Bay Windows
Big Bow Wow
This Dublin-set nighttime drama from the U.K. knows how to push buttons and boundaries. A sort of Celtic Sex and the City, the provocative soap courted controversy with its frank portrayals of pretty young people having sex, doing drugs, and generally behaving badly, along with its major (and majorly annoying) gay character.
Advocates aim high in Senate budget lobbying
Following modest funding increases for LGBT and HIV/AIDS programs in the House budget for the next fiscal year, advocates are pushing the Senate to approve much larger increases in its budget plan
Change is a-Foothills
There’s something happening at the Foothills Theatre Company in Worcester. It began with a glittery production in October 2006 of The Rocky Horror Show, the cult classic that had the AARP set doing the Time Warp with the original Hot Tranny Mess, Frank-N-Furter, at the Thursday matinee (yes there’s a Thursday matinee).
Long-awaited bullying guide released
On April 30 the Massachusetts Department of Public Health released an anti-bullying guide for teachers and administrators that includes a three-page section on LGBT-related bullying issues.
Get smartpop
Musicians have long loved to use those "three small words," but singer-songwriter Mara Levi is upping the ante to five words. And they aren’t "no more I-love-yous," at least not literally. When I spoke with Levi by phone from her home in Washington, D.C., she was busy updating her website to get ready for a community building project that asks her fans to describe themselves in five words
Rustin breakfast empowers LGBT communities of color in civil rights, AIDS battles
Taking the stage holding a sign that bore the slogan, "I AM A MAN" at this year’s Bayard Rustin Community Breakfast, Diego Sanchez at once paid tribute to the gay, black civil rights pioneer for whom the event is named and affirmed his own transgender identity.
Butchsie
What does it take to make it in the scrappy world of independent film? Talent, vision, determination? All that, sure, but when your business card says writer/director/producer/actress/editor, you need one thing more: boundless energy. Even over the phone it’s clear that rising queer filmmaker Michelle Ehlen has energy to spar
Taking educators to school
Wakefield High School was a war zone for Diane Difraia. She preferred sweats and t-shirts to hip-huggers and girly tops. On the athletic field she was so aggressive her coaches told her to play with the boys. In tenth grade Difraia came out as a lesbian to her family and close friends, but asked that they keep it a secret.
The literati meet the glitterati at The Red Fez
Award-winning gay author Joseph Olshon reads at The Red Fez with fellow author Maureen Freely.
Gay film fest still fab
The annual tradition of the Gay and Lesbian Film and Video Festival at the Museum of Fine Arts is always accompanied by the annual tradition of queer film buffs grousing about the Festival selections.
(No) Money changes everything
To the average American the news about the U.S. economy looks bleak: the housing market is in shambles over the sub-prime mortgage crisis, gas prices across the country are reaching record highs (more than $3.50 per gallon in Massachusetts), and economists say that the economy is in a recession, despite protests to the contrary from Pres. Bush.
Hot for teacher
Although it’s set in a small town in Northern England in the 1980s, Alan Bennett’s play The History Boys has plenty of relevance here in the land of MCAS and hockey team orgies.
Bayard Rustin breakfast breaks new ground
The 19th annual Bayard Rustin Community Breakfast, an event to mark the contributions of LGBT people of color in fighting against the AIDS epidemic, breaks new ground this year. Diego Sanchez, director of public relations and external affairs for AIDS Action Committee, will be the first transgender person to keynote the event, which takes place May 3 at the John F. Kennedy Library.
Artadia opens at Mills Gallery
While the question may still be up for debate - has the visual arts scene of South End or even the city arrived yet? - Artadia’s Boston 2007 exhibition opening at the Boston Center for the Arts’ Mills Gallery on April 18 makes a good case that it has.
LGBT funding increased
LGBT advocates and their allies on Beacon Hill made some modest gains this week during House debates on the next fiscal year’s budget.
Women displaced by blaze feel LGBT community’s love
After an April 11 fire at the Jefferson Village apartments in Framingham left them temporarily homeless, two longtime lesbian activists, Laverne Saunders and Judah Dorrington, have received an outpouring of support from the LGBT community.
Youth commission to honor Boston Pride, PFLAG leaders
The Friends of LGBT youth will honor Boston Pride Committee President Linda DeMarco and Greater Boston PFLAG Executive Director Pam Garramone at this year’s Sunset Soiree at the Hotel Marlowe in Cambridge on May 8.
BAGLY honors Menino
The Boston Alliance of GLBT Youth will give Mayor Tom Menino a well-deserved honor at its 28th anniversary celebration at the Artists for Humanity Epicenter in South Boston on April 29.
Harvard forum examines role of LGBT elected officials
An April 22 Harvard forum aimed at examining the viability of LGBT political candidates veered off-topic into a broader discussion of the role of LGBT officials in public life, as one Harvard student questioned whether openly gay elected officials weren’t better off leaving gay advocacy to straight allies and another suggested that some local openly gay electeds weren’t visible enough.
Domestic violence orgs. reach out
The state’s two LGBT-focused domestic violence organizations, the Gay Men’s Domestic Violence Project (GMDVP) and The Network / La Red, will do outreach and education at separate events in Boston next week.