Executive Director Betsy Smith has been leading EqualityMaine for fourteen years. After securing many incredible wins for LGBT Mainers, she has announced that she will soon step down from her position.

Before Betsy officially leaves the Federation family (though we'll always count her as one of our own), we wanted to learn everything we could from her work and experience. So we caught up with her to talk about her successful tenure at EqualityMaine.

Equality Federation: How did you become involved in LGBT organizing and campaigns?
Betsy Smith of EqualityMaine: Politics runs in my family, so I caught the political bug early in life. My great-grandfather, grandfather, and father all served in the Maine Legislature for a number of years (in opposing parties!). My path down LGBT organizing and campaigning began initially from a very personal place of wanting equality in my own life and grew to wanting to be part of the gay-rights movement. 

EF: How did you become EqualityMaine’s first full-time Executive Director 14 years ago?
BS: My first experience with EqualityMaine (then called Maine Lesbian Gay Political Alliance) was in 1993, just months after I moved to Portland and volunteered on a ballot measure campaign to uphold a local ordinance on nondiscrimination. I was in my first career at the time -- a high school math teacher – but loved LGBT politics and began volunteering regularly. Three years later, in 1996, I was elected president of the organization (which was all-volunteer at the time) and served as president for three years, when my partner and I moved to Boston so that she could attend law school. In Boston, I was the executive director of a multi-issue progressive political organization that worked in coalition with LGBT groups in the area. Ironically, I was involved in forming MassEquality!

During the three years we lived in Boston, EqualityMaine had become a staffed organization (a long sought-after goal) and had hired its first executive director in a part-time role. When we moved back to Maine, following my partner’s graduation from law school, the first ED was vacating the position, and the Board was in a formal search for a new ED. They wanted to give me the job without even interviewing me!....but I made them interview me anyway. That was September 2002.  

EF: What have been your proudest accomplishments while serving as Executive Director?
BS: My proudest moment was probably passing the marriage bill in 2009. That’s not to say that winning the freedom to marry through a ballot measure campaign in 2012 wasn’t incredible and momentous because it was, but there was something about the campaign we ran in the legislature that was historic and unprecedented. Even our opponents admitted it was the most strategic legislative campaign they had ever experienced. Sadly, we were unable to uphold the bill at the ballot later that year.

Beyond a single accomplishment, I am most proud of the organization that we built over the 11 years I was executive director. It took vision and a commitment to work collaboratively to build the organization to where it is today.

EF: What have been the toughest challenges you’ve faced while serving as Executive Director?
BS: One of the challenges early on was getting the Board to be the Board of a professionally staffed organization instead of the Board of an all-volunteer organization. It took me 5-6 years to push them to the appropriate 30,000 foot level. Now that they’re there, and we’ve put into place the appropriate kinds of communications and committees, we have a highly functioning, engaged, and professional Board.

Another major challenge was the fall-out from the 2009 ballot measure campaign, where we failed to uphold the marriage bill we passed earlier in the year. The community was on such a high from passing marriage in the legislature -- when no one thought we could, and no LGBT person ever dreamed it could happen -- and the fall from that high was absolutely devastating. The Board also struggled with how to deal with the loss, which ultimately manifested itself through a dumping on me. It was the lowest and darkest time of my 17 years with this organization, and I considered resigning. But the drive to win the freedom to marry was greater than the heavy weight on my shoulders, and I made a commitment to put principle above personality. That philosophy has helped me tremendously over the years.         

EF: Few Executive Directors have the long tenure you’ve had at a statewide advocacy organization. What’s kept you working all these years? How have you stayed focused and energized?
BS: I didn’t realize until recently that executive directors of statewide advocacy organizations had such short tenures. I felt from the very beginning of my tenure in 2002 that I had the best job in the world. After all, how many people get paid for doing the work they love? So I never really considered that I needed something to keep me focused and energized. I loved what I was doing, and it was an issue for which I cared passionately. I guess that’s what has kept me going.    

EF: How was EqualityMaine able to secure so many incredible victories over the past several years (trans-inclusive non-discrimination protections, domestic partner benefits, anti-bullying protections, and marriage equality)?
BS: The answer is that it wasn’t just EqualityMaine that secured these victories. We have always worked with a coalition of organizations and with some very smart individuals in Maine, who set aside turf issues (most of the time!) and bring specific skills and assets to the table. It’s the combination of these assets that have allowed us to be so successful.  

EF: As you move on, what are your hopes for the LGBT Mainers in the future?
BS: My greatest hope is that the LGBT community in Maine continues to support the work of EqualityMaine so that we can make equality real for all LGBT Mainers. Now that we have legal equality in Maine, we must focus on the more vulnerable populations within our community — LGBT youth, LGBT elders, transgender and gender non-conforming people, and LGBT Mainers in rural areas — to eliminate the bias and prejudice they face on a daily basis. I don’t want the community and our supporters to think the work is over, now that we’ve won the freedom to marry. This isn’t the end of the journey; in many ways it’s just the beginning.

EF: What are your plans now that you will no longer be working at EqualityMaine?
BS: The primary reason for stepping down at this time is to provide more support to my family, so I’m committed to creating a work life that allows me the flexibility to provide that support. While I don’t know exactly what’s next for work, it will likely be within Maine’s progressive community. I also plan to stay connected to the national LGBT movement.

For more than a decade, Betsy has been a tremendous figure in our movement and in the Federation family. We're sad to see her go, but wish her all the best!