30 Days of Pride!
June 21: Emily Tisch Sussman
Emily Tisch Sussman is the Executive Director of Young Democrats of America, the nation’s largest partisan, youth-led political organization. Emily formerly served as the Co-Director of Government Affairs for the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, where she represented LGBT servicemembers and was a leading figure in the movement to repeal the discriminatory "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" (DADT) law.
Emily has continued her advocacy for LGBT equality at Young Democrats of America and was among the earliest national leaders to call for including marriage quality language in the Democratic party's 2012 platform. In her endorsement, Sussman stated, “As a constitutional lawyer with a background in LGBT family law and someone who worked on ending military discrimination under 'Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,' I am proud to have signed onto Freedom to Marry’s petition and urge my fellow Democrats to do the same. It’s time for our Party to make it official and say I Do.”
Prior to joining SLDN, Emily founded Think Blue, a political organization for young professional Democrats. Think Blue supports young, national Congressional candidates, by encouraging the next generation of leaders to get involved with the political process. For her work with Think Blue, Emily was named one of the “40 under 40 Emerging Leaders in Politics” by New Leaders Council in its inaugural list.
Emily is a member of the New York Bar and earned her J.D. from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, graduating Cum Laude. She holds a Bachelors of Social Work from Skidmore College, where her concentration was in Developmental Disabilities, specifically in adult populations. She was also recently honored by Cardozo Law School Nathaniel Gates Award, and received the award from Truman National Security Project for Extraordinary Contribution toward Advancing the Truman Democratic World View.
Sussman has been called “not your typical lobbyist” to which she responds, “why would you want to be a typical anything?” At SLDN, we couldn't agree more.
