GLAD appoints Janson Wu executive director
Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders has tapped one of their own to become the new head of the LGBT-rights organization. Beginning next month, Janson Wu, who currently serves as deputy director and senior staff attorney at GLAD, will become the organization’s new executive director.
“We are thrilled and proud to name Janson our new executive director at such an important and forward-looking time for the movement and for GLAD,” said Board President Dianne Phillips in a statement. “Janson’s set of skills and talents are uniquely suited to this moment. Beyond his deep knowledge of GLAD, the movement, and the issues facing our community both in New England and nationally, Janson brings to the table vision, impressive leadership abilities, and the strategic thinking of a successful litigator.”
Wu has been with GLAD for eight years and started in 2006 as a staff attorney. According to GLAD, Wu has focused on marriage equality, the Defense of Marriage Act, transgender rights, employment benefits, family law and parentage and the rights of LGBT elders during his time with the organization. He has also served on the legal teams of some of GLAD’s more high profile cases, including DOMA challenges Gill v. Office of Personnel Management and Pedersen v. Office of Personnel Management as well as an recent asylum case regarding Ugandan activist John Abdallah Wambere.
“With all of the gains that GLAD has brought to New England, we now have a unique and exciting opportunity going forward,” Wu said in a statement. “We are positioned to show the rest of the country what the next stage of our movement could look like if we dream big and keep our eyes on the prize – equal justice under law. I am both happy and humbled to have this chance to play a leadership role for our community.”
Wu replaced Lee Swislow, who served as executive director since 2005 and retired earlier this year. According to GLAD, Wu’s selection was made after a national search conducted by the firm Isaacson, Miller.
Prior to joining GLAD, Wu was an associate at the San Francisco law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan and a coordinating attorney with the anti-poverty organization Tri-City Community Action Program. He also served on the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity/Expression Commission of the American Bar Association and as a member of the legal committee of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health. He has also served on the boards of Marriage Equality Rhode Island and Standing Up for New Hampshire Families.
Wu graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Law School. He lives in Boston with his husband.
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