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LGBT Rights Advocate Paula Ettelbrick Dies

Former legal director of Lambda Legal and executive director of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission Paula Ettelbrick died at the age of 56 of peritoneal cancer earlier this month. In addition to these positions, Ettelbrick, a leader in the lesbian and gay rights movement, also served as legislative counsel at Empire State Pride Agenda and policy director at the National Center for Lesbian Rights. Andrew Lane, executive director of the Johnson Family Foundation stated, “Her contributions to law and policy affecting LGBT lives across the past three decades are simply immeasurable.”

Matt Foreman, former executive director of Empire State Pride Agenda, noted Ettelbrick’s involvement in negotiating New York City’s domestic partnership laws in 1997, saying, “At the time, it was the nation’s most comprehensive measure in this area, extending to domestic partners all the same rights and benefits offered to spouses under city law.”

Ettelbrick also taught a course on sexuality and the law at New York University Law School and worked as a lecturer at Barnard College.

New York Times 10/8/11; Washington Blade 10/7/11

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