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Founded in 1979, the company is owned by Todd Evans, who describes himself as “an environmentalist, animal lover, and champion of equal rights.” The gay president and CEO explains his business philosophy “is all about creating a positive ripple and making everything a winwin. Much of the queer press that exists today wouldn’t without Rivendell Media, a marketing and advertising company based in Mountainside, N.J., which now represents 95 percent of all LGBTQ+ media properties in the United States. “Once I found the courage to face my own truth of being lesbian, I found that family members, friends, and colleagues wanted to learn more about my lifestyle and to know how they could be supportive as an ally.” “I lived in the closet for decades for fear that coming out would damage my political career or cause me to be ostracized by my family,” she says. A member of the Kaufman Zita Group lobbying firm, she is pushing for a more aggressive drug use harm-reduction law and greater reproductive rights for women. (The state Supreme Court ultimately endorsed marriage equality.) Although she recently lost her partner of 22 years, LaRue continues to fight for equality. For nearly five decades, the 70-year-old Black lesbian lobbyist has been one of the leading voices in the Garden State on social justice issues - from driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants to outlawing discrimination based on ethnic hairstyles to being the lead proponent for New Jersey’s Marriage Equality Act, which passed the state legislature in 2012 before being quashed by then-Gov. If you work in New Jersey politics, you know Jeannine LaRue.