Judy Chu
Judy Chu is a long time proponent of equality and tolerance. She has spoken out for marriage equality on the floor of the California Legislature, likening Mark Leno's marriage equality bill to the California law that finally allowed people of Chinese ancestry to marry whites. Dr. Chu has supported API Equality-LA, the coalition includes LGBT organizations as well as groups that serve the API community, in advocating for marriage equality. She has worked hard to have the California public schools teach not only tolerance but to include the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the study of history. While none of these laws have escaped the Governor's veto, Dr. Chu continues to advocate for our community in these areas, in the area of hate crime legislation as well as in increasing funding for HIV/AID prevention programs, including those targeting MSM transmission.

Judy Chu was elected to the California State Board of Equalization on November 7, 2007, and was sworn into office on January 8, 2007. As a member of the Board of Equalization, she serves as one of the top 12 constitutional offices of the State of California. The Board of Equalization is the only elected statewide constitutional tax authority in the nation and collects $50 billion for the state of California through taxes and fees, 36 percent of the state's budget.

Previous to this, Dr. Chu was an Assembly Member of the 49th Assembly District in the west San Gabriel Valley from 2001 to 2006. As a member of the Budget Conference Committee, which was responsible for negotiating the final version of California's $99 billion annual budget, she worked to maintain critical healthcare programs and social services for seniors, children, and the developmentally disabled. In the Assembly, she has chaired the Select Committee on Hate Crimes, the California Asian and Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus, the Health and Human Services Budget Subcommittee, and was a member of the Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee.

Dr. Chu fought to protect women through her Sexual Assault Survivors' DNA Bill of Rights and through a bill protecting the assets of domestic violence survivors. Her hate crimes bills provided for an automatic protective order for victims of these crimes and improved their prosecution, allowing courts to mandate anti-bias counseling for perpetrators.