Nicholas Ray
Senior Policy Analyst

Nick Ray holds master's degrees in political science from the University of Rhode Island and higher education from the University of Arizona. In addition, he has a Bachelor of Arts in politics and history and a diploma in accountancy, both from Oxford Brookes University in England.

Since joining the Task Force in April 2004, Ray has completed two major projects, the first titled False Promises: How the right deploys homophobia to win support from African Americans, and the second, LGBT youth: An epidemic of homelessness. The latter garnered widespread media coverage and has been used by staff to conduct trainings with homeless youth service providers and to secure additional federal funding for runaway and homeless youth.

Prior to joining the Task Force, Ray conducted research on a wide range of issues, publishing a co-authored article on the behavior of State Supreme Court justices and a book chapter on the legislative process in Arizona. He has presented papers at regional and national academic conferences on topics as diverse as interest group judicial activity and the role of LGBT groups within the major U.S. political parties. At the universities of Rhode Island and Arizona, he taught classes in American government, international relations, public administration and the U.S. and Arizona constitutions. In 2002, he was named "Teaching Assistant of the Year" at the University of Arizona.

As a longtime resident of Arizona, Ray was active with local and national LGBT advocacy groups, serving on the board of directors of Tucson's LGBT Community Center (Wingspan) and founding and chairing a major fundraising dinner benefiting the community center.