GINNY APUZZO
Legendary activist Ginny Apuzzo has battled on the frontlines of gay and lesbian issues—including civil rights, health care, anti-gay violence and aging concerns—for the past 40 years. While serving as executive director of the National Gay Task Force, Apuzzo testified at the first U. S. Congressional hearings on AIDS and spearheaded the community’s response to federal HIV/AIDS policy. She then made history in 1997 when President Clinton appointed her to the White House as Assistant to the President for Management and Administration, making her the nation’s highest-ranking openly gay government official. She currently serves as a member of the New York State Commission on Public Integrity, which works to prevent ethics violations between government and the public, and as founding president and permanent board member of the Hudson Valley LGBTQ Community Center in upstate New York. “My efforts over the last 40 years have been to help fashion a future for our community that is safer, more secure and healthier than our past,” Apuzzo says. “Stonewall is not just about yesterday; for us it must also be about tomorrow.” –SLO
