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Roger, President Emeritus, was one of the founding members of LMA (1995) and he served for six years as LMA’s President (2001-2006). He has been active in the LGBT community in Washington State since the early 1970s, when he was teaching political science at Central in Ellensburg. He has been a leader in (often helping to start) a number of groups doing LGBT work, including: The Dorian Group (staff person 1977-1979, then President of this statewide Lesbian/Gay rights organization, 1980-1982), SEAMEC (co-chair of the first candidate evaluation committee 1977, then co-chair of SEAMEC 1978-1980), Citizens to Retain Fair Employment (participant, fighting Initiative 13 in 1978), Seattle Women's Commission (member, 1980), Gays/Police Task Force (member, 1980-1984), Pride Foundation (board, granting committee, executive director search committee, 1986-1990), Lesbian/Gay Democrats (treasurer and member of what is now Harvey Muggy Democrats, 1990-1991), Search Committee for Seattle Police Chief (for former Mayor Norm Rice, 1990), Discrimination Free Washington (board, media relations, 2003-4), Equal Rights Washington committee and board, 2004-5), and a number of state and local political campaigns of candidates and ballot measures. In LMA, Roger has focused on our public messages. He wrote our first FAQ, helped develop the LMA List, and is chair of the Education Committee. A native of Indiana, he has called Washington State home since 1972. He has degrees in political science from Indiana and Harvard universities.
Bronwyn
Allen grew up in Texas, but immediately upon high school graduation she
relocated to Seattle, a place she has happily called home for over 20
years. After graduating with degrees in Scandinavian Area Studies/Norwegian
Language & Literature
and Business Administration from the University of Washington in 1990,
she joined the US division of a global consulting firm, now part of the
Fujitsu family, where she has built a career as a management consultant
and communications specialist. In 1994 Bronwyn traveled back to her home
town in Texas to attend her 10-year high school reunion. It was there that
she unexpectedly met the love of her life and future wife, a former classmate
who had been Homecoming Queen!
Bronwyn and her partner of 11 years, Monette, became involved in the Legal Marriage Alliance in its very early days, serving as a "poster couple" with appearances on TV (Town Meeting, Jim Compton Report, Public Access), in newspapers (Seattle Weekly), and at public events (Gay Bingo, Pilgrim Church wedding ceremony, PRIDE parade). In 2001, they went to Vermont and entered into a Civil Union, the best legal option available at the time. Not satisfied until full legal marriage is available to same-sex couples everywhere, Bronwyn currently serves as LMA's Vice-President, and has previously served as Secretary. She is co-chair of the 10-Year Anniversary Event Committee, and is also a member of LMA's Education Committee.
Bronwyn and Monette live with their 2 precious cats in West Seattle.
Amy Culver has been a Board member since January 2005 and became Secretary
for the LMA in April of 2005. Amy began her involvement with the LMA
by volunteering at the Seattle Pride celebrations a few years ago. Amy,
a mother of two children, was married in a heterosexual relationship for
two years and has had the opportunity to experience the benefits that marriage
offers to a relationship. It is those benefits and the strong desire to
stand up for equality and the ideals in which she so strongly believes in
that drives her commitment to fight for marriage equality and to her community.
Penny Ridderbusch is the treasurer of LMA Washington and has been a board
member since August 2004. She joined the LMA board after witnessing the
backlash in Massachusetts after their Supreme Judicial Court ruled on same-sex
marriage, and after being in Georgia during the legislative debates on a
constitutional amendment restricting marriage to opposite-sex couples. She
is an advocate of social justice. Penny has served on the boards of local
and state non-profit groups dealing with with the family disease of alcoholism.
She is a volunteer homebuilder with Habitat for Humanity. She has been an
anti-war activist. Penny is a Certified Public Accountant and owns her own
accounting software consulting business.
Penny is a member of Saint Mark's Episcopal Cathedral, where she married her partner, Kathleen, in June 2005. Penny had been legally married for 29 years before coming out as a Lesbian.
Rebecca Dravich is a Northwest native and a graduate of the University
of Washington. Throughout her life she has been an activist on progressive
issues, working with organizations including NARAL, WashPirg, Youth AIDS
Prevention Theater, the GBL Commission and the Seattle Dyke March.
Serving as Director of the GBL Commission at the UW, as Co-President of the LGBT Community Center, and as Vice President of the Legal Marriage Alliance of Washington (LMA) have been highlights of her time in the non-profit arena.
Rebecca is a Realtor with Coldwell Banker Bain on Capitol Hill. She also currently serves on the boards of the LGBT Community Center and the LMA, and is Co-Chair of the LGBT Senior Housing Committee.
Mike Heath is the president and co-founder of QLaw,
the recently-formed GLBT Bar Association of Washington (www.Q-Law.org).
