Massachusetts House Speaker Ronald Mariano announced he will appoint State Rep. Kate Hogan as the first openly LGBTQ pro tempore in the state’s House of Representatives—the third most powerful Democrat in the chamber.
Reports the Boston Globe:
Mariano, who pledged to make the chamber’s leadership more diverse when he was elected six weeks ago, said Thursday he will appoint the chamber’s first female majority leader and, for the first time, an openly LGBTQ member will serve as the chamber’s No. 3 Democrat.
Representative Claire Cronin, an Easton Democrat and Mariano ally who last year led the House’s judiciary committee, will serve as the Quincy Democrat’s top deputy and will be the first woman to be majority leader, according to the speaker’s office. …
Mariano is also tapping Kate Hogan, a Stow Democrat, to be speaker pro tempore, making her the highest-ranking openly LGBTQ member in the House’s history, according to a Mariano aide.
“There always those moments when you realize what you’re doing and the work you’re doing means something beyond you as an individual,” said Hogan, who was first elected in 2009.
She fills a role that had been held by Representative Patricia Haddad, a Somerset Democrat who was dropped from leadership. Overall, four of the 10 leadership positions will be held by women, including Cronin and Hogan, for the two-year session. In the House overall, 31 percent of seats are held by women.
“When I was elected Speaker, I promised that my leadership team would reflect the diversity of the House, and it will,” Mariano said in a statement. “These women are joining the top of my leadership team because they are hard workers who have earned the trust and support of their colleagues in the House for their records of getting things done.”
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