Lesbian Super PAC Formed to Advocate for LGBT Issues and Women’s Rights

The United States has a new Super PAC (Political Action Committee) fueled by championing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights as well as women’s reproductive and sexual rights. LPAC, launched Wednesday, encompasses a designer pair of significant 2012 election hot button affairs: the gay community and women’s health.

Out actress Jane Lynch (Glee) and sports icon Billie Jean King are among the first public entities to support LPAC. Additionally, Chicago Cubs co-owner Laura Ricketts is one of the largest backers of the PAC.

LPAC’s website tagline reads: “Ensuring lesbians have a meaningful voice in the 2012 elections & beyond.”

According to the website’s FAQ page:

Why was LPAC created?

• Women’s equality and well-being is under attack in a way this country has not seen in decades;
• As a result, a dramatic window of opportunity exists to counter this onslaught by electing strong pro-women candidates running for office;
• We believe that a strong lesbian PAC will influence the political and social landscape generating results.

Is LPAC going to become a new lesbian advocacy group?

• LPAC is a political action committee dedicated to one goal: giving lesbians a real seat at the table in politics.

The LPAC advisory board consists of the following key players:

• Sarah Schmidt – Chicago, IL – Chair and treasurer of LPAC and founder and principal of Sarah Schmidt Consulting, LLC. Schmidt is also actively involved in her family’s third generation business, U.S. Venture, Inc., where she serves on the Board of Directors. From January of 2005 until November of 2011 she served as Family President, responsible for the leadership of the shareholder group. Since 2005, Schmidt has also served as the Director of the U.S. Venture Open, a charitable golf outing dedicated to fighting poverty in Northeast Wisconsin.

• Valerie Berlin – New York, NY – Co-Founder and Principal at BerlinRosen Public Affairs, a strategic communications and political consulting firm in New York City and Washington, D.C that works with leading issue advocacy, corporate, labor, non-profit and electoral clients at the local, state and federal level.

• Emily Giske – New York, NY – A government affairs specialist for Bolton-St. Johns, LLC. Giske has extensive knowledge in Albany and New York City and has lobbied for corporations, financial institutions, not-for-profit entities, and local municipalities. Giske was one of the lead lobbyists instrumental in helping New York pass the 2011 Marriage Equality Act.

• Laura Ricketts – Chicago, IL – Director and part owner of the Chicago Cubs Major League Baseball Club as well as Chairman of the Board of Chicago Cubs Charities. Ricketts is the first openly gay woman to own an MLB franchise and is co-chair of the DNC’s LGBT Leadership Council and the National Leadership Counsel for Lambda Legal.

• Alix Ritchie – Fort Lauderdale, FL– Media strategy consultant and former founder, owner, and publisher of the Provincetown Banner, a community newspaper for Cape Cod, and recipient of the New England Press Association Newspaper of the Year Award. Ritchie is also a self-described agitator, political activist, and occasional polemicist.

• Margaret Traub – Brooklyn, NY – President & CEO of Adesso a company that designs, manufactures, and sells contemporary home décor. Traub and her partner, Phyllis Dicker, sponsor an annual scholarship that awards funds to worthy lesbian college and graduate students. They also sponsor a fellowship at the Harvard Kennedy School for students to research gay issues and public policy.

• Urvashi Vaid – New York, NY – Director of the Engaging Tradition Project at the Center for Gender and Sexuality Law at Columbia Law School. Vaid is an attorney, writer and longtime leader in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) and social justice movements. She is former executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and has been a leader for over a decade in several philanthropic organizations.

• Donna Victoria – Washington, DC – A pollster with over 20 years of experience, Victoria is the founder of Victoria Research & Consulting and has worked on a wide variety of non-discrimination, marriage equality, and political messaging projects for the LGBT community.

LPAC is non-partisan and will support any local or federal candidate of any party who champions issues important to the community.

“Members of the LGBT community are inspirational leaders and role models in every aspect of American life – from education to entertainment, from sports to science,” stated King, adding, “The formation of LPAC provides lesbians and the entire LGBT community a new, stronger voice and a real and respected seat at the table when politicians make policy that impacts our lives.”

Find out more here: PAC to elect pro-lesbian, pro-women candidates to public office in 2012.