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Written by Lisa Neff, Staff writer
Oct 24, 2011
Paula Ettelbrick. – Photo: Courtesy
Attorney Paula Ettelbrick, a pioneering advocate for LGBT equality in the United States, died at the age of 56.
According to the Stonewall Community Foundation, Ettelbrick died of ovarian cancer on Oct. 7 in New York. She was the advocacy group's executive director.
The mother of two helped broaden the legal definition of family to include same-sex partners.
In the 1980s, long before same-sex marriage topped any LGBT organization's agenda, Ettelbrick argued publicly that gay and lesbian couples should have the right to marry.
She also was involved in a key legal victory: persuading New York City to grant domestic partner rights and benefits equal to those of traditional spouses.
Ettelbrick also held top positions in groups such as the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
"She was unflinching in her feminist vision of full inclusion and justice for all," said Kate Kendell of the National Center for Lesbian Rights. "Paula tirelessly and fiercely fought for the almost forgotten and often ignored. Whether it was people, or issues, Paula was always asking and challenging us to think bigger, more broadly, more expansively."
