Lois Galgay Reckitt, a Maine lawmaker who was a relentless activist for girls, has died

Lois Galgay Reckitt, a Maine lawmaker famend as a relentless activist for girls, has died. She was 78.

Reckitt died Oct. 30, based on an obituary within the Portland Press Herald. A celebration of her life takes place Sunday on the Maine Irish Heritage Center in Portland.

Reckitt served because the longtime director of Family Crisis Services in Portland and an advocate for girls affected by home abuse. She was a board member with the National Organization for Women, and a founding father of the Human Rights Campaign Fund. She helped to discovered the Maine Women’s Lobby and was inducted into the Maine Women’s Hall of Fame in 1998.

For a long time she advocated for the Equal Rights Amendment, first on the nationwide degree, searching for to amend the U.S. Constitution, and later on the state degree, searching for to amend the Maine Constitution. In her newest try as a member of the Maine House of Representatives, she broadened the scope of her proposal to ban discrimination towards a collection of teams, not simply ladies, within the hopes of bringing extra assist and defending extra individuals by aligning language with the Maine Human Rights Act however got here up quick in her closing effort earlier than leaving the Maine Legislature in June.

Maine House Democrats known as her a trailblazer, a pioneer, a fighter, an icon and an inspiration in an announcement on social media and stated they need to proceed the work for which Reckitt fought so tirelessly.