Leading LGBT rights activist Donna Red
Wing died Monday after a battle with lung cancer. She was 67.
According to the Des Moines
Register, Red Wing died after battling lung cancer for eight
months.
Red Wing served as the executive
director of One Iowa from 2012 to 2016. During her tenure, One Iowa
led in the fight to defeat a proposed constitutional amendment that
sought to define marriage as a heterosexual union in Iowa. Passage
of the amendment would have effectively repealed a 2009 Iowa Supreme
Court ruling that extended marriage rights to gay and lesbian
couples. In 2014, she played a key role in passage of legislation
that loosened the restrictions on HIV criminalization in the state.
One Iowa Executive Director Daniel
Hoffman-Zinnel described Red Wing as “a force to be reckoned with,”
adding that she will be “greatly missed by individuals across the
country.”
“Donna inspired so many including
myself,” Hoffman-Zinnel said. “I was lucky enough to know her
when she first came to Iowa and co-founded One Iowa's LGBTQ Health &
Wellness Conference. I wouldn’t be where I am today without Donna’s
support and mentorship.”
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the
nation's largest LGBT rights advocate, released a statement mourning
the loss of Red Wing.
“The HRC family is deeply saddened by
the loss of our friend, Donna Red Wing. She dedicated her life’s
work to civil rights and her legacy will forever be woven into the
fabric of the LGBTQ equality movement,” said JoDee Winterhof,
senior vice president for policy and political affairs at HRC. “Many
in the HRC family had the honor of working alongside Donna during her
time as HRC’s National Field Director and across many states and
campaigns in more recent years. For more than three decades,
generations of advocates bore witness to Donna’s tenacity, deep
commitment to equality and justice, and her many accomplishments,
which inspired all those around her. Our hearts go out to Donna’s
family and many friends who are grieving her loss.”