William J. Lippert, Jr., commonly known as Bill Lippert, is a legislator and gay rights activist from the U.S. state of Vermont who has served since 1994 in the Vermont House of Representatives as state representative of the Town of Hinesburg. He served as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee for ten years, and now serves as chairman of the House Health Care Committee. Early life and career Lippert grew up in Pennsylvania and graduated from Earlham College in 1972 with a B.A. in History. Lippert attended Antioch/New England Graduate School, and graduated in 1979 with an M.A. in Counseling Psychology. He has lived in Vermont since 1972, and moved to Hinesburg in 1979. In the early 1970s, he helped form the state's first gay men's support group and, in 1983, Lippert worked with others to organize Vermont's first gay pride rally in Burlington. In 1989, Lippert helped to establish Outright Vermont, an organization dedicated to serving the needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth. Later, he was involved in lobbying for Vermont's gay civil rights bill, which passed the legislature and was signed into law by Governor Howard Dean in 1992. In 1992, along with community activist David Curtis, Lippert founded the Samara Foundation of Vermont, an LGBT community foundation whose mission was "to improve the quality of life of Vermont's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender citizens." Lippert served as the executive director of the Samara Foundation, and later as senior foundation officer. Samara Foundation is now the Samara Fund for LGBT Issues of the Vermont Community Foundation. For twenty years prior to serving in the Vermont legislature, Lippert worked in community mental health services, serving as a psychotherapist and substance abuse counselor, and for ten years as the Executive Director of the Counseling Service of Addison County. In 1996, Lippert resigned as CSAC Executive Director to continue his legislative career and grow the Samara Foundation of Vermont. In the legislature Appointment and re-election In April, 1994, Lippert was appointed by Governor Howard Dean to fill a vacant seat representing Hinesburg in the Vermont House of Representatives. The seat had been held by Democrat Chuck Ross, who resigned on being appointed U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy's state director. Lippert was elected to a full term in Nov., 1994 and has been re-elected biennially ever since. The 2015–16 biennium is his eleventh full term in the legislature. Same-sex unions In