Betsy Smith: Executive Director, EqualityMaine Since Betsy Smith became Executive Director of EqualityMaine, the statewide LGBT rights organization has experienced tremendous growth, political victories and one crushing defeat at the ballot box. Starting as a volunteer with EqualityMaine in 1992, Smith served as president of its Board from 1996-1999, then returned as its leader in 2002. Smith was instrumental in increasing the nonprofit’s budget from just $75,000 to $1.5 million to support campaigns for statewide trans-inclusive non-discrimination protections; domestic partner benefits including health insurance and inheritance rights; and most dramatically, marriage equality. Maine legalized same-sex marriage in May 2009, but a bitter voter referendum battle led to the law being overturned that November. Despite the setback, Smith is undaunted. “I remember with fond memories the day in 2004, following passage of our domestic partner law, when I watched dozens of happy and appreciative couples line a street in the state’s capital waiting to register as Maine’s first domestic partners. In 2005, I celebrated with a thousand ecstatic Mainers on Election Night after we passed statewide trans-inclusive non-discrimination legislation and then upheld it through a vote of the people at the ballot box,” Smith recalls. “Through our efforts to change public policies by passing statewide legislation, we are making a real difference in the lives of LGBT people and their families in Maine, and we will soon win back the freedom to marry.”
