Matt Foreman is an American lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT)

rights Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical the ...

lawyer and

activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

with a rich background in political advocacy and civil rights work. He is the program director at the Haas Jr. Fund, overseeing its work in the areas of gay and lesbian and immigrant rights. Foreman was executive director of the NYC Gay & Lesbian Anti-Violence Project from 1990 to 1996 and the

Empire State Pride Agenda The Empire State Pride Agenda (ESPA) was a statewide political advocacy organization in New York (state), New York that advocated for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights, including same-sex marriage. ESPA has since disbanded afte ...

from 1997 to 2003. He was executive director of the

National Gay and Lesbian Task Force The National LGBTQ Task Force is an American social justice advocacy non-profit organizing the grassroots power of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community. Also known as The Task Force, the organization supports act ...

from May 2003 until 2008. Foreman has also served in executive positions at the Empire State Pride Agenda and the New York City Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project. While working at the Pride Agenda, he led campaigns that resulted in enactment of a statewide nondiscrimination law, a hate crimes law and several laws extending equal benefits to the surviving partners of those killed on 9/11. His leadership was also instrumental in the success of measures providing $15 million for LGBT health and human services in New York state. His tenure at the Anti-Violence project is remembered for focusing the city's attention on anti-gay violence, resulting in important changes in police training, deployment and responsiveness. Prior to his work in the gay rights field, Foreman was involved in prison policy and administration for ten years, including service as assistant commissioner of the West Virginia Department of Corrections, executive assistant to the New York City correction commissioner, and director of a medium/minimum-security facility on Rikers Island. A graduate of the New York University School of Law, Foreman is a founding member of

Heritage of Pride Heritage of Pride (HOP), doing business as NYC Pride, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that plans and produces the official New York City LGBTQIA+ Pride Week events each June. HOP began working on the events in 1984, taking on the work previ ...

, the group that currently organizes LGBT Pride events in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, and a former member of the New York City Human Rights Commission.

References

External links

New York City Gay & Lesbian Anti-Violence ProjectEmpire State Pride AgendaNational Gay and Lesbian Task ForceEvelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund''Metro Weekly'' interview
Living people LGBT rights activists from the United States West Virginia Wesleyan College alumni Activists from New York City Year of birth missing (living people) {{LGBT-activist-stub

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External links