Statement by NCLR Policy Director Maya Rupert, Esq. (Washington D.C., May 21, 2013)—John Trasviña, Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO) at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), will be leaving HUD on May 21, 2013 to become Dean of the University of San Francisco School of Law. Assistant Secretary Trasviña has served in the Obama administration since 2009 when he was unanimously confirmed by the Senate. Under his leadership, FHEO has undertaken...
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Maya Rupert
Statement by NCLR Policy Director Maya Rupert (Washington, D.C., April 18, 2013)—Today, Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) announced the bi-partisan reintroduction of the Student Non-Discrimination Act (SNDA). Despite the frequency with which youth are targeted for harassment based on their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity in schools, there are currently no federal comprehensive anti-bullying protections. This legislation would protect students...
The President’s announcement that he supports marriage equality has encouraged other high- profile leaders and organizations to express their support for marriage equality, most notably the NAACP, which decided in a near-unanimous vote to pass a resolution officially supporting marriage equality. The President also adds his voice to a growing chorus of people of faith who embrace equality not in spite of their religious beliefs, but because of them. It would be tempting to see this moment as...
In a powerful speech on Saturday, January 28th, Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan made history when he unveiled HUD’s LGBTQ Equal Access policy—a new rule that will protect more than 5.5 million people across the country from discrimination in public housing and Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured mortgages. The new rule, announced at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force’s annual Creating Change conference, will improve the lives of LGBTQ...
Tonight, President Obama gave his third State of the Union address, which focused on building a lasting economic recovery. For the first time in our nation’s history, two out lesbians—Air Force Colonel Ginger Wallace and Lorelei Kilker—were among the select group invited to attend the speech as guests of First Lady Michelle Obama. Wallace is an Air Force intelligence officer who served in the Iraq war. When she was recently promoted to her current rank, her partner participated in her official...
(San Francisco, CA, December 7, 2011)—The National Center for Lesbian Rights is proud to announce that its Federal Policy Director Maya Rupert has been named one of this year’s 100 most notable people by Ebony Magazine, the nation’s premier black magazine. Since joining NCLR in 2010, Rupert has been a regular contributing writer to a number of media outlets—including the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, and The Huffington Post—where she frequently addresses the intersection of...
Sitting in the White House last night for a truly “once in a lifetime moment”—a movie screening of “Thurgood” with President Barack Obama—I was moved by how far justice and equality has really come in our nation, and how much further we have to go to finish the promise of “equality and justice for all.” Just a few feet from me, President Obama sat in one of the plush, red seats in the White House’s movie theater to watch the biopic about Thurgood Marshall, the lead attorney and key architect...