Yvonne Miller - The Loss of a Courageous Ally

Virginia state Senator Yvonne Miller died last week  Not only did Virginia lose a political pioneer - Miller was the first African American woman to serve in the Virginia General Assembly, first serving in the House of Delegates and then later the Senate - but LGBT Virginians lost a courageous ally.  In fact, Equality Virginia recognized Yvonne Miller as one of its "Legends" for the furtherance of civil rights for all at its Legends Gala in November, 2007.   The Legends award recognized among other things Miller's refusal to support the heinous anti-gay Marshall-Newman Amendment despite the intense pressure she was receiving from black pastors who had been duped into supporting the Amendment by the thinly veiled white supremacists, bigots and theocrats at The Family Foundation.   I recall that at the 2007 award gala, Senator Miller at first said she only wanted to say a word or two, but then got fired up and spoke at length about the importance of equality for all citizens.  She made a point of attending all Legends Gala events in subsequent years.  Here are highlights from the Virginian Pilot on her passing:

Hundreds of mourners, including dozens of state legislators, packed a Norfolk church Tuesday to pay tribute to state Sen. Yvonne Miller, the trailblazing lawmaker who died last week.

The first African American woman in both the House of Delegates and the state Senate, and the longest-serving woman ever in the Senate, Miller was eulogized as a passionate and tenacious defender of the dispossessed.

"She imitated Christ because she gave voice to the voiceless," especially children, whom she called "her precious ones," said state Sen. Donald McEachin, D-Richmond.

Miller was known for "standing up for public education, standing up for those who need help in the mental health area, standing up for those who are oppressed and those who live on the margins," McEachin said.

Miller, a Democrat who died after a battle with cancer July 3 - one day shy of her 78th birthday - had a unique blend of toughness and tenderness, former Gov. Tim Kaine said. "She was tough to the powerful, and she was tender to everybody else."

Tributes from President Barack Obama and Gov. Bob McDonnell were read to the crowd.

Born in Edenton, N.C., Miller was the oldest of 13 children and the first in her family to graduate from high school. She went on to earn a doctorate, taught 12 years in Norfolk's then-segregated school system and later spent 31 years as a Norfolk State University education professor.

Miller's life demonstrates that "one person can make a difference," said the Rev. William Tyree III of First Baptist Church, Berkley.

"Every accomplishment that Sen. Miller made, she reached back to pull somebody else along the way," Tyree said. "Every door of opportunity that was opened for her, she escorted somebody else who did not have opportunity or access."

I am proud that Equality Virginia honored this diminutive but tough fighter for equality and that I was on the Legends Committee when we chose to honor Yvonne Miller..