NEW YORK — The former head of the Human Rights Campaign is suing the nation’s latest LGBTQ+ rights organization, claiming he was underpaid and fired because he is Black, according to his lawsuit filed in Brooklyn federal court on Thursday.
Alphonso David, a Black civil rights lawyer and onetime president of the HRC, was axed in September after the group investigated his role in former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s attempt to undermine a former staffer who accused Cuomo of sexual misconduct.
“David’s treatment, including his summary termination, differed markedly from how his white predecessor had been treated. During the tenure of David’s predecessor, HRC had endured repeated, serious, scandals — many of which involved HRC’s mistreatment of Black and other marginalized individuals. Nonetheless, HRC took no action against David’s predecessor, let alone terminate him suddenly,” the suit reads.
