Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
|
|
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (born July 15 1952), American politician, also known as Ileana Ros, has been a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives since 1989, representing the 18th District of Florida (map (http://nationalatlas.gov/printable/images/preview/congdist/fl18_109.gif)). She was born in Havana, Cuba, was educated at Florida International University, and was a member of the Florida House of Representatives and the Florida Senate before entering the House. Upon her election to succeed the late Congressman Claude Pepper, she became the first Hispanic woman elected to United States Congress.
After the 2000 census, her district changed to include Key West's relatively large and politically active gay community. Since then, she has sponsored or supported some LGBT-friendly legislation such as:
- A hate crimes law.
- An employment discrimination bill to protect sexual minorities in federal jobs.
- AIDS prevention funding.
- A bill to allow openly homosexual military members (see Don't ask, don't tell).[1] (http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/11360918.htm)
External link
- official website (http://www.house.gov/ros-lehtinen/)