Bay Windows
Queer women of color create a scene
About two years ago Adora Asala set out to tackle a longstanding problem in Boston’s LGBT scene: the distinct lack of people of color at the city’s LGBT clubs, bars and events. At the time Asala was part of the group of organizers behind MadFemmePride, which aims to raise femme visibility within the community; she and MadFemmePride head organizer Emily Howe decided to hold a social that specifically targeted queer women of color.
The Cho must go on
There’s a certain formula that comes with a Margaret Cho comedy show: combine one part sex talk, a teaspoon of potty humor, a hefty dollop of politically incorrect leftist opining, and a few shout-outs to the LGBT community (Cho is married to a man but identifies as "queer"). The result? A seemingly sold-out show at The Orpheum on April 5, a rabid fan base that hangs on her every word, and - if history is any indicator - a DVD special that will allow you to freeze frame any number of Cho’s uproariously contorted facial expressions (now in HD!) for maximum hilarity.
ENDA again
Last week Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) told the Associated Press that he planned to bring the controversial Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) up for a vote in the Senate before the year’s end - raising the specter of the brutal infighting among LGBT advocates that accompanied the tumultuous debate over ENDA in the House last fall.
Hal Hitler
On April 3 Lexington Public Schools Superintendent Paul Ash announced that the town would be piloting a new diversity curriculum for grades K-5 that will include, among other topics, discussions about families with gay and lesbian parents. The announcement of the diversity curriculum brought the expected jeers from the local anti-gay activist group, MassResistance, but word of the curriculum attracted the attention of a notorious New Jersey white supremacist, Hal Turner, who called on listeners to his Internet radio show and visitors to his website to hunt down Ash at his home and assault him.
T-Dance
T-Dance is the musical equivalent of a B-movie: you have no idea how you ended up on this channel, you’re not entirely sure who the came up with this crap, but you kind of dig it.
Kerry and challenger agree on ENDA
The debate over the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) may have caused a schism between the country’s LGBT advocacy organizations, but in this fall’s Massachusetts Democratic primary race for the Senate both Sen. John Kerry and his challenger, Ed O’Reilly, are on the same page in terms of their positions on ENDA.
MOVE: Atlantis Dance 2008
If you’ve never been on an Atlantis gay cruise, Tommy Boy has come to the rescue: just pop in the MOVE compilation, dim all the lights (sweet darling), drop down the mirror ball, and run your bathtub while sipping a Spritzer.
Keshet is in demand
Back in 2005 Keshet was a small Jamaica Plain-based organization focused on advocating for LGBT inclusion within the Jewish community in the Boston area; its executive director, Idit Klein, was the organization’s lone full time employee. But the release of a documentary film, Hineini, chronicling the experience of a girl coming out as a lesbian at a Jewish school in Waltham transformed Keshet from a small locally focused group to a national advocacy and education organization with eight current staff members and more expansion on the horizon.
Love Song Surprise
Who knew Britney Spears had such good taste? If press releases (and, so I’m told, an episode of the pop star’s former reality show Chaotic) are reliable sources, then it turns out that Spears selected Static’s song "Sweetest Day" for her wedding with The Celebutard Formerly Known as K-Fed.
Stonewall Communities’ future looks uncertain
Stonewall Communities announced last February that it was shelving plans to build an LGBT retirement community in Audubon Circle due to the gloomy real estate market, but on April 7 the organization announced to its members that it is contemplating purchasing a 62-unit condo development in Dorchester, the Schoolhouse at Lower Mills.
On the Hunt :: Manhunt.net leads the Gay Wide Web
For most gay men the name Manhunt.net conjures images of late night hookups and pages upon pages of profiles of hot (and not so hot) naked men. Since its launch seven years ago the company has extended its steamy, sweaty grasp from Boston across the country to become one of the largest gay websites in the United States. In the last few years it has gone international, helping men hook up in Mexico, South America, the U.K., Western Europe and Australia, among other far-flung locales.
Beantown Softball readies for 2008 season
Dust off those cleats, grease up your mitt with a little Glove Loogie and break out the Ben-Gay. The Beantown Softball League (BSL) will host its annual clinic day April 5 at Smith Field in Allston at noon. It’s the open registration for new players looking to join the Beantown Softball League, an organization that welcomes LGBT and straight men and women onto the softball diamond.
Pride goes green
This week the committee announced the theme for this year’s parade, "Sustaining our community, conserving our world," and the more green-oriented theme will likely win over the critics. It has already drawn praise from the bloggers at QueerToday.com, among the most vocal critics of the 2007 theme.
Dyke Night at Toast is toast
Dyke Night at Toast Lounge, to which lesbians and their friends have flocked for dancing and drinks every Friday since 2005 - a lifetime in lesbian club years - is coming to an end on April 25.
This bowling league has balls - and boobs!
The Monday Night Bowling League, an LGBT candlepin league, is staging its 23rd annual HIV/AIDS benefit show and raffle, which features drag performances by league members, at Mass. College of Art’s Tower Auditorium on April 6.
School’s out - still
Despite nearly two decades of existence, the annual Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) Boston conference is still charting new territory in the effort to make schools safer for LGBT people. While high school gay/straight alliances (GSAs) are much more common than they were when the conference first launched, middle school GSAs are still relatively rare. But during an afternoon workshop at this year’s conference at Jamaica Plain’s English High School on March 29, Lane Levine, the student organizing associate for the national GLSEN office in New York, talked with a group of current and former students, teachers and parents about how to start a GSA in a middle school.
With ’I Stand’, Idina Menzel relishes return to the stage
Broadway babe Idina Menzel is putting her pipes to work in the service of her own material, having penned nine of the ten tracks on her first full-length CD,
Cambridge honors Simmons, women in politics
Cambridge Mayor E. Denise Simmons officially took the oath of office in January, but in honor of National Women’s History Month the People’s Republic decided to have a do-over March 26.
You better rock
Not many networks change their sexual orientation, especially as flamboyantly as Bravo. Once a home for documentaries and the performing arts, the cable channel got bi-curious after the turn of the century. Just a few short years later, Bravo was the gayest thing this side of Logo, thanks to programming like Queer Eye, Workout, Project Runway, and a new Kathy Griffin comedy special every full moon.
LGBT safe zone: GLSEN conference comes to English High
The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) of Boston brings its 18th annual conference to the English High School in Jamaica Plain March 29.