activist retreat

GetEQUAL Founders Robin McGehee + Kip Williams Returning To The Real World

There probably won’t be many White House fence handcuffings in the near future for GetEQUAL creators Robin McGehee or Kip Williams, who formed the group this time last year after the National Equality March: The pair have announced they are returning to the real world now that their “generous seed funding” has run dry: “Launching this exciting shift in our structure is accompanied by a shift for me,” writes McGehee in a statement. “I made a decision one year ago to put my career as a tenure-track college professor on hold in order to work with GetEQUAL full-time — intending to get things up and running, and then to step back a bit in order for other organizers to step forward. That work has been the opportunity of a lifetime and, though I am returning to the classroom, I will remain at GetEQUAL as Director. This shift is only possible because of the success we have seen in building up a community of folks — including you — who are unwilling to sit on the sidelines while others deal away our equality in the confines of Washington, DC. While I am returning to the classroom, I am also keeping my feet firmly planted at GetEQUAL and will be encouraging all the talented organizers working with us now to take a more active role in GetEQUAL’s work. GetEQUAL’s co-founder, Kip Williams, will also be shifting a bit — while he will continue organizing with us, he has succumbed to the siren call of graduate school and we’re proud that he will be making academia just a bit more radical. :-)” So what does all this mean, besides leaving Nancy Pelosi alone and more freely flowing traffic? That Jonathan Lewis, the Progressive Insurance heir who bankrolled the operation, is trimming down his cash infusions, though “three full-time regional field directors and a managing director” will stay on. Maybe they’ll start poking at that ENDA thing?

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