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Study: Anti-gay groups far more effective than LGBT groups at soliciting cash

Only 3 percent of community contributing to organizations

Published

15 years ago

on

The MAP survey emphasizes the shocking disparity between revenue at pro-LGBT organizations vs. anti-LGBT organizations. (Courtesy Movement Advancement Project)

According to a report released last week by the Movement Advancement Project (MAP), American anti-gay groups are still far more effective than LGBT rights organizations at mobilizing their funding base.

The National LGBT Movement Report, which according to ThinkProgress‘s Zack Ford “analyzes the financial documents of 40 prominent LGBT organizations,” MAP estimates the number of individual donors to LGBT organizations only three percent of LGBT Americans.

The report estimates that most LGBT groups rely on just ten contributors for 45 percent of their annual income. The other 55 percent is made up of smaller donations. Ninety-seven percent of the estimated 8.7 million LGBT Americans decline to contribute to these organizations at all.

“There are many reasons for the relative dearth of donations coming from within our own community, but coming from the Midwest, I can tell you that many of our national organizations aren’t very well known in the interior of the country,” Interim Executive Director of Stonewall Democrats, Jerame Davis, told the Blade. “H.R.C., Stonewall Democrats, PFLAG, and Lambda Legal are the only organizations we heard from on a consistent basis in Indiana. Go ask your average Midwestern LGBT person to name even five national LGBT organizations; something tells me they wouldn’t get past number three.”

MORE IN THE BLADE: PRAISE, CRITICISM AS HRC ENTERS A NEW ERA

More alarming is that the ten largest openly anti-LGBT groups spend almost three times as much annually as all 40 of the LGBT groups measured; at $330.4 million versus the $126.8 million spent collectively. Multi-issue anti-LGBT organizations such as Focus on the Family, Heritage Foundation and Alliance Defense Fund had budgets dwarfing most LGBT organizations, assisted by smaller but more focused organizations like National Organization for Marriage, Family Research Council and the Traditional Values Coalition.

ThinkProgress adds that many of the donors to LGBT organizations are actually straight allies, which may mean that the number of LGBT Americans contributing to these organizations is actually lower than the estimate in the MAP report.

LGBT organizations are having a difficult time convincing American LGBT people to invest in their work. (Courtesy Movement Advancement Project)

The report surveyed 40 of the most prominent LGBT organizations in the nation from the Human Rights Campaign, the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, and Victory Fund, Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, and National Center for Lesbian Rights to smaller organizations like Log Cabin Republicans, SoulForce, the Trevor Project, and In The Life Media, and even some state-wide and local organizations like Empire State Pride Agenda, Equality California, and the New York City Gay & Lesbian Anti-Violence Project.

According to the report, Focus on the Family on its own out fund-raised all 40 LGBT organizations collectively.

Stonewall’s Davis believes that if organizations invested more time in creating a presence in ‘middle America,’ LGBT donors may be more willing to contribute.

“It has been a regular complaint from those in ‘flyover country’ that the national LGBT movement needs to focus more on the very clear and obvious lack of equilibrium in equality around the country,” Davis told the Blade. “The stark imbalance when you look at a state like Indiana vs. a state like New York makes it hard for folks in those states with less equality to believe the national movement is working for them. That turns off a lot of potential donors who are motivated to give, but feel they have few outlets to do so that will directly impact their daily lives.”

Some good news reported by MAP, however, is that most of the 40 organizations studied have turned their finances around from a 2009 low, with revenue exceeding expenses this year — contrasting with 2009 when expenses outpaced revenue — and most LGBT organizations report a general increase in revenue coupled with a general decrease in expenses.

LGBT organizations have also kept control of the cost of fundraising with only 11 percent annual expenses on average going toward fundraising at the 40 largest LGBT organizations, and the other 89 percent of expenses being split between programs & services (79 percent) and operations (ten percent).

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Arizona

Shooting outside gay bar in Ariz. leaves three dead

Tucson police investigating double murder-suicide as a hate crime

Published

8 hours ago

on

September 1, 2026

By

The shooting happened outside Venture-N bar in Tucson, Ariz. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

Three people were fatally shot outside a gay bar in Tucson, Ariz., early Monday morning, about a mile from the city’s nightlife district.

Police have said the shooting, which took place in the parking lot of Venture-N bar at 1239 N. 6th Ave., was likely a hate crime and a double murder-suicide following a verbal altercation.

The suspect, Ousman Ceesay, allegedly shot Vincent Anthony Siqueiros and Cameron Davis Capara while they were outside the club around 12:30 a.m. Monday.

Reports show Capara and Siqueiros were pronounced dead at the scene. Ceesay died after being taken to a local hospital with gunshot wounds.

Police have also said that Ceesay was carrying a list of LGBTQ businesses at the time of the shooting.

Arizona Public Media has said police are investigating the case as a hate crime because the suspect was carrying a note containing the names of multiple LGBTQ-associated businesses.

“I am deeply saddened that another senseless loss of life has happened in our community,” Tucson Police Chief Monica Prieto said in a statement. “Bias-based crimes are especially heinous and have no place in our community.”

According to Prieto, there is no imminent threat to the community, and the Tucson Police Department is working to provide extra protection to various LGBTQ businesses across town.

