Elizabeth Birch

Elizabeth Birch (born 1956, Dayton, Ohio) is an American attorney and former corporate executive who came to Washington in January of 1995 to head the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest LGBT organization.

Activism

As an American gay and lesbian rights (LGBT) activist, Birch grew the organization dramatically in both membership and budget. In 2003, the organization opened its national headquarters building in Washington, D.C. Birch was executive director of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) until January 2004 when she left to spend more time with her then-partner, Hilary Rosen, and their children. She joined the Howard Dean presidential campaign as a senior advisor. She is currently on the speaker circuit represented by [http://www.kepplerspeakers.com/speakers/speakers.asp?1-21Y75 Keppler Speakers] . Prior to joining HRC in 1995, Birch was worldwide director of litigation for Apple Computer and general counsel for its Claris subsidiary. Birch began her LGBT political activity as a member of the Bay Area Municipal Elections Committee (BAYMEC) [http://www.baymec.net] , a San Jose, California-based LGBT political action committee begun in 1984.

In 2000, Birch became the first leader of an LGBT organization to address a national political convention when she gave a prime-time speech at the Democratic National Convention.

Education and law career

Birch was born at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, in 1956. Her father was a Canadian Air Force officer and she lived on numerous Canadian Air Force bases in her youth. [http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/birch_e.html] Birch is a 1980 graduate of the University of Hawaii and received her JD from the Santa Clara University School of Law. She was an associate attorney with the law firm of McCutchen, Doyle, Brown & Enersen (which merged with Bingham Dana LLP in 2002 to become Bingham McCutchen LLP [cite news | url=http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/stories/2002/05/27/daily31.html | title= Bingham, McCutchen merger announced | publisher= Boston Business Journal | date=2002-05-30 | accessdate=2007-11-26] ) until joining Apple in 1989. [http://www.cwu.edu/~diversity/birch.html]

Current work

In 2004, Birch launched Birch & Company, a consulting firm, with offices in Washington, D.C. and New York. Birch runs Rosie O'Donnell's production company, KidRo Productions, Inc. and oversees O'Donnell's Foundation, The For All Kids Foundation.

Birch also hosts a talk show on here!. [cite news
url = http://www.metroweekly.com/feature/?ak=1724
title = Cutting through the Static: Elizabeth Birch returns to the public sphere with a new talk show and a mission
publisher = Metro Weekly
author = Sean Bugg
date= 18 August 2005
accessdate = 2008-03-13 ] Her guests have included Howard Dean, Pat Buchanan, Rosie O'Donnell and John Lewis.

Personal

She had a relationship with Hilary Rosen, former chief executive of the RIAA, and they co-parent twins, a boy and a girl. The couple separated in 2006.

References

External links

* [http://www.baymec.net Bay Area Municipal Elections Committee]
* [http://www.blogforamerica.com/archives/003025.html Blog for America: Elizabeth Birch Joins Dean for America as Senior Advisor]
* [http://www.cwu.edu/~diversity/birch.html Biography at Central Washington University]