Kenneth F. Britt, the executive director of Alston & Bird, has become co-chairman of the board of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights group. The HRC post caps Britt’s career as a gay rights activist in the community and at Alston & Bird, where he’s been the firm’s top administrator for 29 years.

Britt, 59, was elected to the two-year post Nov. 3, the day before Barack Obama was elected president. Britt said Obama’s election is propitious for the gay rights agenda, which is to gain the same protections and benefits that straight people enjoy.

“We got nowhere during the Bush administration,” said Britt, who is optimistic that equality legislation, which languished in Congress during the past eight years, such as a hate crimes bill and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, will see the light of day under Obama’s administration.

 See Alston Exec Is New Gay Rights Leader
Law.com, CA -

Officials with the Human Rights Campaign and National Gay & Lesbian Task Force are hopeful that Barack Obama’s administration and Democratic leaders in Congress will help orchestrate the passage next year of two gay rights bills that enjoy widespread support.

The Matthew Shepard Act, which would authorize federal authorities to prosecute anti-gay hate crimes, and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would ban job discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, are considered high priorities among gay-supportive lawmakers, officials with the two groups said. See Hate crimes, ENDA top priorities for national gay groups
Sovo.com, GA