Anna Eshoo: US congresswoman of Armenian origin, supporter of gay rights movement

IANYAN writes about Ten People You Didn’t Know Were Armenian. Among them is Anna Eshoo:

"A Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives for 14 years, Anna Eshoo is of Assyrian and Armenian heritage and represents California’s 14th congressional district, otherwise known as the “heart of Silicon Valley,” which includes Redwood City, Cupertino, Sunnyvale and Palo Alto. A strong supporter of the gay rights movement, Eshoo has also endorsed an amendment to the Foreign Relations Authorization Act to protect indigenous Assyrian Christians in Iraq from religious persecution. You might also be interested to know that she introduced legislation to help combat the problem of spam. The CAN-SPAM Act was passed in 2003 and authorized a “Do Not Spam” list and also imposes fine on spammers. Most recently, Eshoo endorsed Senator Barack Obama for President."

Wikipedia provides more details:

"She is the only Member of Congress of Assyrian descent but shares her Armenian heritage with Congresswoman Jackie Speier who is of Armenian and German Jewish heritage."

"Anna Eshoo was born in New Britain, Connecticut of Assyrian and Armenian heritage. [2] Her father, Fred Georges, was a jeweler and watchmaker. She is a Chaldean Catholic and is the oldest of three children. She has a brother, Frederick Kenneth Georges, and a sister, Veronica May Georges. Her sister is married to Lawrence Patrick Purcell and they have two children, Celine and Alexander Purcell.

She was married to attorney George Eshoo and is now divorced, with two children, Karen and Paul. She now resides in Atherton, California."

"Anna Eshoo is a strong supporter of the gay rights movement. In 1992 when a gay bashing mailer was directed at Supervisor Tom Nolan (the first openly gay supervisor in San Mateo and her opponent for her congressional seat) Anna Eshoo stood fast in defending him, his record and years of service. She opposed the Marriage Protection Amendment and the Marriage Protection Act. Her website says the bill is "discriminatory, singling out for the first time a minority to prevent their interests from being considered by the highest courts in the land."

*photo - via Wikipedia