Byron Rushing

Byron Rushing serves the Ninth Suffolk district in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. A Democrat, first elected in 1982, Representative Rushing, serves as the Second Assistant Majority Leader. A graduate of Harvard College and MIT, Representative Rushing's priorities are human and civil rights and liberties; local human, economic and housing development; environmental justice and health care.

Representative Rushing was an original sponsor of the gay rights bill and the chief sponsor of the law to end discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in public schools. He is a spokesman against the restoration of the death penalty in Massachusetts and for a moratorium on executions in the nation. He leads the effort for size acceptance and anti-discrimination on the basis of height and weight. He led the Commonwealth's anti-apartheid efforts and was the co-author, with Simon Billenness, and chief sponsor of the Massachusetts Burma law that was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2000. He was the chief sponsor of the health reform law ending pre-existing condition refusals by insurance companies. He is a chief sponsor of legislation for needle exchange programs and over-the-counter sale of sterile needles.