It is the largest advocacy, education, and political organization working in Oregon to end discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

[3] Oregon Citizens Alliance (OCA), an organization that opposed LGBT rights, successfully backed the passage of a 1988 ballot measure revoking the ban on sexual-orientation discrimination in the state's executive branch.

The following year, SOC-PAC successfully organized the opposition to another OCA proposal, a ballot measure to ban the recognition of homosexuals as a minority group.

[9] In 1999, Basic Rights launched the Fair Workplace Project,[10] which was designed to increase the number of employers voluntarily adopting nondiscrimination policies.

[13] In 2015, in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling on Marriage Equality, Basic Rights Oregon adopted a new strategic direction for 2015–2020.

Basic Rights Oregon joined the effort begun by the Democratic Party of Oregon LGBT Caucus in 2013 to pass HB2307, the Youth Mental Health Protection Act, which was signed into law by Governor Kate Brown, the nation's only out bisexual governor.

"[14] As of January 1, 2018, contractors working with the state of Oregon must have in place policies and practices which prohibit discrimination against their LGBTQ employees.