Jennifer Chrisler

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Jennifer Chrisler
Former executive director of the Family Equality Council
In office
2005–2013
Personal details
SpouseCheryl Jacques
Children3
Alma materSmith College

Jennifer Chrisler is a former executive director of the Family Equality Council, a nonprofit LGBTQ advocacy and education organization based in the United States that was previously known as the Family Pride Coalition.[1]

Early life and education[edit]

Chrisler was raised in upstate New York,[1] in what she described as "an all-white, pretty much all-Protestant, working-class community."[2] During high school, she was interested in becoming a wedding planner.[1] In 1988, she began attending Smith College, and during college, began to learn about social justice issues and became involved in campus efforts to support diversity.[1] She came out as a lesbian to her mother while she was a student at Smith.[1] After completing her Bachelor's degree, she continued at Smith to complete a Master's degree and then moved to Boston in 1993.[1]

Career[edit]

In 1993, Chrisler began her political career as staff in the Massachusetts state Senate, working for state senator Cheryl Jacques for three years, first as office manager and then staff director.[1][3] In 1996, she moved on to work for American Science & Engineering as director of corporate communications and then worked as a director of operations for a private venture fund.[4][1] She then became the finance director for the unsuccessful 2001 campaign for Massachusetts's 9th congressional district by Jacques,[1] and afterwards became employed as a fundraiser for the Freedom to Marry Coalition of Massachusetts.[3]

Jacques and Chrisler moved to Washington, D.C. after Jacques became the executive director of the Human Rights Campaign, and they married in Massachusetts in 2004, where they had maintained residency and gay marriage was recognized at the time.[5][3][1] Chrisler became the executive director of the Family Equality Council in 2005, when the organization was known as the Family Pride Coalition,[3][6] after spending three years at home with their twin children.[5]

As executive director of the Family Equality Council, Chrisler engaged in advocacy on behalf of LGBTQ parents raising children,[7] training for families on how to lobby for civil rights,[3] and lobbying for a variety of issues, including anti-discrimination legislation,[8][9] adoption rights,[10] hospital visitation rights,[11] and gender-neutral passport applications.[12]

In 2006, as executive director of the Family Equality Council, Chrisler was an organizer of efforts to help ensure participation of LGBTQ parents in the annual White House Easter Egg Roll, when tickets were distributed on a first-come, first-served basis to the public willing and able to wait in long lines in advance of the event.[13][14][15] Chrisler told the Associated Press, "Showing up, participating fully in an American tradition, showing Americans that we do exist, that in our minds isn't a protest."[16] In 2007, she again participated with her family and other families with LGBTQ parents.[17] In 2009, families with LGBTQ parents were invited to the egg roll by the Obama administration, with tickets distributed directly to the Family Equality Council and other advocacy groups.[18]

During her tenure as executive director, the Family Equality Council also organized Family Week in Provincetown, Massachusetts.[19][20] In 2012, Chrisler invited Family Research Council president Tony Perkins to meet her family at their home, telling CNN her goal was to "open his heart a little bit" about gay parents and marriage,[21] but he declined.[22] In 2013, she announced her retirement from the Family Equality Council.[7]

From 2013 to 2018, she was the vice president for alumnae relations at Smith College, and then was vice chancellor for university advancement at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth before she became the chief advancement officer at Hampshire College in 2019.[23][24]

Personal life[edit]

