Statement:



My name is Mandee, but you can call me Dr. Mandee, and this is my third year participating in the Right To Marry Arizona walk. The Right To Marry walk was the impetus to my "active" activism in LGBTQ rights. Participating in the RTM walk was the "proof" that I needed that I could stand up for what I value, what is important for myself and those that I love, and ultimately for my right for equality as a member of the LGBTQ community. As soon as the walk ended I continued to spread the message by sharing with anyone who asked "what did you do this summer" about the walk, my involvement, and the purpose. I realized there are little things I could do every day to share the message of equality and justice, even something as small as wearing my Right To Marry t-shirt to the grocery store was opening minds and hearts to an issue that many people don't often think of if they are not forced to.

I run the behavioral health department for the Phoenix Shanti Group, a small HIV service organization in Phoenix. Throughout my nine years at Shanti I have been witness to the damage and wreckage of stigma and oppression on fellow members of the LGBT community. I have been a fierce advocate to reduce stigma of HIV and now I expand my fight to LGBT equality. I am also current chair of Aunt Rita’s Foundation and serve as secretary for the LGBT Consortium in Maricopa County. I am very active in these communities because I have been blessed in my life and can be a voice and an advocate for those who need me.

I am a Native of Arizona – born and raised in Gilbert when it was just a town and primarily farmland. I have lived in Chandler and Tempe and now have a beautiful condo in Scottsdale. This is a beautiful state that I live in and I feel blessed to be close to my family who also live here. I have, however, become disenchanted with the blatant, discriminatory policies and laws that have been passed by the voters and our state government in the past few years. I was recently engaged to Meg Sneed, co-director and founder of the Right To Marry walk, yet the relationship that I am in is not recognized as legal and valid and I fear raising a family here in the current political climate. So I choose to walk again, to continue to spread the message of love – to continue to educate on the lack of rights – to continue to dispel myths that propagate discrimination and hate.