He also volunteers with the Pride Foundation Shareholder Activism Committee.
Mike practices law at Dorsey & Whitney LLP in Seattle, and filed an
amicus curia brief with the Washington Supreme Court supporting marriage
on behalf of Legal Marriage Alliance of Washington, the Vermont Freedom
to Marry Taskforce and Gay & Lesbian Advocates and Defenders. Mike & his
partner Chris share a home in the Central District.
Alicia Lewis, Program Director for the Rainbow Center and member of the
Board of Directors for the Legal Marriage Alliance of Washington, is a passionate
community builder and advocate for marriage equality. Over the last two
years she has spoken to hundreds of people across Washington state on the
issue of marriage equality. Additionally she spearheaded the Rainbow Center's
recent grassroots campaign to assist with a coordinated, statewide effort
to add sexual orientation and gender identity to our state's protected classes.
Her work with the Rainbow Center allows her to meet activists working on
a variety of issues both locally and statewide.
Nick Lovelace is the reigning Mr. Gay Seattle. Recently he was the
Volunteer Coordinator for Action Northwest and the production Manager for the Queen City Cruise that just happened on August 12th, 2006. In addition to sitting on the board of directors for the Legal Marriage
Alliance, he sits on the board of Seattle Out & Proud, which produces
Seattle's pride parade every year. This year he will be producing his
3rd annual show for Equal Rights Washington, which has taken place
every October since ERW's founding. Nick has been very involved in the
community for a number of years and is dedicated to achieving all the
goals of the Legal Marriage Alliance.
Susan Priebe has been a member of the LMA board since September 2005, and started as a volunteer at LMA's Seattle Pride events. She is a Records Analyst at PEMCO. She is a member of ARMA International, AIIM Northwest, and a volunteer for UNICEF. Susan comes to the issue of marriage equality as a non-gay supporter of full equality for LGBT people.
Troy Stansel-Garner has been a member of the LMA board for over two years.
He is a professional printer and co-owner of Odysseys, a business and convention
support provider. He served in the US Navy for 7 years as a cryptologic
technician. He has been a member of Q-Safety Patrol and Queercore. He believes
that marriage is an integral part of the equal rights movement. Troy and
his husband David were married in Massachusetts in May 2004.
Michael Taylor-Judd has been a board member of the Legal Marriage Alliance of Washington since January 2003 and currently serves as Vice President on the Board. Since moving down to Seattle in 1999 from Vancouver, BC (and other places around the world), he has become increasingly active in the LGBT community in Washington state. He started out in Seattle as a volunteer with Lambert House and a peer leader with Gay City Health Project's Queercore group, and previously served as Host for the Human Rights Campaign's Meetup group in the City.
When not busy with his work for LMA, he currently serves on the Board of the Washington State Stonewall Democrats as their Community Organizations Liaison and supports the work of Equal Rights Washington and the Religious Coalition for Equality. He also has been a longtime transit activist in Seattle.
He and his husband, Brian, have been together since 2001, and were legally married in his parent's living room in British Columbia, Canada in 2004.
John Wilkinson is a founder (1995) and long-time board member of the Legal Marriage Alliance of Washington. He was a board member and group leader of the Stop AIDS Project in San Francisco and an appointed member of the Seattle Commission for Lesbians and Gays. In 1990 he was on the steering committee of "No on 35," the successful ballot defense of Seattle's domestic partnership ordinance. In 1995 he was honored by the Gay and Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest and the Oregon Historical Society as a "founder and pioneer" of the gay/lesbian movement in Portland in the early 70's. He currently maintains the LMA web site, LMA's e-mail discussion lists, and the Marriage Equality News b;og. He has worked as a field engineer for Kodak for 33 years. He and his partner, David, have been together since 1970. They are among the couples briefly married in Oregon in 2004.
Monette Wise has been a member of the LMA board since September 2005, and
has been a supportive board spouse since the inception of LMA in 1995. She
and fellow board member Bronwyn Allen made their first media appearance
on KOMO Town Meeting in February 1996, serving as the group's "poster
couple." Monette and Bronwyn entered into a civil union in Vermont
in 2001, and look forward to the day when their marriage is legal in Washington
and throughout the US. Monette is a driftwood artisan, girl's high school
basketball coach, and kid's camp director.
National Gay & Lesbian Task Force
Equal Rights Washington
Human Rights Campaign
Don't Amend
Equal Rights Washington
Equal Rights Washington
Community Organizer & Activist
State Representative
Equal Rights Washington, Trikone-Northwest
Lambda Legal
Safe Schools Coalition
Religious Coalition for Equality
Northwest Women's Law Center
True North Law
Temple B'nai Torah
Trikone-Northwest
Parents, Friends, & Family of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG)
Freedom to Marry
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