Chrisler is married to Cheryl Jacques. They have twin children, born in 2002,[25][26] and a third child born in 2012.[27]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Gambone, Philip (2010). Travels in a Gay Nation: Portraits of LGBTQ Americans. University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 52–58. ISBN 9780299236830. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
  2. ^ Gambone, Philip (August 2010). "The people I met, mostly in cities". The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide. 17 (4). Retrieved 13 April 2022 – via Gale.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Campaigning for Gay Rights With a Focus on Families". Politico. April 2, 2007. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
  4. ^ Acain, Angela (January 1, 2007). "At the Forefront of Family Pride and Social Justice: An interview with Jennifer Chrisler". Gay Parent Magazine – via EBSCOhost.
  5. ^ a b Kiritsy, Laura (March 10, 2005). "Jennifer Chrisler to lead Family Pride Coalition". Bay Windows. 23 (12) – via EBSCOhost.
  6. ^ Proulx, Marie-Jo (March 30, 2005). "Moving Up & Out: Cheryl Jacques and Jennifer Chrisler". Windy City Times. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
  7. ^ a b Kirby, Brandon (February 11, 2013). "NBC Chairman Bob Greenblatt Honored at Family Equality Council L.A. Awards Dinner". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
  8. ^ Crary, David (September 15, 2010). "Who's a family? Study tracks shifting definition". Lawrence Journal-World. Associated Press. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
  9. ^ Johnson, Chris (March 5, 2010). "Adoption anti-discrimination bill gets reboot". Washington Blade. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
  10. ^ Ludden, Jennifer (May 17, 2012). "Same-Sex Parents Lobby Congress For Equal Rights". NPR. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
  11. ^ Johnson, Chris (April 16, 2010). "Obama mandates hospital rights for LGBT couples". Washington Blade. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
  12. ^ Malcolm, Andrew (January 7, 2011). "Obama State Department deletes 'Mother, 'Father' from forms for more correct 'Parent One, 'Parent Two'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
  13. ^ Crary, David (January 20, 2006). "Egg roll is now a political football". Ocala StarBanner. Associated Press. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
  14. ^ Bumiller, Elisabeth (April 10, 2006). "The Egg Roll (Again!) Becomes a Stage for Controversy". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
  15. ^ Johns, Merryn (April 2011). "Jennifer Chrisler: the fight for lesbian and gay families is in good hands". Curve. 21 (3). Retrieved 13 April 2022 – via Gale.
  16. ^ "White House Easter: Gay Friendly?". CBS News. Associated Press. April 13, 2006. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
  17. ^ "A Quiet Easter Egg Roll For Family Pride". Politico. April 9, 2007. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
  18. ^ Rivers, Daniel Winunwe (2013). Radical Relations: Lesbian Mothers, Gay Fathers, and Their Children in the United States Since World War II. University of North Carolina Press. p. 207. ISBN 9781469607184. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
  19. ^ Dunlap, David W. (August 7, 2010). "Gay Couples Cheer Ruling on Marriage". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
  20. ^ Gravari-Barbas, Maria; Graburn, Nelson, eds. (2016). Tourism Imaginaries at the Disciplinary Crossroads. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781317009450. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
  21. ^ Ring, Trudy (May 28, 2012). "WATCH: Activist Says Family Dinner Might Soften Antigay Leader's Attitude". The Advocate. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
  22. ^ "Happy Mother's Day to More Than 50 of Our Favorite LGBTQ+ Moms". The Advocate. May 11, 2018. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
  23. ^ Christensen, Dusty (September 3, 2019). "Hampshire College brings former Smith officer on as development chief". Daily Hampshire Gazette. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
  24. ^ "Jennifer Chrisler to Lead Alumnae Relations at Smith College". Grécourt Gate. Smith College. January 9, 2013. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
  25. ^ Bugg, Sean (April 13, 2006). "Family Ties: Family Pride Coalition's Jennifer Chrisler on the fight for gay and lesbian families". Metro Weekly. Archived from the original on August 22, 2006. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
  26. ^ "Twins for Jacques, partner". The Sun Chronicle. April 11, 2002. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
  27. ^ "It's a boy! Jennifer Chrisler and family welcome baby Matthew!". familyequality.org. July 12, 2012. Retrieved 13 April 2022.

External links[edit]

  • Prepared Statement of Jennifer Chrisler, Executive Director, Family Equality Council ("Strengthening School Safety Through Prevention of Bullying" Joint Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Healthy Families and Communities and the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education, Committee on Education and Labor, U.S. House of Representatives, 111th Congress, First Session, Hearing Held in Washington, DC, July 8, 2009, pp. 79 – 80)
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