GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) announced late last week that Executive Director Janson Wu will leave the organization on October 6 and plans to move on to serve as the senior director of state advocacy and government affairs for the Trevor Project.
Says Wu:
It is never easy to leave an organization you love. GLAD has been my home for 17 years, and my dedicated and passionate colleagues, as well as GLAD’s incredible community of supporters, will always be part of my family. It has been an opportunity of a lifetime to lead this extraordinary organization.
I will miss GLAD dearly, and I am excited to return to legislative work as the Senior Director of State Advocacy and Government Affairs at The Trevor Project. Trevor’s mission of ending LGBTQ+youth suicide speaks powerfully and personally to me. Stepping away from executive leadership will also allow me to be more present for my family.
While transitions are never easy, I am excited to see new leadership come on board to lead GLAD’s next important chapter.
Our movement’s story is one of progress from generation to generation, building on the legacies of those who came before and passing the baton to the next generation of leaders.
I was born the same year GLAD was founded – 45 years ago.
I grew up a closeted Asian kid in rural upstate New York in the 90s, thinking that I could either try to be straight my entire life, or I would die of AIDS.
Those were the only paths I could see for myself.
And maybe that’s where my life would have led, if GLAD’s founder John Ward hadn’t had the vision to start a legal organization so that the LGBTQ+ community could advocate for ourselves in our own voices.
Thankfully John and others like him had that vision and led the way.
It has been an honor to have led GLAD for the last 9 years, and I am proud to pass the baton to the next leader.
GLAD is more than any one person – its strength comes from the community of committed advocates and defenders, including you, who over GLAD’s 45 years have changed history again and again. Thank you for your dedication to that goal. It has been a privilege to serve GLAD’s mission alongside you.
—from a GLAD press release
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