“Tonight’s vote is a victory for fairness in Washington, and for Senator Ed Murray, who has worked so hard for so long to make life better for LGBT Washingtonians,” said Chuck Wolfe, president and CEO of the Victory Fund. “When this bill is finally signed into law, Ed and Michael, his partner of 20 years, will finally have realized the equality under state law Ed has fought for since he was first elected to the legislature in 1995. The Victory Fund is proud to support all six openly LGBT members of the Washington State Legislature, and we offer our deepest congratulations and thanks to Ed and to everyone in the Washington United for Marriage coalition that made tonight’s vote possible,” said Wolfe.

In the House, openly gay and lesbian lawmakers who are leading efforts to pass the measure include State Reps. Jamie Pedersen, Laurie Jinkins, Marko Liias, James Moeller, and David Upthegrove.

“Ending marriage discrimination in Washington will take the courage of many individuals, groups and allies, but we are especially proud of the openly gay and lesbian lawmakers whose honesty and example helped inspire their colleagues to support this bill. From the late Sen. Cal Anderson to the six who serve today, all have educated their colleagues, introduced their partners, authored legislation and spoke passionately about their own lives on the floors of the State House and Senate, and that has made a tremendous difference,” said Wolfe.

Photo:  Sen. Ed Murray and his partner, Michael Shiosaki, testifying in favor of SB 6239.  (Washington Senate Photo Services / Northwest News Network)

These four students will spend fourteen weeks interning on Capitol Hill, engaging in community service projects and attending leadership and professional development trainings offered by the Institute.

Find out more about the program and apply to the Victory Congressional Internship – the deadline for Summer 2012 applications is Monday, February 6.

VCI Spring 2012 Interns

(Pictured from left to right)

King Chan
Rep. Tammy Baldwin

King is a rising sophomore at Santa Monica College pursuing a degree in public affairs and policy management. He has served with GSA Network to collaborate with the California School Boards Association and the California Department of Education to make schools more inclusive of transgender and gender non-conforming youth and their allies. He most recently worked for Long Beach 6th District Councilman Dee Andrews, and serves on youth advisory councils for the Trevor Project and the Asian American Justice Center.

Jarod Keith
Rep. Nancy Pelosi

Jarod is a senior at Southern Adventist University in Collegedale, Tennessee, where he studies journalism and sociology. He works for the Southern Accent, the school’s student newspaper, and has written for various campus publications.

Torsten Knabe
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand

Torsten is a senior studying music at The University of Texas at Austin. He has lobbied Texas’ legislature for competitive insurance benefits for university faculty and staff and coordinated action to defeat a ban on gender and sexuality centers in Texas colleges and universities. He is an officer of the Queer Students Alliance and Texas StandOut where he is working towards gender neutral housing and competitive insurance benefits at UT Austin.

Heather Sharper
Rep. Ted Deutch

Heather is a senior at Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania studying sociology and political science. She is a graduate of Campus Pride’s LGBT Leadership Camp and is an officer of Shippensburg’s student organization, Students Advocating LGBTA Equality. She has worked with various Pennsylvania universities to strengthen the network between student advocacy groups.

Photo:  Victory Institute/Denis Dison

This is the second post in our series “Out Leaders in Public Policy,” highlighting openly LGBT leaders working in public policy areas that affect the broader population.

People raised in Silicon Valley generally have a healthy respect for technology, and Campbell, Calif., Vice Mayor Evan Low is no different.  Born in 1983 in San Jose, Low has become a leader in moving his community toward technology-based energy solutions, environmental sustainability and growth management.

In 2009 Low’s city council peers elected him to a one-year term as mayor, making him one of the youngest openly gay and youngest Asian-American mayors in America.  Now in his second term on the council, Low is focused on his community’s future.  Gay Politics spoke to him about his work on energy and sustainability issues.

GP:  Why is this issue so important to you?

EL:  This is my home.  It’s where I want to start a family.  Nothing is more important than building the future of your own community.  A big part of that is making sure it’s environmentally sustainable and fiscally sound, and that’s about making the right choices now.  As an elected official, I can choose to follow public opinion or I can help to lead it.  I’m interested in learning about our options and then helping people make the right decisions.

GP:  You’re big on the intersection of technology and sustainability.  What’s the thinking behind that?

EL:  Well, all of us in Silicon Valley are pretty sold on the promise of technology, but it’s not just because it happens to be our economic engine.  We’re the world leaders in creating technology to inform, entertain, protect and help manage our lives.  And we’ll help create the technology that will answer some of the toughest energy and environmental challenges faced around the world.

GP:  Can you give us an example?

EL:  Sure.  Right now we’re trying to take advantage of technology to build a smarter energy grid and help people understand their own energy usage better.  One part of that is installing smart meters that give families much more detailed and useful information about their energy usage at home.  It also allows energy suppliers to more accurately and efficiently deliver energy where and when its needed most.

GP:  How will that help the region become more environmentally sustainable?

EL:  The old saying is right:  information is power.  A lot of newer cars these days–especially hybrids–include gauges that let a driver know how efficiently the car is performing.  Drive like you’re in a race car and you see that efficiency rating drop, so there’s an incentive right in front of you to lay off the gas pedal–maybe boost your miles-per-gallon.  Knowing more about our own energy usage will help us become more energy aware and more efficient.  That will lower costs, lower emissions, and help us predict much more accurately our future energy needs.

GP:  And how do you, as an elected official, play a part in that?

EL:  The question for us as city officials is whether the city is going to take a lead in trying to adopt some of these policies and help educate people about their benefits.  That’s a policy question, but it’s also one about outreach and information and, yes, leadership.  That’s what I’m trying to do now around the issue of smart meters–explain how these can have a positive impact on our community’s future.

GP:  What other priorities are you working on?

EL:  We need similar solutions to challenges like reducing our water usage.  I’m also interested in how you make communities more walkable so that we rely less on cars.  I think all of these issues are definitely intertwined.  There’s an incentive for me as a young person to help shape how we think about these issues now so that when I’m raising kids here it will still be a beautiful and balanced place to live.