CHICAGO, Feb. 4, 2021 — The American Bar Association Commission on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity will honor Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) with its Stonewall Award during a virtual ceremony on Feb. 20 at 5:30 p.m. CST at the ABA Midyear Meeting.
Named after the New York City Stonewall Inn police raid and riot of June 28, 1969, which was a turning point in the gay rights movement, the award recognizes lawyers who have considerably advanced lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals in the legal profession and successfully championed LGBT legal causes.
Baldwin is the first openly LGBTQ woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives (in 1999) and to the Senate (in 2013). She began her career as a lawyer in private practice from 1989-92, then became the first openly lesbian member of the Wisconsin Assembly and one of a very few openly gay politicians in the country at the time. In 1994, Baldwin proposed legalizing same-sex marriage in Wisconsin and in 1995 proposed domestic partnerships in Wisconsin.
In 2018, she was one of 20 senators who signed a letter to then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urging him to reinstate a policy that granted visas to same-sex partners of LGBTQ diplomats who had unions that were not recognized by their home countries. In 2019, Baldwin joined 17 other senators in signing a letter to Pompeo requesting an explanation of a State Department decision not to issue an official statement that year commemorating Pride Month nor to issue the annual cable outlining activities for embassies commemorating Pride Month.
Baldwin has a B.A. from Smith College and J.D. from the University of Wisconsin Law School.
You can find a photo of Baldwin here.
The ABA Commission on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity leads the ABA’s commitment to diversity, inclusion and full and equal participation by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the ABA, the legal profession and society. Created in 2007, the commission seeks to secure equal treatment in the ABA, the legal profession and the justice system without regard to sexual orientation or gender identity.
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