LGBT civil rights leader Cheryl Jacques was Massachusetts’s first openly gay state senator. During her 6-term service from 1992 to 2003, she penned and passed over 40 pieces of legislation and led the national fight against the Federal Marriage Amendment, a proposed constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. Jacques is also the former President and Executive Director of the Human Rights Campaign, and has appeared as a commentator on a variety of news programs. She was recently appointed an administrative judge for the Department of Industrial Accidents, which oversees the Workers’ Compensation system. She and her partner, Family Equality Council Executive Director Jennifer Chrisler, are the proud parents of 6-year-old twin boys, Tim and Tom. “Equality cannot wait for a convenient time,” writes Jacques on cheryljacques.org. “….Change does not come through cautious inaction, but through principled insistence.” –MF

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