Washington, D.C. — After more than seven years at the Center for American Progress, Sharita Gruberg this week assumes the new role of senior director for the Center’s LGBTQ Research and Communications Project.
Since 2013, Gruberg has helped guide CAP’s work on LGBTQ issues as a policy analyst and, most recently, as policy director for the team. In that capacity, she has authored numerous reports and issue briefs that have been the basis for federal legislation and policy and other landmark victories for the LGBTQ community across the United States. Most notably, she played a key role in the development, drafting, and passage of the Equality Act in the U.S. House of Representatives alongside progressive and LGBTQ groups and Capitol Hill champions. She also used the Freedom of Information Act and her expertise in administrative law to hold the Trump administration accountable for its numerous attacks on the LGBTQ community.
“Sharita’s tireless work on behalf of the LGBTQ community, coupled with her background in law and human rights work, makes her an invaluable champion for equality and for the progressive movement as a whole,” said Winnie Stachelberg, executive vice president for External Affairs at CAP. “CAP is a stronger organization with Sharita at the helm of this important work.”
Prior to joining CAP, Gruberg worked as a program specialist for the Women’s Refugee Commission and as a law clerk for the American Bar Association Commission on Immigration, where she provided support to immigration detainees in removal proceedings, including LGBT asylum seekers. She also completed a fellowship with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, where she helped refugees resettle to safe third countries.
She is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and of Georgetown University Law Center, where she received her Juris Doctor with a certificate in Refugees and Humanitarian Emergencies. In 2019, Sharita was named one of the 40 best LGBTQ+ lawyers under 40 by the LGBT Bar Association.