Bay Windows
Patrick to revive hate crimes task force
Kevin Burke, secretary of the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security (EOPSS), announced Nov. 2 that Gov. Deval Patrick plans to reconvene the defunct Governor’s Task Force on Hate Crimes, a body that was disbanded in 2003 by his predecessor, Mitt Romney. Burke made his announcement during a joint meeting of the Greater Boston Civil Rights Coalition (GBCRC) and the Massachusetts Association of Human Rights and Relations Commission (MAHRC) held at the headquarters of the Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association. Burke told the group of about 30 people attending the meeting, representing a mix of Jewish and LGBT civil rights groups, municipal human rights commissions, the American Civil Liberties Union, Norfolk District Attorney William Keating’s office, Boston Public Schools, and state Reps. Carl Sciortino and Denise Provost, among others, that while the Patrick administration is still working out the details behind the structure of the new body, it will build on the work of the prior task force.
MassEquality: Moving Foward
The decision by the MassEquality Board of Directors to expand its mission to partner with Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD) to help bring equal marriage rights to other New England states and to work with local LGBT organizations to pass legislation here at home has been warmly received by advocates who spoke to Bay Windows this week.
Anger after MassEquality board vote
Just days after the MassEquality board of directors voted to expand the grassroots organization’s mission and create a fully independent board of directors, some people with knowledge of the proceedings are charging that the process that led to those changes was deeply flawed. They allege that the board’s three-month strategic planning process was unbalanced, that there was little to no opportunity for debate prior to the Nov. 3 board vote, and that the vote to expand MassEquality’s mission actually fell short of the two-thirds majority it required to pass.
Search for a Cure to host HIV conference
The HIV/AIDS advocacy organization Search for a Cure will hold its third annual New England Conference on HIV Treatment and Prevention Nov. 10 at the Department of Public Health’s State Laboratory in Jamaica Plain. The conference will feature a presentation about the latest research on prevention and treatment by Dr. Edmund Tramont, associate director of special projects for the clinical research division of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health.
Southie couple claims lack of police response to anti-gay threats
On Oct. 23 around 6:30 p.m., Sven Koppany and Michael Fay, recent transplants to Southie living near the intersection of E Street and Broadway, were enjoying the unseasonably warm weather and preparing to give their first floor condo a thorough cleaning when they suddenly heard someone pounding on the metal security bars on their windows. They turned toward the windows and saw a group of three young people in their late teens, two men and one woman, going from window to window and banging their fists against the bars. Koppany told Bay Windows the teens shouted at the men to let them into the condo so they could look around. The couple said no.
Who’s afraid of Tchaikovsky?
Call me Ebenezer Scrooge, but I’m not overly fond of most holiday traditions, especially the ones that infest our performance spaces in December. One stage production of Dickens’s A Christmas Carol is more than enough for me, let alone the half dozen that spring up annually like persistent fungus. I’m even - gasp - getting weary of David Sedaris’s Santaland Diaries. And as for that highbrow Christmas classic, The Nutcracker ... every time I hear the score, I yearn to grab a bb gun and bag me some sugar plum fairies.
Out in print
Check out three new fall releases, reviewed by Brian Jewell. "Murder in the Rue Chartres" is the latest adventure of Chanse MacLeod finds the private detective returning to New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. "Blind Leap" is the second installment of the adventures of the San Francisco- based Blind Eye Detective Agency, Diane and Jacob Anderson-Minshalls have worked out most of the kinks. "Blood Moon’s Guide to Gay and Lesbian Film, 2nd Edition", a new guide to queer cinema, is an annual yearbook of every film from around the world with gay themes, or by a major gay director.
Within Me
If there’s one thing that pop music has taught us, it’s that an artist who goes by an initial will always be v. good.
Better Than Blood
Singer/songwriter McCauley has the perfect voice to match her penchant for bombastic pop/rock.
Project Bread donates to HIV/AIDS orgs
The anti-hunger organization Project Bread announced Oct. 25 that it had distributed more than $800,000 to 116 emergency food programs in the Metro Boston area, and three of those programs work to provide meals to people who are homebound due to HIV/AIDS. Project Bread distributed $15,000 to Community Servings, $8500 to the AIDS Action Committee and $5000 to Youth on Fire, a program of Cambridge Cares About AIDS.
Worcester panel explores intersection of marriage and race
The black community’s "don’t ask, don’t tell policy" toward homosexuality, as one black gay man who attended a panel discussion on marriage equality and race described it, is just one of the barriers to a better understanding of the marriage issue in the black community - and the LGBT community in general.
A cockwork orange
Gay freedom fighters wage a high-tech war against an oppressive government regime in Tom Bachhus’s juicy new pulp novel
LGBT public backs MassEquality
An online survey of MassEquality members shows that there is strong support for keeping the grassroots organization going -- even though marriage equality has been secured in Massachusetts.
MassEquality Board votes to expand mission
On Sat., Nov. 3, the MassEquality Board of Directors voted to expand the organization’s mission by working closely with Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders to help bring civil marriage rights to the rest of the New England states and to work with Massachusetts-based LGBT organizations on passing legislation and securing funding to help them with their goals.
Larry Cirignano reaches out to the gays
News of an upcoming Phelps protest prompted former Catholic Citizenship president Larry Cirignano, who was recently acquitted of assault and battery charges, to reach out to gay activist Tom Lang of the group KnowThyNeighbor to try to draft a joint letter from LGBT groups, MassResistance and religious conservatives asking Phelps not to come to Massachusetts.
Most of the Mass delegation to support ENDA with or without Baldwin amendment
If the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) does come up for a vote on the House floor, most members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation have pledged to support it whether or not it includes an amendment to ban discrimination based on gender identity as well as sexual orientation.
John Kelly brings Joni Mitchell to "Out on the Edge"
Think of famous women who’ve inspired gay men to imitate them, and you think of the Holy Trinity: Barbra, Judy and Cher. Think again and you might come up with some classic Hollywood dames like Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, or contemporary ladies like Madonna or Celine Dion. Basically, any woman with a big presence and big reputation is fodder for female impersonation. The gentle, idiosyncratic musician Joni Mitchell, despite her huge influence on popular music, doesn’t seem to fit the bill for a drag show.
Wholesale comedy with Michele Balan
Just like the rest of us, some comics are introverts and some are extroverts. It took about five seconds on the phone to determine that Michele Balan is an extrovert. She talks about her appearance at Club Cafe tonight!
Youth tell state commissioners what it’s like to be gay in Central Mass
The Massachusetts Commission on GLBT Youth gathered in Worcester Oct. 22 for the second in a series of regional meetings across the state, and they heard from high school students firsthand about the challenges they face as LGBT young people. During a meeting at Worcester Technical High School with students from that school’s gay/straight alliance (GSA), as well as three students who traveled to the meeting from Milford, which is located about a half-hour southeast of Worcester, the commission asked them what problems they face and what support they have found in their school, at home and in other areas of their life.
Stakeholders want to see MassEquality continue
A report by the consultant hired to help the MassEquality Board of Directors determine the future of the organization shows that there is widespread consensus among MassEquality coalition partners, national LGBT activists and MassEquality’s major donors to keep the organization viable even though the fight for civil marriage rights has been secured in Massachusetts for the foreseeable future.