Chrissy Gephardt is on a mission to make sure our community understands the gravity of November’s election and gets out to the polls en masse. At 30, the openly lesbian daughter of U.S. Congressmember Dick Gephardt has become a tireless advocate for GLBT rights. Since coming out to her parents in April 2001, and to the world at large last year, her life has changed for the better. Gephardt has been in a committed relationship with partner Amy Loder since leaving her marriage in 2001. Last fall, she joined her father’s campaign and hit the ground running as LGBT outreach director, being dubbed by media as her father’s ‘secret weapon.’ Though her father’s second bid for the White House was unsuccessful, Gephardt discovered that she possessed a unique talent for connecting with voters. With her father back in Washington, Gephardt will continue to get out the vote, this time as director of grassroots campaign corps for the National Stonewall Democrats (NSD). She will be in town this Saturday night, April 17, to tell GLBT voters why she feels it’s imperative that the Bush Administration is served walking papers this fall.

Personable, intelligent and, at times, incredibly witty, Gephardt spoke with the Gay & Lesbian Times last week about her father’s campaign, her duties with NSD and what she thinks of that other lesbian political daughter — Vice President Dick Cheney’s openly lesbian daughter, Mary.

Chrissy Gephardt: You’re absolutely right; it was a challenge … for many reasons. Like you said, they all were good. It was hard; Howard Dean had done civil unions in Vermont and he had really made a name for himself. … But I think that my presence on the campaign basically put a face on my father in terms of gay issues and his stance on equality for all people. It sort of made it more personal; people could relate to my story. Because of that I think people connected with me and with the campaign because I was out there talking about the issues.

CG: I can’t tell you the number of people who would say to me, ‘I had no idea that your dad was good on those issues or that he had been a supporter in Congress for those issues.’ I was always surprised because he did have a long record of voting on the issues; fighting in Congress for different bills, hate crimes, ENDA [the Employment Nondiscrimination Act] and things like that.

CG: I basically challenge the line of thinking. … It’s not an impassioned debate, it’s more just sort of educational, like informing him about how I see the world and how it affects me, because I really think that my dad, like other people his age and of his generation, maybe don’t understand what the impact is on somebody living as a gay person in our society — especially somebody who’s openly gay. I think that I sort of put things in perspective for him. You know, why is marriage more important for me than, say, a civil union? Because I’m still a second-class citizen, and this is what that looks like. I wouldn’t be able to have the same rights and benefits as somebody who’s married, and I wouldn’t be able to go from state to state and still be married. I could get a civil union in Vermont, but the minute I leave Vermont, it’s basically null and void. … I think that when I do that, he starts to understand.

CG: Not over my dead body! [Laughs]. … No, I don’t think he would. I think he’s come to understand what it would do to my life. I think that he has sort of an understanding of these issues. You know, while he’s always been good on the issues, I think that having me come out and be open, it’s sort of put a new perspective on it for him, because he sees my partner and I on a regular basis and he knows that our relationship is the same as my brother’s marriage or my sister’s relationship with her fiancé and that I just want the same things.

CG: Well, … it wasn’t that it wasn’t difficult for them. It wasn’t that they were like, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe it.’ It wasn’t like that. I think they were disappointed at first; I mean, I’m not going to lie, because I was married to a man who they really liked, and so of course they were disappointed; they didn’t want to see my marriage dissolve.

I think too, I had a marriage that my parents very much approved of and they really liked my husband. On the outset, it was one of those relationships that any parent would want to brag about. My husband was a doctor and it was very PC. So, of course, when you tell your parents, ‘You know what? I’m not going to be with this successful doctor; I’m going to go be with a woman,’ they’re not doing jumping jacks. But I think that while at first they were sort of surprised and they didn’t know quite what to do with it, over time they got to know Amy, my partner, and that put a whole new face on it. … I think that once they got to know Amy, they were like, ‘Oh, this is okay, this is cool, we like Amy, she’s a really great person.’ Once they saw that I was happy and things were going to be okay, they became more comfortable with it.

CG: No, that was a big deal, because I was worried how he was going to handle it publicly. When I first came out, I thought that we were just going to hide it and that it wasn’t going to be talked about. I mean, I literally thought that it would just be kept under wraps and just be between the family.

It was interesting, because I really had no intention at first of being ‘out’ out. I was out in my job and I was out to my friends and in my community, but I wasn’t out on a national stage — it was actually my parents who approached me. They called me one day … and my mom said, ‘Chrissy, would you mind if we had you and Amy on the Christmas card?’ I was like, what? She’s like, ‘You know, the family Christmas card that we send out to everyone. … That picture that we took; do you mind if we put it out to everybody?’ I remember telling my mom, ‘Hang on, mom, let me check with Amy,’ and not getting back with her for a couple of days because I had to check it out with Amy, because then that had repercussions for Amy and her job. It was like they were ready to go with this. It wasn’t even at my urging — and we were a little taken aback by that.

CG: I don’t necessarily think that you absolutely have to make that your life’s mission. I think that’s an unfair expectation. I mean, it would be my hope that people would do that. What I’ve done has been best for me and it’s been sitting right in line with what I believe in and it’s very much in line with who I am as a person. I believe in social justice, I’m a social worker, and so it would be very uncharacteristic of me [not to]. So I would hope all gay children of politicians would do that.

