When audience members booed an openly gay soldier at last month’s GOP presidential debate, my heart dropped to my feet.

It was offensive enough that the audience would jeer one of our service members. But that none of the presidential hopefuls on stage stood up for this brave young man? Unconscionable.

And they say they want to be Commander-in-Chief.

These candidates lend a megaphone to a shared platform of hateful attacks on equality. We see them every day from leaders of the religious right all the way down to a New Jersey schoolteacher’s ugly Facebook tirade earlier this month. But there’s no slur too small for us to call out – and no lie too large for us to tear down.

And that’s where you come in, Carmen. You and I and all straight allies can stand up to these right-wing attacks and create a safer world for the LGBT community. Help us fight back by becoming a first-time HRC member before MIDNIGHT TOMORROW.

With less than 48 hours left to our deadline, we’re still 142 new members short of our goal – and we need your support now. Don’t wait any longer – please join today.

There’s a groundswell of support for equality lighting up our country, but dangerous, hateful talking points are still far too commonplace. GOP contenders are pledging to reinstate “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and fight for a constitutional ban on marriage equality.

Every statement from the National Organization for Marriage and every speech by the head of the American Family Association drips in anti-LGBT anger – from calling equality supporters “anti-marriage goons”  to labeling homosexuality a “threat to public health.”

Hurtful, bigoted words like these get beamed into living rooms across the country and plastered across Facebook.

School administrators, teachers, and students take them as license to discriminate and to bully. Athletes take them as a sign that it’s okay to use anti-gay slurs. And Republican leaders in the House of Representatives use them as reasoning behind their multi-million dollar, taxpayer-funded court case in support of the Defense of Marriage Act. We can put an end to the hate, but not without your help. Will you fight back with us now?

We want you with us. Become an HRC member today to help defend our victories and build a world free of right-wing discrimination.

Time and time again, HRC has relied on a simple belief: equality is a right that should be afforded to all. It’s why you and I are part of this cause – and it’s what propels us through victories and setbacks. Thank you for everything you do to support this simple yet profound purpose.

For our future,

Joe Solmonese
President