Women and Politics

By WCF Fellow Trish

The rigorous campaign for the late Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat has left two prestigious honors understated. Attorney General and WCF-endorsed candidate Martha Coakley last week was awarded not one, but two awards.

Coakley last week was honored with the 2009 Community Peacemaker Award in recognition of her longstanding support of consumer mediation programs and her strong advocacy of youth violence prevention.

In a September blog post, we point out that women, more so than men, foster mediation and cooperation in the legislative process. That’s why women in congress co-sponsor more bills than their male counterparts, and they also obtain more co-sponsors for their own bills.

As Attorney General, Martha Coakley has not only personally demonstrated the essential ability to bring various parties to the negotiation table, but for over a decade she has worked to extend that spirit of cooperation. She has:

• Worked with a Peer Mediation program to teach peaceful conflict resolution to students
• Worked to mediate consumer complaints with With the Face-to-Face Mediation Program
• Provided grants to a statewide network of Local Consumer Program that handle consumer complaints
• Gathered information from these mediation programs to identify trends of deceptive and unfair trade practices that may form the basis for legal action on behalf of consumers

Since she has fostered fair and successful arbitration as Attorney General, we can be sure that as a Senator, Martha Coakley will positively affect the legislative process.

Martha Coakley last week was also awarded the 2009 Robert Ian Schlessinger Memorial Award for her efforts in public safety and civil rights, including her filing of a lawsuit challenging the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

“We filed our challenge against DOMA because we believe it is one of the most discriminatory laws in the nation today,” said Attorney General Martha Coakley.  “This discrimination affects many of our public safety officers whose same-sex spouses are not able to access important marital benefits.  I will continue to advocate for GLBT rights and equality, both for those in public safety who dedicate their lives to keeping our communities safe, and for the GLBT community as a whole.”

Since taking office in January 2007, Attorney General Coakley has been an advocate for the rights of the GLBT community, and has brought actions to protect individuals whose rights have been violated based on sexual orientation or gender identity.  She has:

• Sought and obtained multiple civil rights injunctions to protect GLBT victims of hate crimes
• Conducted several trainings with police departments and district attorney’s offices around the state on how to better identify and respond to hate crimes
• Filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Section 3 of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as a union between one man and one woman
• Opposed a state constitutional amendment to ban same sex marriage, and fought for state legislation to amend hate crime and non-discrimination laws to protect the civil rights of transgender people

The Women’s Campaign Forum would like to congratulate Martha Coakley—not only for these noble awards, but for her many endeavors that deserve such recognition.

These awards, more than indicating Coakley’s accomplishments, indicate her ability to be a remarkable Senator.

Support Martha Coakley and her campaign for Senate.