By Christianne Walker
© Push: Queer Feminist Subversions, Spring 2001

All civil rights movements ultimately need the backing of the law to guarantee the protections for which they so strongly fight. Wendy Minick has been fighting for the rights of lesbians and all women for the last 15 years and continues to forge ahead into new legal territory. As an attorney with the Northwest Women's Law Center and a frequent collaborator with lesbian and gay rights groups such as Lambda Legal Defense and the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Wendy has played a key role in the struggle. A quick review of her life résumé-graduated from über-alternative Hampshire College; spent a year working with mentally handicapped adults on a self-sustaining, biodynamic farming "alternative community;" traveled to Western Europe to observe other similar communities; performed human rights work halfway around the world; graduated from Harvard Law School-reveals not only her intelligence but her passion for human justice. That much of her work has been on behalf of lesbians qualifies her as Push's latest Honorary Dyke. And she's poised to extend her good genes well into the new millenium with the recent arrival what she and her husband call "our newest budding feminist," their baby daughter, Ella.

Wendy first became interested in lesbian rights while performing human rights work in 1986. She explains, "It just seemed like an issue of justice and fairness.it just seems like the right thing to do. There are few groups that are as persecuted world-wide [as lesbians]." Working on indigenous land rights issues in India, Guyana, and American Samoa, Wendy came into contact with lesbian communities everywhere she went, but there were different penalties for their "lifestyle" in each culture. Later on, back in the United States, a case made its way through the Hawaii courts that people believed would grant legal marriage rights to same-sex couples. This case and the progressive nature of the Hawaii Supreme Court drew Wendy to clerk for the court a year after graduating from law school in 1993. Of course, the court did not rule in favor of marriage rights for same-sex couples, but it sparked Wendy's interest in the same-sex marriage issue. She then spent two years in Washington, D.C., where she worked for a private, women-owned public interest law firm focused on discrimination. After moving to Seattle, Wendy secured what is now her dream job at the Northwest Women's Law Center, where she's worked for the last two and a half years on a number of cases seeking basic protections for lesbians and same-sex relationships.

Wendy assesses the current status of lesbian rights with "cautious optimism." Just as lesbians are treated differently in India than in Samoa, she notes that one's rights as a lesbian in the United States depend on where you live. "Seattle is different than [the rest of] Washington state, which is different than [other parts of] the country. You know, in Seattle we have our nice little bubble .but it's really not the same in other parts of the state, and you can see that in votes on various things." An example is the defeat in 1997 of Initiative 677, which would have barred employment discrimination based on sexual orientation. Washington was carefully picked to run such a lesbian/gay rights initiative because advocates believed it would pass here, but instead it was defeated in every county in Washington except for King and San Juan. As to why voters rejected the initiative, Wendy states, "I think that because they're ultimately not willing to accept the idea [of lesbian and gay rights], they're more swayed by things like 'special rights.'" When asked if she thinks we'll ever see same-sex marriage rights (as opposed to civil unions) in this country, she replies, "I think it will definitely happen, because the progress that's been made in ten years is incredible." While it's up to lesbians to decide whether they really want to take part in an institution that has not necessarily worked for women in some ways, she believes it should be everyone's choice to get married. "I just think it's shameful that you would deny anything. That's just an embarrassment." She notes that legal marriage confers not only a host of legal benefits, but also social standing. Even when comparing civil unions to marriage, they are not the same and hence "it can never be equal. .There is a difference and there are things that get conferred by marriage that should be available to everyone."

Aside from same-sex marriage, another emerging issue in the realm of lesbian rights concerns the intersection of reproductive rights and technology. Wendy is excited about these issues because of their complexity and the opportunity for further advancement. "As reproductive technology increases and the conflict of different families-and what a family means-changes, that has a lot of implications for same-sex relationships and different kinds of family. So I've been doing more work on reproductive technology and lesbian rights, which is a brand new area, so it's very exciting."

Wendy's job extends far beyond the legal work. In addition to monitoring legislation and public policy, she notes, "A lot of what I've also done is networking and brainstorming, and a lot of it is more than just the cases. It's doing the conferences and doing the [public] speaking." Wendy believes everyone in the fight for lesbian and gay rights needs to do a better job in terms of public education. For her part, she gives at least one talk a semester on the subject of same-sex marriage, and the reactions she gets reveal some portion of public sentiment on the matter. She says, "It's amazing sometimes when I speak, what people will say." Does she feel like she comes out of her talks having changed minds? "I like to think so.I hope so. I think that it may take hearing something seven or seventy times, but at least I can be one of them and get them closer to where it's going to be. It's probably not the one, but I like to do my part."