Dena Wigder
Public Policy Associate
Dena Wigder serves as a public policy associate at the Human Rights Campaign, where she advocates for federal policy that protects the health and safety of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans. She lobbies Congress and the administration to protect and adequately fund federal HIV/AIDS treatment and care programs such as the Ryan White CARE Act, Medicaid and Housing Opportunities for People with AIDS and to promote science-based HIV prevention, including comprehensive sexuality education. Wigder also works on legislation that would update our nation’s hate crimes laws to include sexual orientation and gender identity and protect GLBT students from harassment and bullying.
She is the primary contact for members of Congress and their staff from the western region of the United States, including Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming.
Before joining HRC, Wigder was a legislative assistant at the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, where she advocated the policy positions of the Reform Jewish Movement in the areas of GLBT equality, health care, domestic HIV/AIDS and Israel. A native of Dallas, she graduated from Tufts University in Medford, Mass., with a degree in sociology and psychology.