Mark D. Sickles (born February 18, 1957) is an American politician serving as the

Delegate Delegate or delegates may refer to: * Delegate, New South Wales, a town in Australia * Delegate (CLI), a computer programming technique * Delegate (American politics), a representative in any of various political organizations * Delegate (United ...

from the 43rd District of the Virginia House of Delegates since 2004. He is a member of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

. Sickles serves as the Chair of the Health, Welfare and Institutions Committee, Vice Chair of the Appropriations Committee and as a member in the Privileges and Elections and Rules Committee. As an openly gay man, Sickles is the second LGBT person elected to the

Virginia House of Delegates The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two parts of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-numbe ...

and the

Virginia General Assembly The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, the first elected legislative assembly in the New World, and was established on July 30, 161 ...

(after

Adam Ebbin Adam Paul Ebbin (born November 10, 1963) is an American politician who is the senator from the 30th District of the Virginia Senate since January 2012. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the Delegate from the 49th District of the Virginia ...

). Sickles is one of five openly LGBT people serving in the

(alongside

, Mark Levine,

Dawn Adams Dawn Marie Adams (born November 6, 1964) is an American politician serving as the Delegate from the 68th District of the Virginia House of Delegates since 2018. She is a member of the Democratic Party. Adams is a nurse practitioner and small bu ...

, and

Danica Roem Danica Anthony Roem ( ; born September 30, 1984) is an American journalist and politician of the Democratic Party. In the 2017 Virginia elections she was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates, winning the Democratic primary for the 13th di ...

Early life and education

Sickles was born in

Arlington, Virginia Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the District of Columbia, of which it was once a part. The county is ...

. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Forest Management from Clemson University in 1981, a Master of Science in industrial management from Georgia Tech in 1984, and a second M.S. in Technology and Science Policy two years later. Sickles is a fellow with the

Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership Sorensen, or Sorenson, is a surname that can be of Danish or Scandinavian origin. The basic derivation is "son of Søren", the Danish variety of the name Severin. The name almost exclusively comes from Danish or Norwegian emigrants named Sørensen ...

at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

Legislative issues and bills

Tragedy struck in

Fairfax County Fairfax County, officially the County of Fairfax, is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is part of Northern Virginia and borders both the city of Alexandria and Arlington County and forms part of the suburban ring of Washington, D.C. ...

in 2018 when a nine-year-old boy was killed by a motorized classroom partition. In response, Sickles drafted legislation prohibiting anyone from operating a motorized partition when students are in a room at school unless the wall has a safety sensor installed with it. He named the bill the ''Wesley Charles Lipicky Act'' in honor of the victim. The bill passed the legislature and was signed into law in May 2019. Sickles was instrumental in the effort to advance the

Equal Rights Amendment The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution designed to guarantee equal legal rights for all American citizens regardless of sex. Proponents assert it would end legal distinctions between men and ...

(ERA) in Virginia in early 2019. As the only two Democrats on the Subcommittee No. 1 of the House Privileges and Elections Committee, Mark Sickles and

Schuyler VanValkenburg Schuyler Thomas VanValkenburg (born 1982) is an American teacher and politician. He was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates representing the 72nd District on November 7, 2017, to replace retiring delegate Jimmie Massie. He defeated Republi ...

(D-) supported the effort make Virginia the 38th state to ratify the ERA. However, the Republicans on Subcommittee No. 1 all voted against the bills. Later, Sickles tried to bring one of the bills before the full committee, but the motion failed on another party-line vote. Still, Sickles was commended for his efforts by Ratify, a leading organization working to pass the

Personal life

In an op-ed for ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', which noted the striking-down in the Eastern Virginia U.S. District Court of the constitutionality of the state's ban on

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...

, Sickles publicly came out as gay. This made him the second openly

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

member of the Virginia General Assembly, alongside Sen.

, who was out before his election to the House in 2003.

Electoral history

In 2001, Sickles ran for the House and lost by 313 votes to freshman Republican

Tom Bolvin Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

, who had defeated 11-term Democrat

Gladys Keating Gladys Brown Keating (August 1, 1923 – August 19, 2014) was an American civic activist, military spouse and Democratic politician who lived in Fairfax County, Virginia, for 45 years, during 22 of which she represented the 43rd district in ...

two years earlier. Sickles had been a volunteer staffer for Keating previously. Sickles defeated Bolvin in a 2003 rematch, 53.8%-46.1%.

References

External links

* (campaign finance) * * *
Project Vote Smart - Representative Mark D. Sickles (VA)
profile *''Follow the Money'' - Mark D. Sickles
200520032001
campaign contributions {{DEFAULTSORT:Sickles, Mark D. 1957 births Living people Democratic Party members of the Virginia House of Delegates Clemson University alumni Georgia Tech alumni People from Fairfax County, Virginia People from Arlington County, Virginia LGBT state legislators in Virginia Gay politicians 21st-century American politicians