Rea Carey

Rea Carey
Rea Carey
	Carey speaking at the 2013 Decision Day Marriage Equality rally in Freedom Plaza
Born	December 22, 1966 (age 57)
Alma mater	Smith College (1980s); Harvard University
Title	Executive director
Predecessor	Matt Foreman
Movement	LGBT rights movement
Spouse	Margaret Conway
Children	1

Rea Carey (born December 22, 1966) is an American lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights activist and served as the executive director of the National LGBTQ Task Force (previously the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force) from 2008 to 2021. She previously served as the organization's deputy executive director and was the founding executive director of the National Youth Advocacy Coalition.^[1]^[2]

Personal

Carey grew up in Denver, Colorado, and came out at the age of 16, near the start of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States, which prompted her early activism.^[3]

Carey graduated from Smith College in the 1980s and holds a Master of Public Administration degree from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.^[3]^[4]^[5]

She lives in Washington, DC, with her wife, Margaret Conway, and daughter.^[5]

Career

Rea Carey and Katie O'Malley — Rea Carey with First Lady of Maryland Katie O'Malley at the 2012 Conference on LGBT Equality in Baltimore, Maryland

Carey began her career working extensively in HIV/AIDS prevention and in the LGBT community^[6] as one of the co-founders of Gay Men and Lesbians Opposing Violence and the founding executive director of the National Youth Advocacy Coalition. She also served as an advisor to major donors and foundations, and has served on the advisory boards for such wide-ranging publications as Teen People magazine and the Georgetown University Journal of Gender and the Law.^[1]

In 1999, The Advocate named Carey one of its "Best and Brightest" for individual contributions to the LGBT rights movement.^[4]

Carey joined the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force in 2004 as deputy executive director, has served as executive director from 2008^[1]^[2]^[4] to 2021.

She was one of 105 women arrested in 2013 during an act of civil disobedience designed to pressure the United States House of Representatives to act on comprehensive immigration reform.^[7]

Carey serves on the advisory board of the LGBTQ Policy Journal of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Rea Carey bio". National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. Archived from the original on October 2, 2013. Retrieved December 7, 2013.
^ ^a ^b "Rea Carey bio". The Huffington Post. Retrieved December 7, 2013.
^ ^a ^b Post, Libby (September 15, 2006). "Lesbian Notions: Social change calling". Seattle Gay News. p. 34. Archived from the original on December 11, 2013. Retrieved December 7, 2013.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Rea Carey named executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force". Steve Rothaus' Gay South Florida. Retrieved December 7, 2013.
^ ^a ^b "Board & Staff". Flamboyan Foundation. Retrieved December 7, 2013.
^ "Prime Movers - Rea Carey". Prime Movers. Retrieved December 7, 2013.
^ Brydum, Sunnivie (September 12, 2013). "Task Force's Rea Carey Arrested With 105 Women Demanding Immigration Reform". The Advocate. Washington, D.C. Retrieved December 7, 2013.