Victor Basile is an American

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

rights activist who was the first executive director of the

Human Rights Campaign The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is an American LGBTQ advocacy group. It is the largest LGBTQ political lobbying organization within the United States. Based in Washington, D.C., the organization focuses on protecting and expanding rights for LGB ...

(then the Human Rights Campaign Fund), serving in that position from June 1983 to June 1989. Basile works as a Counselor to the Director of the

United States Office of Personnel Management The United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is an independent agency of the United States Federal Government that manages the US civilian service. The agency provides federal human resources policy, oversight and support, and tends t ...

Past

Prior to HRC, Basile had been president of an

American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) is the largest trade union of public employees in the United States. It represents 1.3 million public sector employees and retirees, including health care workers, correcti ...

local union based in Washington, D.C. Basile has been, at least in the past, a supporter of

outing Outing is the act of disclosing an LGBT person's sexual orientation or gender identity without that person's consent. It is often done for political reasons, either to instrumentalize homophobia in order to discredit political opponents or to com ...

gay politicians who work against LGBT rights. In 1989, the

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

quoted him as saying "Those who participate in the (gay) community and then vote against it are guilty of hypocrisy-hypocrisy that causes harm to a whole class of people. They are like Jews who put other Jews into the ovens. . . . Their duplicitous, devious, harmful behavior ought to be exposed." Basile remained on the board of HRC and has been involved in recruiting efforts for later heads of the HRC, such as the efforts which selected

Joe Solmonese Joe Solmonese is a political strategist and activist who served as president of the Human Rights Campaign of the United States and its affiliate the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. He was appointed to this position on March 9, 2005, replacing C ...

and Cheryl Jacques. Basile was an executive producer of the 1989 documentary

After Stonewall ''After Stonewall'' is a 1999 documentary film about the 30 years of gay rights activism since the 1969 Stonewall riots directed by John Scagliotti. It is the sequel to the Scagliotti-produced 1984 film ''Before Stonewall'' and is narrated by musi ...

. Basile was, along with William Waybourn, was a co-founder of the

Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund The LGBTQ Victory Fund (formerly the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund), commonly shortened to Victory Fund, is an American political action committee dedicated to increasing the number of openly LGBTQ public officials in the United States. Victory F ...

, which works toward the election of gay and lesbian political candidates. Basile was later executive director of the Baltimore-area charity, Movable Feast, which delivers meals to HIV and AIDS patients who can't leave their homes.

References

Living people American LGBT rights activists American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees people Year of birth missing (living people) {{US-activist-stub