Chad Hunter Griffin (born July 16, 1973) is an American political strategist best known for his work advocating for LGBT rights in the United States.
Griffin got his start in politics volunteering for the Bill Clinton presidential campaign, which led to a position in the White House Press Office at the age of 19. Following his stint in the White House and his graduation from Georgetown University, he led a number of political campaigns advocating for or against various California ballot initiatives, as well as a number of fundraising efforts for political candidates, such as Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
Following the 2008 passage of California's highly publicized Proposition 8, which barred the recognition of same-sex marriage, Griffin founded the American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER) to overturn the law. AFER's challenge, Perry v. Brown, was ultimately successful following a decision by the United States Supreme Court in June 2013. Griffin served as president of the Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBT rights organization in the United States, from 2012 to 2019.
Early years
Griffin was born in Hope, Arkansas, and grew up to the northeast in Arkadelphia. While attending Ouachita Baptist University, he volunteered for the 1992 presidential campaign of Bill Clinton. Following the election, he was hired by Dee Dee Myers to join the transition team and administration. Griffin dropped out of college and became, at the age of 19, the youngest-ever member of a presidential staff. He worked as a White House Press Office manager for two years. There, he also acted as White House liaison to the 1995 film The American President, where he met producer Rob Reiner.
Griffin went on to lead Reiner's charitable foundation. He worked with Reiner on numerous political efforts, including the founding of the American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER). AFER is a nonprofit organization formed to challenge the federal constitutionality of California's Proposition 8, which limited legal marriage in the state to opposite-sex couples.
After leaving the White House, Griffin entered the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, from which he graduated in 1997. Griffin was also a part of Griffin Schake, a consulting firm that he founded with Kristina Schake, former communications director for Michelle Obama.
LGBT rights activism
Griffin, who is gay, is best known for his work advocating for LGBT rights. He has often cited the high rate of suicide among gay teens as motivation. In 2008, Griffin was selected as one of The Advocate's People of the Year. In 2013, Griffin was ranked 16th on Out magazines "Power 50" list of the 50-most powerful LGBT individuals in the United States. He had moved up each year from 2010, when he ranked as #29; he ranked as #28 in 2011, and #16 in 2013.
American Foundation for Equal Rights
Griffin and Reiner founded AFER in 2008 to challenge the federal constitutionality of California's Proposition 8. Prior to AFER's founding, Griffin had raised funds and produced television ads for the "No on 8" campaign. This was Griffin's first professional work on LGBT rights. Following Proposition 8's passage in 2008, Griffin and Reiner reflected on the No campaign's failure, and the possibility of mounting a federal legal challenge. An acquaintance suggested speaking to conservative lawyer Theodore Olson, who supported the challenge and soon began research on the case. Griffin believed the case, and Olson's support, created an opportunity to frame the same-sex marriage debate in nonpartisan terms. Olson later suggested recruiting liberal David Boies as co-counsel; the two had previously litigated opposite sides of Bush v. Gore. Griffin approached Boies, who quickly accepted.
Meanwhile, Griffin began discussing the potential case with other LGBT rights organizations. The American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal, and the National Center for Lesbian Rights opposed a federal lawsuit, seeing it as a "reckless" action, as they were worried that a loss at the Supreme Court could be "devastating" to the cause. As the case progressed, these same groups asked to intervene in the lawsuit, an attempt which Griffin fought and which was ultimately unsuccessful. In a letter to the leaders of those organizations, Griffin wrote, "You have unrelentingly and unequivocally acted to undermine this case even before it was filed. In light of this, it is inconceivable that you would zealously and effectively litigate this case if you were successful in intervening." Griffin also believed that such intervention would complicate the trial, making it less efficient and would, as a result, ultimately weaken their case.