Jan 16, 2009  |  By: Chris Johnson  | COMMENTS     

The advancement of gay civil rights is “a basic human rights issue.”

Those are the words of Jon Blair, the new executive director of Equality Virginia. Blair, 31, is the first straight person to run the organization and possibly the first heterosexual to run any statewide gay organization in the nation.

Blair, who spoke with the Blade on Monday, said he was interested in taking a position advancing gay issues because “every Virginian, regardless of who they are … deserves equality.”

“Equality for all LGBT Virginians is just a basic right,” he said, “and I believe in what EV’s trying to do — protecting families, ending discrimination and building safe communities.”

Toni Broaddus, executive director of the Equality Federation, said she believes Blair’s appointment makes him the first straight person to serve as the head of any statewide gay activist group.

“I think it actually shows the increasing maturity and professionalization of our movement at the state level,” she said. “And I think that having people outside of our community who really want to not only join our cause, but lead our effort to achieve equality just shows that we are reaching beyond our community in ways that we haven’t always been able to do in the past.”

Mark Board, chair of the board for Equality Virginia, said that gay candidates applied for the position of executive director, but said Blair was chosen over them because of “his organizational abilities” and “his proven record of success.”

“Some of the other contenders — we really questioned … how effective they’d be for our organization and [they] did not give us a very good feeling that that’s where we wanted to go,” he said.

Blair said he previously worked with political candidates in researching and understanding gay issues. He joined Equality Virginia after working as campaign manager for freshman U.S. Rep. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) in the 2008 election. He previously worked for Virginia state Sen. Ralph Northam (D-Norfolk) and state Del. Paula Miller (D-Norfolk).

The immediate task for Blair as he assumes his new role is helping to get pro-gay legislation passed in Virginia’s General Assembly, which began its session Wednesday.

Equality Virginia has identified an employment non-discrimination bill for the state and public workforce as its No. 1 priority. Del. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria), the only openly gay member of the Virginia General Assembly, is expected to introduce the bill.

Blair identified H.B. 1726 as another priority for Equality Virginia this year. The bill, sponsored by Del. Tom Rust (R-Fairfax), will allow Virginia companies to extend their life insurance benefits to the partners of their gay employees.

Equality Virginia’s lobby day Jan. 27 will be a major factor in the strategy for getting the two bills passed, Blair said. He called the annual event “one of the opportunities for us to get as many GLBT members around the state … to go to Richmond and lobby the delegates and the senators — expressing their concerns and voicing their desire that they support our agenda.”

Blair said he will also be working on addressing the attrition of Equality Virginia, which lost three staff members across the past year to resignations.

Equality Virginia intends to refill immediately the role of development director, Blair said. For the other positions, Blair noted that he is “going to be looking at what the organization needs to be successful and then filling positions accordingly.”

“What I want to underline is I can’t speak to the specific number of staff that we will be hiring, but I can tell you that we will be hiring additional staff that will be taking on all the duties that were formerly held,” Blair said. “There will not be duties or programs that will not be attended to.”

The upcoming statewide election in November 2009 will be another focus for Equality Virginia. Positions of governor and attorney general will be up for grabs, as well as seats in the General Assembly.

Blair said the organization’s political action committee will be “actively engaged in supporting candidates and legislators who are supportive of our legislative agenda,” but noted that Equality Virginia has not yet made any decisions regarding which candidates to support.

In the more immediate future, though, Equality Virginia is making plans for its annual Commonwealth Dinner in Richmond on April 4.

The dinner will commemorate the organization’s 20th anniversary and will feature Leslie Jordan, the actor who played Beverley Leslie on NBC’s “Will & Grace,” as the entertainer for the event.

Blair said Jordan’s appearance at the dinner is “going to draw quite a bit of attention” and the event will be “a ...