by Laura Kiritsy, Bay Windows
Marc Solomon stepped into the shoes of former MassEquality campaign manager Marty Rouse earlier this year, after Rouse departed for the D.C.-based Human Rights Campaign (HRC). So who's filling Solomon's kicks in the post of political director? That would be Matthew McTighe, who happens to be a former HRC lobbyist. Given all of the talent Massachusetts has exported to the national gay rights movement Rouse, former HRC president Cheryl Jacques and Log Cabin Republicans President Patrick Guerriero, to name a few it's nice to get a little something in return.
But truth be told, McTighe's move to Boston at the end of 2005 after two-and-a-half years at HRC had nothing to do with taking the job of political director at MassEquality. The Connecticut native just wanted to be closer to his family. "All of my brothers and sisters are popping out one kid after another," says McTighe picking up a framed photo of a band of grinning youngsters off of his desk during an interview at MassEquality's Beacon Street headquarters. "This is already an outdated picture. There's already two more nieces and nephews in addition to those five." Having landed a job doing government affairs work for the fitness industry, McTighe was unaware MassEquality was hiring until a friend called and suggested he'd be perfect for the job.
With the legislature readying to vote on an initiative petition for an amendment to ban same-sex marriage in May, McTighe says his primary role right now to facilitate all of MassEquality's political efforts, from field operations to grassroots networking, working with the lobby team to put the right people in front of fence-sitting legislators in an effort to influence their votes and "a dozen other things." "Its all gearing up towards one thing," says McTighe. "For me I really saw this as a campaign job. I've worked on some campaigns before and instead of Election Day being the one goal that you all work towards, it's the constitutional convention. It's all about winning there. I'm just excited to be here and it feels a lot like when I first got to the Human Rights Campaign and we were fighting this constitutional amendment on the federal level."
McTighe, who graduated from Georgetown University with a degree in journalism, abandoned his job lobbying on international trade issues to work with HRC soon after the Goodridge decision came down and the drumbeat for a federal constitutional ban on gay marriage grew increasingly louder. "Everybody was just totally working towards one goal and we were all focused on one thing and for me this is just another opportunity to do it in my new home instead of at the federal level."
Posted on March 16, 2006 |
