Mon. January 7, 2013
Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin is gay glossy The Advocate's "Person of the Year."
Baldwin, 50, who was sworn in on Thursday, appears on the magazine's January 4 cover along with the caption, "LGBT Americans are now represented in both houses of Congress."
Indeed, Baldwin is America's first openly gay senator. She is also Wisconsin's first female senator.
"This has changed me in some way," she told The Advocate. "At every glass ceiling I've broken, I've hoped that there's the message that goes out so loudly and clearly. This is a message that we don't have to limit our aspirations in this society anymore."
She added that being a lesbian was part of the experience she brings to the Senate.
"We all know that having a seat at the table matters on a very substantive level, because each of us brings our life experiences with us to our jobs," she said. "It's not like a coat check where you check your life experience at the door and walk in and do your job and pick it up on the way out. You always have that with you, and it informs the way you approach a debate, the way you decide how to vote, and your participation in the conversation."
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