Voice for Equality: Kim Gandy

Kim Gandy is an American feminist and was the president of the National Organization for Women (NOW) from 2001 until 2009. She graduated from Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, the seat of Lincoln Parish, where she earned a BA in mathematics.

Having taken a job with AT&T, Gandy became outraged that the firm required her husband's permission for employee benefits. She joined Louisiana NOW in 1973 and devoted the next several years to the campaign that overturned the state's Head and Master law, which gave husbands unilateral control over all property jointly owned by a married couple. She was divorced, resumed her maiden name, and inspired by her activism in NOW, studied law at Loyola University New Orleans.

Gandy went on to serve as a senior assistant District Attorney in New Orleans, and later opened a private trial practice, litigating countless cases seeking fair treatment for women. She served as president of Louisiana NOW from 1979 through 1981, national secretary of NOW from 1987 to 1991, and executive vice president of NOW from 1991 to 2001. She was elected national NOW president in 2001 and re-elected to a second term in 2005. To learn more: [Link]

On November 26, 2003, Kim Gandy was quoted on the National Organization for Women website as saying:

The so-called Federal Marriage Amendment is a transparent election-year ploy to gain political profit by exploiting bigotry and hate. The Constitution should be amended to extend rights to everyone and guarantee equal treatment, and should not be marred by institutionalizing discrimination.

Our Constitution is about expanding and defining rights and liberties, not limiting them. Lawmakers who support a sweeping federal mandate to keep same-sex couples from the legal rights inherent in civil marriage are pandering to prejudice. This stems from the same narrow-minded and bigoted perspective that fueled miscegenation laws. In the 1960's, the civil rights movement fought for interracial couples to have marriage rights--and won. We're fighting for marriage rights again, this time for same-sex couples. We'll win this struggle too. [Link]

Freedom to Marry salutes Kim Gandy as a Voice for Equality!

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