Mark D. Sickles (born February 18, 1957) is an American politician serving as the

Delegate Delegate or delegates may refer to: * Delegate, New South Wales, a town in Australia * Delegate (CLI), a computer programming technique * Delegate (American politics), a representative in any of various political organizations * Delegate (United S ...

from the 17th District of the Virginia House of Delegates. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Sickles serves as the Chair of the Health, Welfare and Institutions Committee, Vice Chair of the Appropriations Committee and as a member in the Privileges and Elections and Rules Committee. As an openly gay man, Sickles is the second LGBT person elected to the

Virginia House of Delegates The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two houses of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-numbe ...

and the

Virginia General Assembly The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, and the first elected legislative assembly in the New World. It was established on July 30, ...

(after

Adam Ebbin Adam Paul Ebbin (born November 10, 1963) is an American politician who is the senator from the 39th District of the Virginia Senate since January 2024. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously represented the 30th Senate District from 20 ...

). Sickles is one of five openly LGBT people serving in the

(alongside

Mark Levine Mark Andrew LeVine is an American historian, musician, writer, and professor. He is a professor of history at the University of California, Irvine. Education LeVine received his B.A. in comparative religion and biblical studies from Hunter ...

Dawn Adams Dawn Marie Adams (born November 6, 1964) is an American politician who served as the Delegate from the 68th District of the Virginia House of Delegates from 2018 to 2024. She is a member of the Democratic Party. Adams is a nurse practitioner ...

, and

Danica Roem Danica Anthony Roem ( ; born September 30, 1984) is an American journalist and politician who has served in the Virginia Senate since 2024. A Democrat, she represents the 30th district covering part of Prince William County including the cities ...

Early life and education

Sickles was born in

Arlington, Virginia Arlington County, or simply Arlington, is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Virginia. The county is located in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from Washington, D.C., the nati ...

. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Forest Management from

Clemson University Clemson University () is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university near Clemson, South Carolina, United States. - The blue-shaded pattern denotes university property. This shows Clemson University is ''out ...

in 1981, a Master of Science in industrial management from

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Established in 1885, it has the lar ...

in 1984, and a second M.S. in Technology and Science Policy two years later. Sickles is a fellow with the Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

Legislative issues and bills

Tragedy struck in

Fairfax County Fairfax County, officially the County of Fairfax, is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. With a population of 1,150,309 as of the 2020 census, it is the most populous county in Virginia, the most populous jurisdiction in the Washington ...

in 2018 when a nine-year-old boy was killed by a motorized classroom partition. In response, Sickles drafted legislation prohibiting anyone from operating a motorized partition when students are in a room at school unless the wall has a safety sensor installed with it. He named the bill the ''Wesley Charles Lipicky Act'' in honor of the victim. The bill passed the legislature and was signed into law in May 2019. Sickles was instrumental in the effort to advance the

Equal Rights Amendment The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was a proposed amendment to the Constitution of the United States, United States Constitution that would explicitly prohibit sex discrimination. It is not currently a part of the Constitution, though its Ratifi ...

(ERA) in Virginia in early 2019. As the only two Democrats on the Subcommittee No. 1 of the House Privileges and Elections Committee, Mark Sickles and

Schuyler VanValkenburg Schuyler Thomas VanValkenburg (born 1982) is an American teacher and politician. He was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates representing the 72nd District on November 7, 2017, to replace retiring delegate Jimmie Massie. He defeated Republ ...

(D-) supported the effort make Virginia the 38th state to ratify the ERA. However, the Republicans on Subcommittee No. 1 all voted against the bills. Later, Sickles tried to bring one of the bills before the full committee, but the motion failed on another party-line vote. Still, Sickles was commended for his efforts by Ratify, a leading organization working to pass the

Personal life

In an op-ed for ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'', which noted the striking-down in the Eastern Virginia U.S. District Court of the constitutionality of the state's ban on

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same legal Legal sex and gender, sex. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 38 countries, with a total population of 1.5 ...

, Sickles publicly came out as

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

. This made him the second openly

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

member of the Virginia General Assembly, alongside Sen.

, who was out before his election to the House in 2003.

Electoral history

In 2001, Sickles ran for the House and lost by 313 votes to freshman Republican Tom Bolvin, who had defeated 11-term Democrat Gladys Keating two years earlier. Sickles had been a volunteer staffer for Keating previously. Sickles defeated Bolvin in a 2003 rematch, 53.8%-46.1%.

References

External links

* (campaign finance) * * *
Project Vote Smart - Representative Mark D. Sickles (VA)
profile *''Follow the Money'' - Mark D. Sickles
200520032001
campaign contributions {{DEFAULTSORT:Sickles, Mark D. 1957 births Living people Democratic Party members of the Virginia House of Delegates Clemson University alumni Georgia Tech alumni Politicians from Fairfax County, Virginia Politicians from Arlington County, Virginia LGBTQ state legislators in Virginia American gay politicians 21st-century members of the Virginia General Assembly