A California state lawmaker on Tuesday announced that she is gay, making her one of eight openly gay members of the state legislature.
Assemblywoman Cathleen Galgiani, a Democrat from Livingston, Calif., told the Stockton Record that she is a lesbian and wanted to come out in order to help young people who may be struggling with their sexual identity.
“It sickens me that young people would think about taking their lives because of who they are,” Galgiani said.
Galgiani, 47, said it was not until well into adulthood, after she was elected to represent the 17th Assembly District in 2006, that she knew she was gay.
Galgiani is listed as one of 10 Assembly co-authors of SB48, a bill passed by the Legislature this year and signed by Gov. Jerry Brown to ensure social studies courses in schools include instruction on the contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
Galgiani said her family is entirely supportive of who she is.
Now with eight openly gay lawmakers, the California state Legislature’s LGBT caucus, formed in 2002, is the country’s largest caucus of openly gay legislators in the country, according to Equality California, the state’s largest LGBT advocacy group.
Galgiani, who is termed out of the Assembly next year, is planning to run for a competitive Senate seat in the Central Valley next year, according to the Sacramento Bee.
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