Pride Agenda names new deputy director

The nation's largest state-based lesbian and gay rights group on Monday announced the appointment of Carmen Vazquez as the organization's deputy executive director. Vazquez will oversee the Empire State Pride Agenda's programmatic functions, including its legislative, community organizing, and education and advocacy work. Currently the public policy director for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community Center of New York City, Vazquez will be filling a position that has been vacant at the Pride Agenda since December 2001. "I am thrilled that Carmen will be joining our team," said Pride Agenda executive director Alan Van Capelle. "She's smart, strategic, pragmatic and focused on winning full equality for our community. I can't imagine a better selection for deputy executive director." In Vazquez's nearly 10 years with the LGBT center, she has overseen its advocacy, government relations, and public education work. She has also been a steering committee member for the New York State Lesbian and Gay Health and Human Services Network, a statewide advocacy coalition that has secured $13 million in state funding since 1998 and whose work with state government is coordinated by the Pride Agenda. In her new job, Vazquez will now have overall responsibility for this coordinating function. Previous to her position with the center, Vazquez worked in San Francisco for 19 years, the last seven of which she was the coordinator of lesbian and gay health services for the San Francisco Department of Public Health.