Congresswoman Adelita Grijalva, who represents the area, issued a statement condemning the act of violence, which appears to have been at least in part motivated by homophobia.

“I am disgusted and deeply saddened to learn of a targeted act of hate and the cold-blooded murder of two members of our LGBTQIA+ community, Vincent Siqueiros and Cameron Capara, at the Venture-N bar in Tucson last night. This horrific attack is a painful reminder that even in welcoming communities like Tucson, hate and violence against the LGBTQIA+ community still exist.”

“When that hate is combined with easy access to firearms, the consequences can be deadly. I am sick and tired of Congress refusing to lift a finger to protect our communities while, every day, dozens of people are shot and killed across the country. It does not have to be this way. The House of Representatives is returning to session this week, and our first action should be passing common-sense gun safety reforms that we know can save lives.”

Other federal lawmakers also condemned the shooting.

The Congressional Equality Caucus, which is made up of federal legislators advancing LGBTQ interests, issued a statement after news broke.

“Our hearts are with the friends and loved ones of the victims of this devastating attack outside a Tucson gay bar and with the Tucson LGBTQI+ community,” it said on X. “No one should fear violence because of who they are — and we’re going to continue fighting to build a world where no one does.”

The Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBTQ organization in the country, released a statement following the shooting.

“We are heartbroken by the loss of Vincent Anthony Siqueiros and Cameron Davis Capara and our hearts are with their families, loved ones, and the entire Tucson LGBTQ+ community. Once again, we are reminded that gun violence robs people of their lives, destroys families, and devastates communities.”

A candlelight vigil honoring the victims is planned for Sept. 2 at 6:30 p.m. at Catalina Park in North Tucson.

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Congress

HRC president campaigns for Chris Pappas in NH

Gay congressman running to succeed retiring U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen

Published

1 day ago

on

August 31, 2026

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Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson, left, campaigns with U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas (D-N.H.) in Manchester, N.H., on Aug. 30, 2026. (Photo courtesy of the Human Rights Campaign)

Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson on Sunday campaigned for U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas (D-N.H.) in New Hampshire.

Robinson traveled to Manchester, the state’s largest city, nine days before the Sept. 8 primary that will determine who will vie for retiring U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.)’s seat.

Former U.S. Sen. John E. Sununu, who represented New Hampshire in the U.S. Senate from 2003-2009, will face off against former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, who represented Massachusetts in the U.S. Senate from 2010-2013, in the Republican primary.

Karishma Manzur is among the Democrats challenging Pappas.

A poll the University of New Hampshire Survey Center released on Aug. 26 shows Sununu is ahead of Brown. The same survey shows Pappas ahead of Manzur and his other Democratic challengers.

The UNH Survey Center poll shows Sununu ahead of Pappas by a 45-43 percent margin if they were to face off in the general election. The margin of error is +/-2.1 percent.

Pappas would become the first openly gay man elected to the U.S. Senate if he were to win in November.

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National

Milo Yiannopoulos deported to UK

ICE arrested far-right provocateur in New Orleans on Thursday

Published

4 days ago

on

August 28, 2026

By

Milo Yiannopoulos (Photo via Homeland Security @DHSgov/X account)

Editor’s note: The Department of Homeland Security on Saturday said Milo Yiannopoulos has been deported to the U.K.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Thursday arrested far-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos.

A DHS spokesperson in a statement sent to the Washington Blade said ICE arrested Yiannopoulos, who they described as “an illegal alien from the United Kingdom,” at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport.

The DHS spokesperson said Yiannopoulos “legally entered the country” in New York on May 14, 2019.

“He chose to overstay his welcome in violation of our nation’s laws,” said the spokesperson.

The DHS spokesperson said an immigration judge on July 22 “issued a final order of removal” for Yiannopoulos “after failing to show up for his immigration hearing.” The Times-Picayune newspaper in New Orleans on Friday reported Yiannopoulos is being held at an ICE detention center in Alexandria, La., which is about 200 miles northwest of the Crescent City.

“He will remain in ICE custody pending removal,” said the DHS spokesperson.

Yiannopoulos has, among other things, repeatedly targeted transgender people and Muslims.

The American Conservative Union, which organizes the annual Conversative Political Action Conference, in 2017 disinvited Yiannopoulos from speaking at that year’s CPAC after a video in which he appeared to condone sex between adults and underage boys emerged. Yiannopoulos subsequently resigned from Breitbart News, a far-right news website, where he had been a senior editor.

Yiannopoulos later that year married his boyfriend in Hawaii. The far-right provocateur in 2021 claimed he was an “ex-gay.”

The Australian government in 2019 banned Yiannopoulos from entering the country “on character grounds.” Yiannopoulos was also banned from Facebook, Twitter (now X), and other social media platforms.

Milo Yiannopoulos speaks at a “Gays for Trump” event during the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

The Times-Picayune reported Yiannopoulos “most recently worked for” Ye, formerly known as Kanye West.

The controversial rapper is scheduled to perform in New Orleans on Friday.

Laura Loomer, a far-right conspiracy theorist who is close to President Donald Trump, has called for Yiannopoulos’s deportation. Loomer on Friday wrote on X that she “reported him to ICE and the FBI” after he “called for me to be assassinated.”

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