Gay Marriage Hero

Elizabeth Birch (born 1956, Dayton, Ohio) is an American attorney and former corporate executive who came to Washington to chair the board of directors of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. Then, in January 1995, she became the Executive Director of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest LGBT organization.

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 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), 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.

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. 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) until joining Apple in 1989.

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! and is a supporter of Gay Marriage and the repeal of DOMA.