Director of Advocacy Programs

Roey Thorpe is the Director of Advocacy Programs for the Equality Federation, the strategic partner to state-based organizations winning equality in the communities we call home. In this role, Roey works closely with activists to create plans and strategies to pass laws banning discrimination against LGBT people in employment, housing, and public life.   

Roey has worked in the LGBT movement for over 25 years, at both the state and national level.  Of the many roles she has held, she is especially proud to have spent five years as the executive director of Basic Rights Oregon, building the organization into a proactive political powerhouse. She also served as Alderperson and Acting Mayor of Ithaca, New York, making her their first out elected official.

Despite the fact that Roey has called Portland, Oregon her home since 2001, she has resisted urban chicken farming and other signs of overt hipster culture.  Instead, she prefers high heels and plays a mean game of poker.