The Gay/Lesbian Union endorsed Student Association presidential candidate Kelly Marie McDonald for the executive elections Wednesday and Thursday.

GLU Co-President David Huggins said the group supports McDonald “because of her concern for basic human rights, in particular her concern for gay/lesbian rights.”

Huggins said McDonald has shown good leadership ability through her work in “upholding the sexual-orientation clause of NIU and the SA.

“We are really happy with her new innovative ideas and it is time to see someone do some work with organizational problems in the SA,” Huggins said.

He did not specify what other qualifications distinguish her from her opponent, Senate Speaker Preston Came.

McDonald was not available to respond to the endorsement, though she did mention last week that she was expecting the support of the GLU.

She also has received an endorsement from Women’s Alliance, of which she is a member.

Last semester, McDonald was involved in a gay rights-related incident when she was denied an open seat on DeKalb’s Human Relations Commission.

McDonald asked DeKalb Mayor Greg Sparrow to join the commission, but Sparrow turned her down because he said he did not want someone bringing up again a gay rights ordinance rejected by the city council two years ago.

The Human Rights Commission proposed the ordinance in 1989 that would legally have protected people from discrimination based on their sexual preference.