IATSE Pride Committee “Comes Out” With New Regional Coordinators

On March 20, 2019, International President Loeb officially established the first IATSE Pride Committee and appointed Nate Richmond, Carl Mulert, Rachel McLendon, Kim Holdridge and Doug Boney to serve.  Since then, the Committee has remained unchanged.  But, with the recent uptick in anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric, it became increasingly clear that the time to expand had come.  Using the established IATSE Districts, seven new pride regions have been created, with five located in the U.S., and two in Canada.

President Loeb commented, “The Pride Committee has done an excellent job thus far.  But, with this administration’s fixation on rolling back LGBTQ+ rights, the need for additional eyes and ears, as well as boots on the ground across our two countries, has become apparent.  I’m proud to appoint seven individuals who have shown great initiative regarding LGBTQ+ activism.”

The seven new Regional Coordinators are:

• Pete Rush (he/him) – Local USA829 (Seattle) will represent Northwest USA (Districts 1&5),
• Chris Cipriaso (she/her) – Local 720 (Las Vegas) will represent Southwest USA (Districts 2&6),
• Ren Gingras (they/them) – Local 476 (Chicago) will represent Midwest USA (Districts 8&9),
• John “Jack” Curtin (he/him) – Local 798 in (New York) will represent Northeast USA (Districts 3&10),
• Paige Jarvis (she/her) – Local 479 (Atlanta) will represent Southeast USA (Districts 4&7&14),
• Monique Perro (she/her) – Local 856 (Winnipeg) will represent Western Canada (District 12), and
• Jenny Reeves (she/her) – Local 849 (Halifax) will represent Eastern Canada (District 11)

The five original members will remain as the executive of the committee.

“We have always been a small group that has punched above our weight,” stated Pride Chair Nate Richmond, “and with the addition of these seven amazing activists, we know that we’ll be able to reach more areas and do even more great work alongside our LGBTQ+ kin!”

The new, larger committee has already begun reaching out to Local Pride Committees to make introductions.  If your Local has a committee, please reach out at iatsepride@iatse.net to get connected.