Bay Windows
Trans activists call for an end to violence
Reading aloud from a letter she had recently sent to her mother, who had kicked her out of their home when she came out as trans, a young woman from Minnesota captivated a crowd last weekend gathered to remember trans victims of violence.
Out on CD
Check out three hot new musical pics this week! Amy Winehouse’s American release of "Frank"; The Killers with "Sawdust"; and "The Moon Is Disgusting" by That 1 Guy
It’s a one-derful life
Every year when the temperature drops and snowfall threatens, Boston area theatergoers can count on certain shows to warm their hearts. You’ve got your pick of multiple versions of A Christmas Carol, a classic and contemporary version of The Nutcracker, and even the outrageous Gold Dust Orphans are reprising their holiday spooktacular Silent Night of the Lambs. This season, The Lyric Stage presents a new offering with the New England premiere of This Wonderful Life, Steve Murray’s homage to It’s A Wonderful Life.
FBI: increase in hate crimes based on sexual orientation
As a bill to protect LGBT people from bias-motivated crimes stalls in the U.S. Senate, a new FBI report documents a rise in hate crimes based on sexual orientation in 2006.
Trans activists call for an end to violence
Reading aloud from a letter she had recently sent to her mother, who had kicked her out of their home when she came out as trans, a young woman from Minnesota captivated a crowd last weekend gathered to remember trans victims of violence. "It’s been a little over a year since I’ve been gone, but you probably don’t care," said the transwoman, who identified herself as Synthia. Synthia was one of several speakers at the ninth annual Transgender Day of Remembrance Nov. 18, an event celebrated by members of the transgender community and their allies around the world to commemorate the lives of transgender murder victims and to demand an end to the violence.
SpeakOut to keep speaking
The board of directors of SpeakOut met Nov. 14 to consider a motion put forward by board co-chair Bernadette Smith to dissolve the organization, which was founded in 1972 as the Gay Speakers Bureau and purports to be the world’s first LGBT speaker’s bureau.
Gay man honored at elder caregivers event
Lawrence Johnson thought the 30 years he spent teaching English to students at Needham High School was hard work. But he learned otherwise when his partner of 37 years, Alexandre Rheume, began to suffer the ravages of Parkinson’s disease, including dementia.
The big feast
After a three-year absence one of Boston’s signature events for people living with HIV/AIDS, the Boston Living Center’s Celebration of Life Thanksgiving Dinner, returns this month to the Hynes Convention Center.
Talking about a revolution
I’m usually the one conducting the interview, but it’s not far into my conversation with publishers Amanda and Joyce Cascio before they’re trying to turn the tables on me. It figures; the partners, in business and in life, didn’t get their new book Dragonfly Stories from concept to launch in four months by beating around the bush.
Methodists reach out to the gays
The Rev. Gil Caldwell is fond of quoting a character from the stage drama The Slave Narratives who said, "They use the Bible like a stick against us."
Rates of STDs rising among gay men
For the sixth year in a row the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found an increase in reported cases of syphilis. New national surveillance data released by the CDC Nov. 13 suggests that new infections in men who have sex with men (MSM) are driving the overall increase in infections.
AIDS Action awards lawmakers
AIDS Action Committee presented its second annual Commitment to Action Awards Nov. 8 at its annual meeting, honoring people and organizations that have distinguished themselves over the past year in working to end the AIDS epidemic.
A funny thing happened at the polls
This past election cycle saw the campaigns of four of five viable, qualified openly gay candidates for municipal office go down to defeat: In Salem’s City Council race, it was Mickey Northcutt, who ran for an open seat with the endorsement of the popular retiring incumbent.
Drood looks like a lady
After singing in a host of Sondheim musicals, playing a gloriously eccentric society matron in Souvenir, and tearing into the iconic Mama Rose in Gypsy, what becomes a leading lady most?
Remembering victims of violence
Members of Boston’s transgender community and their allies will celebrate the ninth annual Transgender Day of Remembrance, a day to memorialize members of the transgender community who have been murdered and whose murders were motivated by anti-trans hatred, on Nov. 18.
Board to vote on dissolving SpeakOut
SpeakOut, which bills itself as the nation’s first LGBT speaker’s bureau, may soon be closing its doors. The board of directors was scheduled to meet the evening of Nov. 14, after Bay Windows went to press, and one of the items scheduled for a vote was a motion to dissolve the organization.
VA system issues memo on treating trans vets
With little to no fanfare the Veteran Affairs (VA) Boston Healthcare System issued a patient care memorandum to its staff in September detailing guidelines for providing care to transgender patients. Advocates describe the memo as a landmark achievement in transgender healthcare and say it is the first known case of a VA system demonstrating in writing its commitment to creating an inclusive and welcoming environment for transgender veterans.
Author donates book profits to MassEquality
As the mother of a gay son and a committed MassEquality volunteer, author Suzanne Brockmann has supported equal marriage rights by knocking on doors, making phone calls and braving the elements to campaign for pro-equality legislators. But she knew there was more she could be doing to support the cause.
Community Servings completes capital campaign
Community Servings, which delivers meals to people who are homebound due to HIV/AIDS or other life-threatening illnesses, exceeded the $4 million fundraising goal for its capital campaign, but it came down to the wire. David Waters, executive director of Community Servings, said the Kresge Foundation offered a $400,000 matching grant if Community Servings could raise the rest of the money for the campaign by Oct. 31. By August the organization still had to raise $500,000 to qualify for the grant.
Lesbian alleges sex discrimination
In what her attorney calls a "classic" case of sex discrimination, a Brookline woman is suing her former employer, the Delaware-based business consulting firm LEK Consulting, alleging that she was treated less favorably than her male colleagues, both on the job and in the way in which she was terminated.