21 . 2003 »
k1 r i i 1 11 j t
news
assachusetts state Sen. Cheryl
Jacques will become the next
president and executive director
of the Human Rights Cam-
Jfj paign. The announcement
came Nov. 3, after a unanimous vote by the
hoard of directors at a meeting the previous
evening in Denver.
Jacques (pronounced Jakes) graduated from
Boston College in 1984 and Suffolk University
Law Schixil three years later. The 4 1 -year-old
Democrat became politically active at an early
age and was first elected to the state Senate in
1992, serving continuously since then.
Jennifer Wade Chrisler, her partner of nearly
five years, gave Jacques a gift of attending the
Millennium March on Washington for queer
rights in April 2000. That experience led to her
public coming out as a lesbian in a Boston Globe
editorial.
Jacques ran for Congress in a 2001 special
election when 9th Congressional District Rep.
Joe Moakley died in office. She placed second in
a crowded field where the liberal vote was divid
ed among several candidates.
In endorsing her for that race, The Boston
Phoenix said: “Beyond these tangible assets (of
her record] Jacques has something else that’s
hard to quantify: Call it star potential. Although
she’s been in the campaign just eight weeks, she
has grown dramatically on the trail.... She is
easily the most articulate candidate on issues
ranging from stem-cell research to civil rights to
tax reform."
Jacques announced a bid for the Democratic
nomination for lieutenant governor of Massa
chusetts in 2002, winning the early support of
the Gay tSi Lesbian Victory Fund. However, she
later abandoned that effort to mn for re-election
to the state Senate.
"I’ve pretty much been an advocate my
entire life,” Jacques said during a telephone
news conference Nov. 4 As an assistant district
attorney she “specialized in child abuse cases
and protecting kids.”
Jacques (left) with her partner, Jennifer Wade
Chrisler, and their twin boys, Timmy and Tommy
J ust O ut
HRCs new leader gefs high marks for bipartisanship
but loses points for staying closeted until 2000 by Bob
Those same concerns were the
focus of her work in the Massachu
setts Senate. She spoke at length
“of reaching across the aisle” with
“a lot of hard work and a lot of
coalition building” to create legisla
tive successes.
Vic Basile, co-chairman of the
HRC search committee that hired
Jacques, is “really excited about hav
ing her here. She has a great deal of
presence, she’s really smart, she’s got
political experience.
“One of the things that was very
important to us was [selecting]
someone who can build bipartisan
bridges. With some of the legisla
tion she has passed, she could only
do it with bipartisan support, and
she got it.” Basile cited defeat of
the local anti-gay Defense of Marri
age Act and passage of gun control
legislation.
Patrick Guerriero, executive
director o f Log Cabin Republi
cans, worked with Jacques while
he was a member of the Massa
chusetts Legislature. “Cheryl
Jacques is a proven leader for a
challenging time,” he said. “She is
a strong and experienced choice
to lead the Human Rights
Campaign.”
Basile acknowledged that rais
ing money is one of the executive
director's principal responsibilities
tor the $20-plus-m illion-a-year
organization. He said it was a
major concern for the committee,
which was impressed by her ability
to raise $1 million during the eight weeks of
her congressional campaign and thought she
could do even better tor a cause. “1 think she
is going to connect with donors; she has a
presence thing."
There also was concern that she has been
publicly out for only three years. But, Basile said,
“Her coming-out experience (at the Millennium
March] was so emotional for her. That is when
she wrote the Boston Globe piece. It was trial by
fire for her, coming out to the world because you
are in the camera’s eye.
“I think she really gets now how important it
Roehr
is to be out. I think that there is a freshness still
about her about that," he added.
Another concern is family. The job requires a
lot of time on the road, and one of the reasons Eliz
abeth Birch cited in stepping down was to spend
more time with her two young children. That also
was a factor in Elizabeth Toledo’s short stay as exec
utive director of the National Gay and Lesbian
Task Force, which ended in 2001. Jacques’ partner
gave birth to twin boys who are now toddlers.
“We were satisfied that she and her part
ner had talked a great deal about this," Basile
said. He pointed out that she is a legislator, a
politician, a law professor and someone with
her own private law practice. “T his is a
woman who spends lots of time away from
home now, and somehow they have found a
way to balance it.”
Jacques said she wants to continue HRCs
leading role in “educating America and helping
her to understand why it is important that
America fulfill her promise of fairness and
equality to each and every citizen." The
expansion
of
civil rights has
"The most important been one of the
nation’s greatest
tool in our arsenal
ach iev em en ts,
in appealing to
she added. “Our
job is to make
the hearts and minds sure that Ameri
ca understands
o f Americans
she is stronger
is living our lives
when she in
cludes everyone.
openly and honestly"
“The most
important
tixil
— Cheryl Jacques
in ixjr arsenal in
appealing to the hearts and minds of Ameri
cans is living our lives openly and honestly,"
Jacques said. Yet when asked how she justified
staying in the closet after realizing she wits a
lesbian and while gay rights were under
assault, she wasn’t very forthcoming.
Jacques argued that she had been “a
fighter and an advocate for civil rights for
all, including the G L B T career, long before
I was living my life openly.” She praised
H RC for not judging: “We accept people
along their path in life and don’t ask why
or why not; we just greet them with an
open hand.”
She declined a request to discuss her
compensation package, saying: “One of the
things that I’m loving now is that I can have
just a little comer of my life he private. My
compensation is between my family, HRC
and myself."
Jacques seemed unaware that such mat
ters must be filed on the organizations
Internal Revenue Service 990 form, which
is publicly available, albeit one to three years
after the fact, depending on the filing schedule.
She said, “W e’ll cross that bridge when we get
there.”
She will resign from her state Senate seat
and move to Washington, D.C., by the end of
the year. She already has begun the transition
process with Birch, during which time she will
establish her priorities for outreach.
“I’m not going to give up on people who
have written us off,” Jacques said. “I’m going to
continue to extend olive branches and discus
sion, because some people come around.” JH
N ext A o venture
P ortlands A ltgrnati ' jg S porting G o o d t S torg
( § ® P ( i) © ( P ® i? § 5 1 § 5 $ a [ p lk i i
'g '/U O fT iO
~