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Human Rights Campaign
Launches New Online Action Center

To Reach Elected Officials via E-mail, Letters, Fax & Phone.

Seth Kilbourn is Appointed Group's National Field Director

HRC's Executive Director
Elizabeth Birch

Compiled By GayToday

Washington, D.C.--The Human Rights Campaign announced yesterday that it has upgraded its online Action Center with state-of-the-art features to allow Action Network members to send messages to their elected officials via e-mail, letters, fax and phone.

HRC also named Seth Kilbourn as its new national field director. "Kilbourn's leadership skills will be key to our team of field organizers in building a strong grassroots movement to accomplish the legislative, political and electoral goals of the organization," says an HRC release.

Kilbourn promises: "People can now communicate with decision-makers anytime they want. It is through this Online Action Center that we will increase the power of our Action Network and connect the LGBT community with their members of Congress."

The Action Center hopes to maximize its political impact by providing up-to-the-minute information about key votes and legislation.

The group's field organizers are responsible for building the action network. and providing information, training and supporting individual leaders, constituency groups and organizations nationwide.

Kilbourn sees his appointment as "an incredible opportunity to be able to contribute to the growth of HRC as well as our movement."

In 1999, Kilbourn served at the HRC as Deputy Director for Health and Family Policy. Two years prior to that he lobbied as a Senior Health Policy Advocate. Before joining HRC, Kilbourn spent four years with the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services where his responsibilities included the administration of the Ryan White CARE Act, the country's second largest program providing care and treatment for Americans living with HIV/AIDS.

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"When a key vote is taking place in Congress, we can send an instant e-mail action alert telling every person in the Action Network to log on and flood Congress with e-mails, letters, phone calls and faxes," said Kilbourn.

"Tens of thousands of people will be able to respond immediately. The greater the numbers, the greatest the impact." The Action Center creates a profile for each user so that information and specific actions are customized for each person based on their interests and their congressional district.

"The Action Center creates a 'to do' list for users with specific actions based on their personal profiles. Users will also be provided with information about LGBT issues specific to their state as well as local HRC events.

"In addition, the Online Action Center includes contact information and profiles for each member of Congress, updates on key legislation, legislative text, current and past HRC Congressional vote scorecards and information about House and Senate political campaigns nationwide. Kilbourn holds a bachelor's degree in international relations from the University of Pennsylvania and a master's of public policy from the University of Michigan. He is a native of Lancaster, Mass.

HRC's Online Action Center is free of charge and available to everyone. Users are not required to become HRC members to join the Action Network. New users will be asked to fill out a questionnaire to create a customized profile. More than 10,000 people have joined and are now receiving HRC's e-mail action alerts.