Openly lesbian Congresswoman to be honored at Fenway Women's Dinner

Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin has her work cut out for her in 2010. "This Congress and this new President [Barack Obama] inherited a mess," she said. "People are suffering because of the mountain of debt and the recession brought on by the Bush years." While the challenges facing the Congress can seem daunting, the focus and tact Baldwin has employed in the past will no doubt serve to enable the Wisconsin native to tackle any problems coming her way this year.

That same focus and tact will be rewarded on March 13 when the first openly gay non-incumbent elected to Congress will receive the Dr. Susan M. Love Award -- given during Boston's Fenway Health Women's Dinner Party -- for her work in the field of women's and LGBT health.

"It's a deep honor," Baldwin said. "I'm very excited because I've heard such wonderful things about the advocacy and good work of Fenway Health."

Baldwin, 48, has built a formidable legacy of political accolades. She led successful efforts to pass the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act, and serves as co-founder and co-chair of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus. A major supporter of healthcare reform, Badwin has been ceaselessly pushing for the inclusion of LGBT-specific legislature. "Federal resources have not been applied to understanding the health disparities that exist within the LGBT community," Baldwin said. "We don't collect the data, and therefore that creates hurdles and challenges in terms of responding to the disparities that we all know exist." The Ending the LGBT Health Disparities Act (ELDA), a freestanding piece of legislation that Baldwin authored, would bring an improved focus to LGBT healthcare. "I think we have to bring renewed attention to just the basics. Collect the data. Build the body of evidence so that then we can move on to confronting those disparities."

Baldwin credits her time at Northampton's women-only Smith College with providing her the necessary leadership skills required to "[break] that glass ceiling of becoming the first woman elected to the U.S. Congress from Wisconsin.

"One of the wonderful things about a women's college is that an extraordinary percent of your role models and the people you see in leadership roles are women," she said. "I developed the confidence that I could aspire to almost anything."

Baldwin also came out as a lesbian while attending college in Massachusetts' liberal Pioneer Valley. "My time at Smith was transformative for all sorts of reasons."

The Congresswoman sees 2010 as a year rife with opportunity for change. The laundry list of what she calls "achievable goals" includes "passing into law my bill that provides domestic partnership benefits for federal employees -- including equal healthcare for coverage for gay and lesbian employees in committed relationships; a repeal of 'don't ask, don't tell,' [the military's ban on gays and lesbians serving openly]; and advancing the healthcare debate specifically as it applies to the LGBT community."

Baldwin has worked tirelessly to "insert as many [LGBT healthcare] provisions in the healthcare reform bill as I could, and we had several successes on the House side." Congress is still suffering the loss of Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy, who died of brain cancer in August 2009. "[He] was our stalwart champion in the Senate on LGBT civil rights issues and healthcare issues and LGBT health issues -- all of the above," Baldwin said. After his death, "we find ourselves with a House bill that really focused in on LGBT health disparities and a Senate bill that is silent on most of those issues."

While Congress struggles to remain in Democratic control, Baldwin works to insure that LGBT and women's rights issues are never far from the minds of American politicians. She'll receive the Dr. Susan M. Love Award at Fenway Health's Women's Party on March 13, held at the Boston Marriott Copley Place (110 Huntington Ave.) Out comedian Kate Clinton will headline the evening's entertainment. To purchase tickets to the event, or for more information, please visit www.womensdinnerparty.org.