Barrios leaving Blue Cross foundation

The head of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation is leaving to lead a national organization that works for the equality of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people through media advocacy.

Jarrett T. Barrios, a former state senator from Cambridge who was an outspoken advocate for minorities and gay marriage while in the legislature, will become president of New York-and Los Angeles-based Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation in September. He plans to split his time between Boston and New York once installed in the new job.

"This is an incredible time to be a gay American and see advances like marriage equality in New Hampshire and Iowa, but also heartbreaking losses like the vote in California," he said in an interview this morning. "What will bring full equality of gay Americans will be when we are able to get our everyday stories out in the media and into middle America. That is what GLAAD does and its challenge is to help every gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender person be accepted, respected, and valued by their communities for the contributions they make."

Barrios led the health foundation for two and a half years, following nine years in the state legislature. Since its creation in 2001, the foundation has pushed to increase health coverage and improve access to care. During Barrios's tenure, the foundation launched Care Beyond Coverage, a program to identify barriers to healthcare access that were not related to insurance, and the Community Partnerships Leaders Program, a seminar series about health access.

“Jarrett has been a strong leader for the foundation in this transition period from the enactment of health care reform in 2006 to the present where we continue to work to find ways to expand access to health care for the Commonwealth’s low-income and vulnerable populations,” Philip W. Johnston, chairman of the foundation's board of directors, said in a statement.

Anya Rader Wallack, executive director of the Massachusetts Medicaid Policy Institute, a subsidiary organization of the foundation, will be interim director.

Barrios is the foundation's third president, succeeding Nancy Turnbull, now an associate dean at the Harvard School of Public Health. The first president was Andrew Dreyfus, now executive vice president of Health Care Services for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts.