtown Hilton Hotel. This year's theme was Celebrating Austin ~ Inspiring Change.

The program opened with the Capital City Men's Chorus who performed two big hits: "I Know Where I've Been" and "I Am What I Am." The Honorable Woodies Jones was presented the Bettie Naylor Award for his incredible work surrounding gay parent adoptions and Cliff Redd was honored as the HRC Person of the Year for his leadership in the Austin community. We heard from Cuc Vu, HRC's Chief Diversity Officer about where HRC has been and where we go from here. Grammy Award-Winning Artist, Thelma Houston closed out the evening with an electrifying performance that brought the crowd to the front of the stage singing and dancing  to Motown hits! Along the way we managed to raise a significant amount of money (final totals coming soon) and a good time was had by all!

 

Were you there? If not, make sure to plan on going next year. Tentative plans are for a March date (tbd) again so mark your calendars and visit this site (and our Facebook page) often for upcoming events.

 

We want to thank our incredible corporate sponsors, program book advertisers, silent and live auction donors as well as the best group of volunteers we have had to date!!! We will be highlighting each of these groups over the coming weeks.