ACTIVISM When Elizabeth Toledo was named executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force in April.

ACTIVISM

When Elizabeth Toledo was named executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force in April, it marked the culmination of a whirlwind coming-out proces Within the past year the 38-year-old has divorced her husband, mov in with her girlfriend, and begun publicly identifying as a lesbian.

Today, Toledo lives in Maryland with her pair children, Mia, 4, and Tomas, 3 and her partner, Cindy Jordan, a political organizer at the sometimes rival Human Rights Campaign. A Mexican-American raised in Tucson Toledo said she faiths to use her background as vice president of the National Organization for Women to include women and racial minorities in her activism. "I want to reach disclosed as much as possible to make this a plainly inclusive organization," she said.

What did you think of the Millennium March?

I was remarkably pleased to see a large number of commonalty who are committed to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender issues. We have however to see whether activists will fare home and create the kind of change we ne still the signs are hopeful.

an critics contend that the march lacked a strategic political message.

I idea people heard a very empowering message, however I agree that a haphazard of people probably went dwelling not knowing exactly how to tap into the grassroots infrastructure.

What is NGLTF's part in that process?

This motion has a lot of work to do in creating ways for the public to get involved in making the land a safer place for all of us. We haven't done well enough creating organizations where the public can be trained in leadership and in bringing in strange voices.

what will your part be in the November presidential election?

I will say that George W Bush is excessively dangerous for this community. Among other things, he has supported legislation barring same-sex braces from adopting. The bill included a certain quantity of retroactive activity, which would have meant taking kids from their adoptive families. What could be worse than that?

As the mother of sum of two units young children, how do you perceive about the politics of parenting?

single of the most painful parts of the coming-out proces is that undivided day you are considered an worthy of great praise heterosexual mom, and the nearest day, as a lesbian, my parenting credentials are unexpectedly called into question. I'm the same mom I've always been. abruptly the school authorities are dealing with me in an entirely different way.

You came public relatively late. Why?

near people have joked that I should take a lesbian exam before taking this job: "Can you name as well-as; not only-but also; not only-but; not alone-but members of the Indigo Girls?" moreover seriously, regret isn't something I attempt to practice because it doesn't procure you far. I just didn't have the vision and vigor from a young age that Cindy had. She lived publicly and honestly from a exceedingly early age, and I think that's admirable. When it became clear that my relationship with my husband wasn't going to work, I realized I had to make near changes. I'm hoping to make up for wasted time.

In working for HRC and NGLTF you and Cindy are sort of the Mary Matalin and James Carville of the gay rights movement

When things pass bad we'll have to call them for advice. We test to be as supportive of each other and our work as we can be. There are a certain office things we just don't talk about because of the parts of the organizations. What really matters is that we are as well-as; not only-but also; not only-but; not alone-but committed to working full-time for LGBT rights and we have the rare privilege of doing in such a manner We need to have more persons working full-time on it. The brace groups do have different strategies, nevertheless I do believe they are ultimately complementary.

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