Juanita Millender-McDonald will be remembered as a champion of human rights and as a mentor and role model for young women. She was born in Birmingham, Alabama and finished her education and began her career after raising five children. She taught high school, counseled students in the career center and created a textbook specifically focused on the changing and diverse roles of women.
She was also known as a defender of the rights of LGBT people and persons living with AIDS. She began representing the 37th District in 1996, and received a 100 % score that year from The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), a Washington DC-based civil rights organization working to achieve gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality. The scorecard reflect the voting record of elected officials on key issues, such as Hate crimes, workplace discrimination and fair and equal treatment of gays in the military. It is notable that the outspoken and courageous Congresswoman’s predecessor, Rep. Walter Tucker, only had an HRC score of 57 in 1994.
“Juanita Millender-McDonald never wavered – she stood for the rights of minorities, for personal privacy, for working people, for LGBT people and for reproductive freedom, she tenaciously fought the forces of religious and political intolerance. She will be sorely missed.” said Matt Foreman, Executive Director of National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. HRC President Joe Solmonese stated: “With the passing of Congresswoman Millender-McDonald, our community has lost a true friend and compassionate ally for equality.
Throughout her career in Congress, Representative Millender-McDonald always stood on the side of fairness for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community and was a leader in the fight against the HIV/AIDS epidemic. She made history as the first African-American woman to chair a House committee. At this difficult time, our community pauses to remember the legacy she left behind and to send our sympathies to her family, friends and staff.”
Over her tenure in Congress, she continued to score high marks with an average HRC scorecard of 94. Most recently, Rep. Millender-McDonald co-sponsored legislation that would offer states the option to provide Medicaid coverage to low-income, HIV-positive Americans as “categorically needy.” She will be missed.