The Human Rights Campaign participated in a rally organized by the Unite for Marriage Coalition outside the Supreme Court to demonstrate support for marriage equality on Tuesday, April 28, 2015 in Washington.

WASHINGTON — Staff at the Human Rights Campaign last fall described the working environment at the nation's largest LGBT rights group as "judgmental," "exclusionary," "sexist," and "homogenous," according to a sharply critical report that was commissioned by HRC and obtained by BuzzFeed News.

Based on a series of focus groups and surveys with the staff, conducted by outside consultants, the report detailed systemic problems within HRC — ranging from treatment of employees, including those who are transgender, to concerns about human resources and organizational commitment to diversity and inclusion.

HRC acknowledged the report on Tuesday, and provided BuzzFeed News with a four-page response on Wednesday. HRC spokesman Fred Sainz told BuzzFeed News that the group commissioned the report "as part of its own self-reflection and is a concrete sign that HRC is committed to doing better both by our employees and the communities we serve."

Three elements of the report, which was conducted by The Pipeline Project, were provided to BuzzFeed from an anonymous source: a snapshot of the findings, a summary of the findings, and a detailed report from the group.

"Leadership culture is experienced as homogenous — gay, white, male," the report stated. "Exclusion was broad-based and hit all identity groups within HRC. A judgmental working environment, particularly concerning women and feminine-identified individuals, was highlighted in survey responses."

The Pipeline Project provided the reports to HRC leadership early this year. The key findings of the report are yet to be shared with staff, as was promised by the organization.

Chad Griffin, HRC's president, provided BuzzFeed News with a statement about the report, saying, "Like many organizations and companies throughout our country, HRC has embarked on a thoughtful and comprehensive diversity and inclusion effort with the goals of better representing the communities we serve — and hiring, nurturing and retaining a workforce that not only looks like America but feels respected and appreciated for the hard work they do every day."

HRC provided BuzzFeed News with a list of 18 steps it says it already has taken to improve the working environment at the organization since it received the Pipeline Report and 3 additional steps that are "in the works."

"As we fully anticipated, the report flagged problem areas that the organization has already begun to tackle aggressively," Griffin said in his statement. "We'll continue to address them, one by one, as any serious organization recognizing these challenges would."

The report informed HRC leadership that staff are critical of an "exclusionary environment" at the advocacy group — where 1 in 5 staff believe "diversity and inclusion" is not a necessary part of the group's work and values.

To that end, the report stated, "There is a general perception that current diversity efforts are not working and that there's a lack of diversity understanding broadly." A participant in a focus group noted, "A lot of folks are personally invested in diversity inclusion but their voices have been smothered or pushed away."

At the same time, the report also noted that employees were eager to participate in the Pipeline Project's process because they believe in the organization's aims and wanted to help it succeed. "There is a high level of commitment among HRC's staff to the point that almost three-quarters would recommend the organization to a friend or colleague as a good place to work," one portion summarizing the findings states.