At the same time, I’m also not going to be critical or harsh with somebody that decides not to, because I don’t know what their personal situation is and I don’t know what they’re dealing with. You know, a lot of people have said to me, ‘Well, Chrissy, Mary Cheney worked for Coors Brewing Company and she was their gay liaison into the community, so she was out and she was doing professional queer stuff and now she’s not.’ Some people say, ‘Well, what does that say?’ I can only think that maybe — I mean obviously — it has something to do with her father and the administration. I think it’s sad, but I’m not going to say, ‘Oh, Mary’s a bad person because of that.’ If anything, the people I’m angry with are George Bush and Dick Cheney. I think that’s the real disgrace.

CG: I have not. I’d love to meet her, but it just hasn’t come up.

CG: You know, I would actually just want to sort of talk to her and get to know her as a person. I don’t think I would really come in and attack her and say, ‘Well, why aren’t you doing this? Why not?’ I think I would just have a casual conversation with her about what her life is like and what it’s like working for her father. I’m sure by just sort of being laid back about it, she would probably divulge what her feelings are and how things are going. But I think if I attacked her, I don’t think she’d give me any information. So I would just say, ‘What is it like? How’s it been? I think we have more in common than we realize.’

CG: Yes, I did.

CG: Definitely. The thing that probably hit that home the most was watching him on … all of the campaigns that he did in Congress in St. Louis — very much grassroots, knocking on doors, town hall meetings, talking to people. You really get a sense of what being a politician’s all about. You’re really there to help people in communities. That’s where it hit home for me – more so, say, than watching him on the floor of Congress.

CG: The flood of 1993. St. Louis had a major problem with floods and he helped in the rebuilding process. A lot of people lost their homes and everything they had and he helped bring money into St. Louis so people could rebuild their lives. That’s the stuff that you remember and that’s the stuff that really has an impact.

CG: I think she’s awesome. I think that would be a really great ticket — her and some other strong Democrat. I think she is a powerful force in our party and I think that she’s very likeable. I’d be all for her. I’d like to work on her campaign.

CG: I did a lot of events with Stonewall Democrats out on the campaign trail for my dad’s presidential campaign. Also, I got to know Dave Noble, who’s the executive director, and he’s just a great guy.

Basically, our main goal is going to be continuing the grassroots movement that I started on my dad’s campaign… going to town hall meetings, having one-on-ones with people. That’s really politics in action. You see change being made right in people’s communities — and that’s exactly what I want to do with Stonewall. I want to go out and talk to gay clubs and gay groups and gay and lesbian people all over the country and try to motivate them to get to the polls in November, to tell them how important it is that they go out and vote. This is going to be a tight election and I want to see every gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender person in this country excited about getting out to vote. It could be the difference between Bush and John Kerry getting elected and it’s a big deal, because our rights are on the line — especially with this marriage amendment. This is such a conservative administration. We need a change.

CG: I think the biggest challenge is presenting why it’s important to get involved in the campaign that’s relevant to their lives. I think that young people in general tend to not see the impact of politics on their lives; [We need to] frame it in such a way that gets them interested in the issues and interested in how it affects their lives. Talking about things that are important to them, like relationship issues, when you get a job, when you graduate from high school, when you graduate from college, and you can’t be out and open at your job. … Talking about how if you had a partner, you can’t be on their [health insurance] plan if [your employer] doesn’t have domestic partner benefits. … I think a lot of people understand the impact these issues have on their lives and it needs to be sort of laid out in a form where people can understand it.

CG: I don’t think it’s going to set us back. I think that that’s the way you create change. I think that you have to do something to sort of shake up the deck, because otherwise people become complacent with the status quo, and any great change in this country has happened through civil disobedience, like the civil rights movement of the 1960s. So I think it’s great. I think we have to do that.

CG: Whether it be gay and lesbian issues, which will definitely be a part of what I do, just taking on issues of social justice sort of at a larger level. There are a lot of things I’m passionate about. Mental health is one of them. … Equal treatment of mental health illnesses — that’s a big issue of mine — voting, political involvement. I’m not sure exactly what it’s going to look like, but it’s going to be geared toward social justice and making sure that everyone in this country is treated equally.

CG: I would say the worst thing about being the child of an elected official was that we always had to be on our best behavior — me, my brother and sister. We had to be role model children, because everyone was looking to our family as being sort of a reflection of my father as a candidate. I felt like there was so much pressure on me to be this good kid, and for the most part I succeeded. I mean, I was a good student; I got good grades. You know, people used to come up to my parents and say, ‘Oh, you have such a nice family,’ and I think that was what made it so hard for me to come out. I had always been sort of this good kid. I felt like telling them that I was gay and coming out was like the biggest disappointment. It felt like I had somehow failed.

Probably the best part is just seeing the number of people in my life who have come up to me and just said the nicest things about my dad and the impact that he’s had on their life and how they respect him so much and how they think he’s such a classy person. That feels really good to hear that about your parent. My dad has been in Congress for 27 years and it feels good to know that every single one of those years he’s been fighting for people and that he’s achieved results. … It makes me really proud to think that my dad isn’t just pushing papers behind a desk, but he’s actually making real change in people’s lives. It makes me sort of want to follow in his footsteps and do the same thing.