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National LGBTQ+ Leaders Supporting Rick Chavez Zbur for Attorney General

January 25, 2021

The Honorable Gavin Newsom Governor, State of California State Capitol, First Floor Sacramento, CA 95814

Dear Governor Newsom,

We are writing to you as leaders in the , , bisexual, and (LGBTQ+) community to respecfully urge you to appoint an openly LGBTQ+ person as California’s next attorney general and to express our strong support for our colleague Rick Chavez Zbur, executive director of .

For decades, we have watched and admired your courageous leadership in the fight for LGBTQ+ civil rights and deeply appreciate your unwavering commitment to our struggle for full, lived equality. You now have an historic opportunity to appoint California’s first openly LGBTQ+ attorney general and the nation’s first LGBTQ+ person of color to serve as a state attorney general — an action that would forever establish you as one of our community’s greatest allies.

LGBTQ+ people are historically underrepresented in elected office, comprising less than 1% of elected officials nationwide, even after significant progress has been made in the last number of elections. This disparity does more than just deprive the LGBTQ+ community of proportional representation in government; it deprives our government of highly qualified leaders whose authentic lived experiences make them empathetic, strategic and solutions-oriented public servants. It deprives LGBTQ+ young people — and their non-LGBTQ+ peers — of role models whose visibility in key government positions makes a powerful statement that LGBTQ+ people belong everywhere.

Countless studies and extensive reporting have clearly demonstrated the unfortunate reality that LGBTQ+ people are frequently targeted and harassed by law enforcement, overrepresented in the criminal and juvenile justice systems

National LGBTQ+ Leaders Supporting Rick Chavez Zbur for California Attorney General and particularly vulnerable to abuse and in correctional facilities. For transgender and gender-nonconforming people and LGBTQ+ people who are Black, Indigenous and people of color, these disparities are particularly devastating. Appointing an openly LGBTQ+ person of color who is both a distinguished attorney and a civil rights leader to serve as California’s top law ​ ​ enforcement officer would send a clear message to LGBTQ+ people throughout California and around the world that the Golden State is committed to correcting these injustices.

Since 2014, many of us have had the opportunity to work with Rick as he deftly led Equality California through a period of significant growth and expansion of its mission to include advancing civil rights and social justice for the diverse communities to which LGBTQ+ belong. Under his leadership, the organization has more than quadrupled in size and clearly cemented California’s role as a trailblazer in the fight for full, lived LGBTQ+ equality. Equality California has sponsored and passed groundbreaking legislation to protect LGBTQ+ youth against so-called “,” banned the shamefully offensive “gay and trans panic” defense from California courtrooms, sued the Trump-Pence Administration to block the transgender military ban and — with your signature last year — finally repealed the last vestiges of California’s discriminatory “sodomy laws.” The organization has launched a statewide program to hold school districts accountable for protecting LGBTQ+ students, worked to increase access to life-saving HIV prevention medications and advocated for policies to protect immigrant communities and address the state’s homelessness crisis.

Rick’s extensive experience as a leading government and environmental law attorney and his role leading a large nonprofit organization make him an extremely qualified candidate to serve as California’s next attorney general. But his lived experience — as an openly gay Latino from a small farming community in the Rio Grande Valley, as a gay man living through the AIDS crisis, as an LGBTQ+ co-parent of three and as a member of our community who has experienced first-hand the injustices of discriminatory laws — is what distinguishes Rick as an authentic, effective and compassionate leader who would serve California well as the state’s top attorney and be an outstanding partner to you in your work to build a “California for All.”

National LGBTQ+ Leaders Supporting Rick Chavez Zbur for California Attorney General

For the reasons listed above, we are proud to join LGBTQ+ leaders throughout California in respectfully urging you to appoint Rick Chavez Zbur as California’s next — and first openly LGBTQ+ — attorney general.

Sincerely,

Alphonso David President, Campaign

Kevin Jennings Chief Executive Officer, Former Assistant Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of Education

Andy Marra Executive Director, Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund (TLDEF)

Imani Rupert-Gordon Executive Director, National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR)

Janson Wu Executive Director, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD)

Evan Wolfson Founder, Freedom to Marry

Hon. Raymond Buckley Chair, Democratic Party Former State Representative, New Hampshire

Hon. Neil Giuliano CEO, Greater Phoenix Leadership Former Mayor, City of Tempe Former CEO, GLAAD Former CEO, AIDS Foundation

National LGBTQ+ Leaders Supporting Rick Chavez Zbur for California Attorney General

Hon. Kevin B. Morrison Commissioner, Cook County Board Member, LGBTQ Victory Fund

Hon. Annise Parker President & CEO, LGBTQ Victory Fund Former Mayor, City of Houston

J.D. Angle Board Member, LGBTQ Victory Fund

Gwen Baba Board Emeritus Council Member, Foundation

Elizabeth Birch CEO, Elizabeth Birch Company Former Executive Director, Human Rights Campaign

Denise Brogan-Kator Interim Chief Executive Officer, Family Equality

David Brown Legal Director, Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund (TLDEF)

Sara Burlingame Executive Director, Wyoming Equality

John Davidson Chief Counsel, Freedom for All Americans

Mitchell Draizin Founder & President, Concordia Philanthropic Fund

Sarah Kate Ellis President & CEO, GLAAD

National LGBTQ+ Leaders Supporting Rick Chavez Zbur for California Attorney General

Joseph Falk Board Member, LGBTQ Victory Fund

Kyle Ferari-Muñoz Board Member, LGBTQ Victory Institute

Ben Finzel President, RENEWPR

Mike Fuller Board Vice Chair, LGBTQ Victory Institute

Ruben Gonzales Executive Director, LGBTQ Victory Institute

Jeff Graham Executive Director, Equality

Lynn Greer Founding Co-Chair, LGBTQ Victory Fund Board Member, LGBTQ Victory Institute

Chris Hartman Executive Director,

Nancy Haque Executive Director, Basic Rights

Tony Hoang Managing Director, Equality California Board Member,

Mike Holloman Board Treasurer, One Victory

Alana Jochum Executive Director, National LGBTQ+ Leaders Supporting Rick Chavez Zbur for California Attorney General

Jeremy LaMaster Executive Director, FreeState Justice

Jennifer Levi Director, Project, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD)

Stephen Lewis Board Member, LGBTQ Victory Institute

Stuart Milk Co-Founder & Executive Chair, Foundation

David Mixner Civil Rights Activist & Author

Shannon Minter Legal Director, National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR)

Amit Paley CEO,

Catherine Pino Board Member, LGBTQ Victory Institute

Valerie Ploumpis National Policy Director, Equality California & Silver State Equality Victory Campaign Board Member, LGBTQ Victory Fund

Scout Executive Director, National LGBT Cancer Network

Alexander Slater Founding Partner, Clyde Group

Mattheus E. Stephens Board Member, LGBTQ Victory Fund National LGBTQ+ Leaders Supporting Rick Chavez Zbur for California Attorney General

John Tedstrom CEO, NextGen Leaders, Inc.

Kasey Suffrendini CEO & National Campaign Director, Freedom for All Americans

André C. Wade State Director, Silver State Equality

Dylan Waguespack Public Policy & External Affairs Director, True Colors United

Troy Williams Executive Director, Equality

Titles, positions, organizations, companies and affiliations are listed for identification purposes only and do not indicate the support or endorsement of anyone but the individual signer.