UW-Madison is making history this week by becoming the first large university to appoint an openly gay president/chancellor. Biddy Martin, an open lesbian, is apparently taking a pay cut from her current number two spot at Cornell to come lead the only Big 10 university that still does not recognize same-sex domestic partnerships for employee benefits.

Although Martin understandably downplayed the role her sexual orientation will play during her tenure, her selection no doubt sends a strong message to the stubborn legislators who have repeatedly blocked attempts to extend to gay university employees what is expected in the generally modest-paying field of academia (note that modest still means upper-middle class).

Whether or not she fashions herself so, Martin will inevitably be the face of the movement to secure domestic partnerships from the legislature, as the politicians opposing the measure will have to go up against her, and if she proves to be a popular chancellor, the battle will be all the more difficult.