[7] Prior to marriage equality in the United States, it was important that lesbians in long-term relationships understood their legal rights if their partner was seriously ill; DeBold, through her work with the Mautner Project for Lesbians with Cancer, advocated for lesbian-specific support groups for partners of people with cancer.
[2] Through her work as deputy director of the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, DeBold has been a campaigner for many LGBT candidates—D.C.
Councilmembers David Catania and Jim Graham, U.S. senator Tammy Baldwin—and wrote a book Out for Office: Campaigning in the Gay Nineties.
[2][10] Her other book, Word Gaymes, is a compilation of crossword puzzles and acrostics she published in the Washington Blade and elsewhere.
Peary High School in Rockville, Maryland, attended Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida.