Elizabeth Birch

Elizabeth Birch (born 1956, Dayton, Ohio) is an American attorney & former corporate executive who came to Washington to chair the board of directors of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. Then, in January 1995, she became the Executive Director of the Human Rights Campaign.

As an American gay & lesbian rights (LGBT) activist, Birch grew the organization dramatically in both membership and budget. Birch was executive director of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) until January 2004 when she left to spend more time with her then-partner, Hilary Rosen, and their children.

Later she joined the Howard Dean presidential campaign as a senior advisor prior to joining HRC in 1995, Birch began her LGBT political activity as a member of the Bay Area Municipal Elections Committee (BAYMEC)[1], a San Jose, California-based LGBT political action committee begun in 1984.

In 2000, Birch became the first leader of an LGBT organization to address a national political convention when she gave a prime-time speech at the Democratic National Convention.

For more information see: http://www.cwu.edu/~diversity/birch.html