On Wednesday, Common Cause Delaware (CCDE) hosted its annual Sussex County Awards Ceremony at the Baywood Country Club. CCDE presented the Russell Peterson Public Service Award to Equality Delaware, the organization that led the statewide advocacy and educational campaigns that resulted in the Marriage Equality Bill and the Gender Identity Non-Discrimination Act of 2013.

Close to one hundred people braved the cold to attend the event, including New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer and Rep. Sherry Dorsey Walker, as well as Sen. Russ Huxtable and Rep. Paul Baumbach, both of whom brought Tributes from the General Assembly, honoring EQDE. Eugene Young, the Director of the Delaware State Housing Authority, a member of Gov. Carney’s Cabinet also attended.

The event included a reception followed by a short program. Both the CCDE Board Chair Jeff Raffel and Executive Director Claire Snyder-Hall shared information about what their non-partisan organization does to protect and strengthen democracy in the First State, including the Election Protection program it plans to organize again in 2024. 

Mark Purpura and Lisa Goodman accepted the award on behalf of EQDE and gave some remarks about the efforts they made ten years ago to strengthen equality in Delaware.

The event raised money for CCDE’s educational affiliate, the Common Cause Education Fund in Delaware (CCEF/DE). For more information see commoncause.org/delaware.