GILLIBRAND CAMPAIGN ANNOUNCES SPEAKERS FOR KICKOFF SPEECH OUTSIDE TRUMP INTERNATIONAL
Today, the Gillibrand campaign released its list of speakers for its campaign kick-off speech outside Trump International Hotel on Sunday, March 24.
“I am honored to have the support of these inspiring brave men and women,” said Senator Gillibrand. “This campaign is driven by people who display bravery every day, whether it’s mothers combating gun violence, DREAMers fighting for immigration reform, young women standing up for women's rights and against sexual assault, champions for LGBTQ rights, and activists fighting for gender equality and women empowerment.”
The speakers include:
Connie Britton - Actress & Activist
Connie Britton is an actress and activist. An Emmy and Golden Globe nominated actress, Connie has appeared in critically-acclaimed programs such as Friday Night Lights, Nashville, American Horror Story, Spin City, and more. Connie is an activist who has worked on issues related to poverty, women empowerment and gender equality, and has served as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Development Programme since 2014. Connie’s friendship with Senator Gillibrand goes back to their college years at Dartmouth College, where they were roommates during a semester abroad in Beijing, China.
Monica Sibri - DREAMer & Immigration Advocate
Monica Sibri is a DREAMEer and advocate working to strengthen the New York immigrant movement by helping undocumented immigrants to access resources, services, and the support they need to succeed. Monica worked for the National Program Coordinator for IGNITE, a national nonpartisan nonprofit organization founded by Dr. Anne Moses that seeks to empower college-aged women to become the next generation of political leaders. She also serves as a close adviser to CUNY DREAMers, an undocumented student-led organization she founded in 2013 to help advance equal access to higher education and build a network of support for thousands of undocumented students at the City University of New York, the largest urban university in the United States.
Monica has been featured in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Guardian, Huffington Post, the Voice of America, New York Daily News, and many other local and international newspapers. Monica earned her BA degree in American Politics, Policy, and Advocacy from the Baccalaureate For Unique and Interdisciplinary Studies at the City University of New York.
Lisdy Contreras-Giron - DREAMer & Immigration Advocate
Lisdy Contreras-Giron is a DREAMer who was five-years-old when she moved from Guatemala to the United States with her mother to join her father. Despite the fact that when she started kindergarten at Katonah Elementary, she did not speak English, she went on to serve as vice president to the student body and class president of her high school. In 2014, she was one of the two female students to represent New York at the 2014 Girls Nation in Washington D.C., where she met President Barack Obama.
Lisdy knew from an early age that she wanted to become a lawyer. As a non-citizen given deferred action status under the Obama administration program, therefore ineligible for financial aid, finding a way to pay for college was a challenge. Her parents supported her endeavors by working long hours and making her goals their priority. She is currently in a six-year program that culminates in a law degree at Pace University. Lisdy served as an intern in Senator Gillibrand’s New York City office, and was the senator’s State of the Union guest in 2017.
Annie Clark - Co-Founder of End Rape on Campus
Annie Clark is a co-founder of End Rape on Campus, and a lead complainant in the Title IX and Clery complaints against the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a B.A. in Political Science. She has a certificate in business, and is a former administrator at the University of Oregon. She is a contributing writer to the Huffington Post, MSNBC, and The Chronicle Vitae. After directly working with New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, she helped write the Bi-Partisan Campus Safety and Accountability Act. In 2013, she was listed alongside President Barack Obama as one of the most influential forces in higher education, and she is featured in the campus sexual assault documentary “The Hunting Ground.” Annie is a co-author of the book, We Believe You, a collection of 36 stories of campus sexual assault.
Jackie Rowe-Adams - Mother of Gun Violence Victims & Activist
After losing two sons to gun violence, Jackie Rowe-Adams co-founded Harlem Mothers S.A.V.E., an organization dedicated to ending gun violence in her community. She has received numerous awards for her social activism. Jackie has been involved in community activism since an early age, and has served her community in a broad array of positions, such as the boards of Addicts Rehabilitation Center (A.R.C.), Harlem Week, Inc., and Project Harmony, and she is a member of the Mid-Manhattan NAACP. Jackie has worked tirelessly with youth and seniors as a music specialist with Parks and Recreation since 1986, and, in 1996, started the non-profit organization Talented Seniors and Youth On the Move, Inc., which provides performance opportunities for youth and seniors and college scholarships.
She is a life-long resident of Harlem, New York and is married to William L. Adams. They now have two sons, Eric and Bryant, who are her greatest motivations. She is also a passionate singer who has performed the national anthem at Shea Stadium.
Gabriel Blau - LGBTQ Rights Advocate
Gabriel Blau is a nationally acclaimed advocate for LGBTQ families and their communities. For more than 15 years his work has focused on LGBTQ rights, faith, and equality. He served as the Executive Director of Family Equality Council where he and his team pursued a strategy to reframe the very notion of family values through policy, community engagement, and public education to expand the national conversation about children, parents, and what it means to support families in America.
In 1998 he founded the God & Sexuality Conference at Bard College where he and his colleagues gathered scholars to write and present on religion, sexuality, and gender. He is currently a member of the board of advisors of the LGBT Religious Archives Network. He was named one of The Advocate’s 40 Under 40 in 2014, and honored by the Stonewall Democratic Club of New York City. He lives with his husband and their son in New York.
Tanya Asapansa-Johnson Walker - Leading Advocate for Transgender Rights
Tanya Asapansa-Johnson Walker is the policy liaison for the New York Transgender Advocacy Group. She is honorably discharged U.S Army veteran with 28 years of experience as an LGBTQ activist. Prior to joining NYTAG, she worked for seven years as a case manager in a transgender transitional housing program. She is a feminist who has fought tirelessly for the rights of women, and continues to fight for the rights of all transgender and cisgender documented and undocumented individuals. She is a member of the Stonewall Democrats, the Black & Latino Coalition, and the GENDA Advocates Coalition with Governor Cuomo’s Staff.
Andrea Pino - Co-Founder of End Rape on Campus
The daughter of Cuban refugees, Andrea Pino is a digital strategist, author, and survivor activist. She attended The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a first generation college student, and is is co-author of “We Believe You: Survivors of Campus Sexual Assault Speak Out." She is co-founder of the national survivor advocacy organization End Rape on Campus, where she worked for over five years to support students in learning their rights and in changing their campus sexual assault and harassment policies. Her activism and advocacy has been featured in the New York Times, Vogue, CNN, Good Morning America, as well as many other media outlets. Her work and personal journey was prominently featured in the film The Hunting Ground, which premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, and in 2016 she appeared alongside Lady Gaga and 50 other survivors at the Academy Awards.
