Jo Deutsch served as Freedom to Marry’s Federal Director from 2011 to 2015. Deutsch was born in 1960 in Florida, where she was raised. Deutsch became active as a feminist by the time she was in high school and feminism continued to influence her in college and through her work as a lobbyist on Capitol Hill for groups such as the Association of Flight Attendants. In this interview, Deutsch describes her upbringing, education, coming out as a lesbian, and many years working in DC representing labor organizations. She joined Freedom to Marry in 2011 and worked on legislation designed to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). When DOMA was overturned by the United States Supreme Court in 2013, she turned her attention to working with the DC-based media and increasing the number of elected officials who declared their support for marriage. In this interview, she discusses all of these activities along with the campaigns “Democrats: Say I Do,” “Mayors for the Freedom to Marry,” and “Young Conservatives for the Freedom to Marry.”
Note
Deutsch, Jo. "Jo Deutsch and the Federal Campaign." Interview by Martin Meeker in 2015. Oral History Center, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 2017. Interview date(s) 2015
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