Alphonso David

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 person of color to serve as president of the organization.

David was born in Silver Spring, Maryland. His family moved to Monrovia, Liberia, when he was one year old. In 1977, David's father was elected mayor of his city while his great uncle William Tolbert was President of Liberia. In 1980 during a military coup, David's uncle was assassinated and his father was incarcerated. His family lived under house arrest and later sought political asylum in the United States.

David graduated from the University of Maryland, Baltimore in 1992 and Temple University Law School in 2000. While at Temple, David was a member of the University's national trial team and the Political and Civil Rights Law Review. After graduation worked as a judicial law clerk for the Clifford Scott Green, a Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

After his clerkship, David joined a Philadelphia law firm before moving to Los Angeles to work as a litigation associate at Blank Rome LLP. He also got heavily involved in pro bono work, such as helping victims of domestic violence.

David served as a staff attorney at the Lambda Legal Defense and Educational Fund from 2004-2007. David worked on New York’s first marriage equality case, Hernandez v. Robles. They won at the trial court but lost on appeal.

In 2015, David was appointed by Governor Andrew Cuomo to serve as Chief Counsel to the Governor.After Andrew Cuomo's election as Governor of New York, he appointed David to serve as Deputy Secretary and Counsel for Civil Rights, the first such position in New York.

He works as an Adjunct Professor of Law. David is openly gay, and his favorite vacation destination is Italy. He cites James Baldwin as his LGBT+ hero for "daring to dream big and beyond the limitations others placed on him."