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
Chrisler was raised in
upstateNew 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]
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]
^Acain, Angela (January 1, 2007). "At the Forefront of Family Pride and Social Justice: An interview with Jennifer Chrisler". Gay Parent Magazine – via EBSCOhost.
^
abKiritsy, Laura (March 10, 2005). "Jennifer Chrisler to lead Family Pride Coalition". Bay Windows. 23 (12) – via EBSCOhost.
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)