Kathleen DeBold

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'''Kathleen DeBold''' (born 1956) is an LGBT activist and advocate. In 2015 she was named a Community Pioneer by Washington D.C.'s Rainbow History Project.<ref name="Rainbow"></ref><ref name="Marr 2015">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> At that time, DeBold was the national administrator for the [[Lambda Literary Awards]], a position she had held since 2012.<ref name="WCT"></ref>

DeBold was the executive director of the [[Mautner Project]] from 1999 through 2007.<ref name="Rainbow" /><ref name="Najafi 2007">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> While at the Mautner Project she developed many GLBT-specific health programs including Healing Works: the National Conference on Lesbians and Cancer, and Delicious Lesbian Kisses, an anti-smoking campaign focused on lesbians.<ref name="enews2020">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> She also spearheaded research including the Spirit Health Study, a national survey of black lesbian and bisexual women’s health.<ref name="enews2020" /> DeBold was an early advocate for the specific health needs of lesbian patients, people who might avoid regular checkups because of fear of discrimination or awkwardness about being "out" to their health care providers.<ref name=enews2020b">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> Prior to [[marriage equality in the United States]], it was important that lesbians in long-term relationships understood their legal rights if their partner was seriously ill; DeBold, through her work with the Mautner Project for Lesbians with Cancer, advocated for lesbian-specific support groups for partners of people with cancer.<ref name="SFSS"></ref>

The [[Washington Blade]] named her "Most Committed Female Activist" (2001) as well as a "Local Hero" (2005).<ref name="Blade">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> She was also an interim Executive Director of the [[Servicemembers Legal Defense Network]] (SLDN) where she fought for the repeal of the [[Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell]] policy.<ref name="Rainbow" /> Through her work as deputy director of the [[Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund]], DeBold has been a campaigner for many LGBT candidates--D.C. Councilmembers David Catania and Jim Graham, U.S. senator [[Tammy Baldwin]]--and wrote a book ''Out for Office: Campaigning in the Gay Nineties''.<ref name="Rainbow" /><ref name="Metro Weekly 2005">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> Her other book, Word Gaymes, is a compilation of crossword puzzles and acrostics she published in the Washington Blade and elsewhere.<ref name="Internet Archive 2020">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref>

==Personal life==
DeBold graduated from R.E. Peary High School in [[Rockville, Maryland]], attended [[Flagler College]] in [[St. Augustine, Florida]].<ref name="Rainbow" /><ref name="Issuu"></ref> She received B.S. in Agriculture and Life Sciences from the [[University of Maryland]] and became Maryland’s first female apiary inspector in 1978.<ref name="Rainbow" /> She went to the [[Central African Republic]] as a [[Peace Corps]] volunteer where she taught beekeeping and helped the people of the Central African Republic create honey and beeswax markets.<ref name="Rainbow" /><ref name="Peace Corps Online: April 12, 2003 2003">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> She wrote about the experience for the journal ''Bee World'' in 1996.<ref name="DeBold Fondell Watts Miranda 1996 pp. 103–111"></ref> She has been with her partner, author Barbara Johnson, since 1974.<ref name="Bugg 2005">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> They live in [[Burtonsville, Maryland]].<ref name="Wallraff 2006">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref>

==References==




[[Category:Beekeepers]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:LGBT writers from the United States]]

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