Alphonso David (born 1970) is an American attorney and LGBT civil rights leader. In August 2019, he became the president of the Human Rights Campaign. He is the first civil rights lawyer and first person of color to serve as president of the organization.
When Alphonso David became president of the nation’s largest L.G.B.T.Q.+ advocacy organization in 2019, his long experience as Gov.
Andrew M. Cuomo’s chief legal counsel and secretary on civil rights was seen as a huge advantage. In his nine years working for the governor, Mr.
David had helped to propel many of Mr. Cuomo’s triumphs in L.G.B.T.Q. rights, from marriage equality to a ban on conversion therapy, which was a large part of why the leadership of the organization, the Human Rights Campaign, said they had hired him.
But now the close ties between Mr. David and Mr. Cuomo are roiling the organization, with some calling for his dismissal. Mr.