Q & A with HRC head, Joe Solmonese.

Joe Solmonese is the incoming head of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the largest gay-rights group in the country.

He arrives at a time when gay-rights advocates are reevaluating their political strategy after the November passage of nearly a dozen state bans on same-sex marriage and the reelection of President Bush, who favors a constitutional ban on gay marriage. Solmonese was executive director of EMILY’s List, a political action committee that works to elect pro-choice Democratic women.

Q: After the elections, some people argued that the gay-rights movement needed to step back from the marriage issue and focus on more moderate goals such as civil unions. Do you think that’s right?

A: I always chuckle when I hear that because I think, if you really understand where we are in history, it is not a setback. … What I’m focused on is the fact we are as committed to that as we are to ending workplace discrimination, hate crimes, a whole range of issues. I don’t think one is mutually exclusive of the other. … The fight for marriage is the thread that runs through all of our work.

Q: Are you at all concerned that gay marriage was the “red Ferrari rolling down main street” [as HRC board member Hilary Rosen wrote in an op-ed shortly after the elections] and that it turned people off to the gay-rights movement?

A: You know, it just depends on who you are. Every American reacts to it in a different way. … What is happening out there in the country is so much bigger than all of us, and it’s our job to try to harness that change and make sure that people understand, if this is happening, why are we seeking that it happen? What is this equality we’re pressing for?

Q: You have said that you plan to take the gay-rights movement “to the next level.” What do you mean?

A: I was referring to the need for us to respond to the changing political landscape. For all that we are doing here in Washington and on Capitol Hill, we need to ensure that our efforts are just as expansive across the country. … We have to make sure there is as much influence coming from the grassroots.

Q: How is the political landscape changing?

A: You have look at where we are over our history as a formal, political movement. … We’re in this big period of change. … These brave people in Massachusetts came forward and said we want to be treated with the same rights and responsibilities as all Americans, and they won and that’s a historic thing. It’s bigger than me, it’s bigger than us, it’s bigger than HRC.

Q: You spent nearly 12 years at EMILY’s List. How does that prepare you to lead a gay-rights group?

A: Well, first and foremost, it enabled me to gain a keen understanding of the social fabric of this country. I spent more time out in America than here in Washington during most of my tenure, and, in doing so, I really seemed to learn how it is that we make gains both in red states and in blue.

Q: Speaking of red states, will you reach out more to Republicans or attempt to become more bipartisan?

A: Obviously if we’re going to make any gains we’re going to have to widen our circle, so in terms of reaching out, when we’re out there in states around the country, these issues don’t really know partisan boundaries, and that’s the same here in Washington.

Q: There are three members of Congress who are openly gay [Reps. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.)]. How many more do you think are in the closet?

A: I have no idea.

Q: No idea?

A: None at all. I can tell you it’s not something I think about.

Q: But couldn’t it affect how they think about [gay rights] issues?

A: I’m much more interested in how people vote and what people say. … Our mission is to either change what they’re saying or change what they believe, or, as a last effort, try to change the person who holds that seat. We’re going to be successful if we focus on how they vote and what they say rather than who they are.

Q: You are gay yourself.

A: Yes.

Q: Do you have a partner?

A: No.

Q: If you did, would you want to get married?

A: Yeah.

Q: Newt Gingrich’s sister works at HRC. Dick Cheney’s daughter is a lesbian. Do you think family members can have an impact on policymakers? Do you exploit that?

A: The simple answer is: unquestionably. It is at the core of what we need to do. When you know someone — whether it’s a co-worker, a family member or a friend — it influences the way you see the world. It is, I believe, the single most important thing in changing the hearts and minds of Americans.

Q: What do you think of outing campaigns?

A: Different people have different philosophies about this and approach it in different ways. … If you’re outing someone on the Hill, are you doing it because you’re going to change their mind about their vote?... I think that I and the HRC focus on how people vote and what people say.

Q: Would you advise people who are waging outing campaigns to stop?

A: Well, I haven’t really had a long conversation with anyone who’s on this, so I can only speak to what I think.

Q: Can you say whether the campaigns are good or bad, helpful or unhelpful?

A: You ask yourself, good, bad, helpful or unhelpful in doing what? In doing what? I’d be curious to see how they would answer that sentence. Is it in causing someone to lose their job? Is it in changing a vote, changing the direction of Congress? That is the question I would ask.

Q: Have you seen votes changed as a result of outing campaigns?

A: No, I haven’t.