Bending Toward Justice: A Memoir of Two Decades of LGBT Leadership and the Founding of the Human Rights Campaign

by Vic Basile

 "Drawing on his experience as the first executive director of the Human Rights Campaign Fund, Vic Basile has written a valuable addition to the story of one of the most consequential movements in post-World War II America..." -Congressman Barney Frank Bending Toward Justice chronicles the early years of a movement pressing for equal rights and lifesaving resources for LGBTQ people who for eons have been shunned by the ignorant, reviled by the so-called faithful, and shamed even by their own families. Vic Basile leads the Human Rights Campaign through the AIDS epidemic as it suffers too many lives lost, fights for essential funding for research, education and treatment, confronts ignorance and discrimination, and begins to shift the hearts and minds of Americans about equal treatment. These unsung heroes of the movement worked unobtrusively and bravely within the system to change the system. Some of them are still here, too many are gone. Every single one of them has a poignant, powerful story that must be told and that never should be forgotten. About the Vic Basile has enjoyed the rare opportunity and extraordinary privilege of a career of public service and social justice advocacy. A widely recognized national leader in the LGBT community, he lives in Maryland.

264 pages, Paperback

Published October 2, 2023

Reviews

[Bevan Dufty · Rating 5 out of 5]

This important and powerful book follows the author’s role as the second Executive Director of then HRCF now the Human Rights Campaign, and the elevation of this organization in our civil rights movement. Vic covers the impacts of the AIDS epidemic, eviscerating generations of Gay men and others, yet also breaking down closet doors because the silence and indifference of President Reagan had to be fought