Bay Windows
Advocates optimistic about trans bill’s fate, history says otherwise
Students of the state legislature know that when lawmakers want to kill a bill without taking a vote on its merits, they vote to send it to a committee for further study. Exhibit A? Gov. Deval Patrick’s casino gambling bill.
MassEquality expands board
MassEquality added five new members to its board of directors this month, bringing the total number of board members up to 15.
Officer LGBT-friendly
BPD commish sets inclusive tone inside and outside department
To Protect and Serve
I don’t know if it’s the actual sex scenes that are the most important element in lesbian erotica, or the never-ending microanalysis of the tempestuous emotional states of the lead characters.
Casper Andreas on A Four Letter Word
Following the success of his first feature "Slutty Summer," director Casper Andreas returns to the gay romantic comedy genre with "A Four Letter Word," which premiered in New York today. Here’s the interview!
Shocker: Mass Resistance declared a hate group
Brian Camenker, Amy Contrada, and the rest of the anti-gay activists at Mass Resistance have finally received some long-overdue recognition.
Me2
Until the most recent movie version, each iteration of Invasion of the Body Snatchers has been tailored to the up-to-the-minute fears of its generation. This eerie novel goes where the Nicole Kidman vehicle should have, drawing on conspiracy theories, urban anomie, identity theft and consumerism to create a subtle horror tale about erosion of the self.
McGee cleared in Fla. assault case
Carl Stanley McGee, assistant secretary for policy and planning in Gov. Deval Patrick’s administration, is in the clear. The state attorney’s office in Lee County, Florida, has decided not to press charges against McGee for allegedly sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy.
Youth theater troupe gets help from Social Innovation Forum
Evelyn Francis, director of education for True Colors Out Youth Theater, has big plans. Over the next two years she hopes to double the capacity of the LGBT youth theater troupe, both in terms of the number of participants and the number of performances True Colors puts on each year. Francis hopes that True Colors’ partnership with the Social Innovation Forum, which works with non-profits to connect them with new sources of funding, will help the troupe accomplish that goal.
Reheating the Cold War
Identities in transition at the Bernard Toale Gallery
Barry Scott back to court; P’Town to train summer officers on hate crimes
Barry Scott, the openly gay DJ arrested last July while DJing at a private house party in Provincetown, is going back to court April 11 to ask Orleans District Court Judge Therese Wright to grant him access to an internal police investigation into his arrest.
South Coast Equality Alliance to hold inaugural event
During the battle over marriage equality a group of LGBT and ally activists on Massachusetts’ South Coast region came together as the Marriage Equality Coalition of the South Coast. With the defeat of the amendment to ban same-sex marriage last summer, activists behind that coalition have decided to use the energy generated by the marriage movement to create a more permanent LGBT organization in the region.
Charmed and Strange
First of all, give this one-man band props for originality. Eschewing the usual (read: dull) singer-songwriter-with-acoustic-guitar routine, this Israeli musician doesn’t stop at picking and strumming.
Trans rights bill likely delayed
As Bay Windows went to press it was uncertain what action the legislature’s Joint Committee on the Judiciary would take on the transgender rights bill, House Bill 1722. March 19 was the deadline for the committee to decide what action to take on the bill, which was the subject of a ten-hour hearing before the Judiciary March 4
Repeal on HIV travel ban headed to Senate floor
The effort to end the U.S. ban on travel and immigration into the country by people who are HIV-positive moved one step closer to victory last week when the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations approved the inclusion of language to end the ban as part of legislation to reauthorize the President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
’The biggest threat’
Last month a California teenager was shot in the head by a classmate because his classmate didn’t like that the teen was gay. The tragedy was covered by the media, but it received nothing approaching the attention given to Oklahoma state Rep. Sally Kern’s now infamous anti-gay tirade, which was surreptitiously taped and then posted for the world to hear on YouTube.
A Single Drop of Red
With their pounding guitars, judicious use of synthesizers and dramatic lyrics about combat and death, this hard-rocking Boston duo certainly makes evocative music.
Youth commission seeks funding for new programs
The Massachusetts Commission on GLBT Youth plans to push for an unprecedented $2.9 million in state funding for youth programs in the Fiscal Year 2009, a figure far above the commission’s FY02 high watermark of $1.6 million.
Suzanne Westenhoeffer: A Bottom on Top
"There are as many lesbians in the middle of the country as there are on the edges," observes comedian Suzanne Westenhoeffer before taking the stage in Indianapolis. "The ones here are just quieter and nicer." Westenhoeffer should know. The pioneering lesbian comic has done her share of traveling, crisscrossing the country to headline comedy clubs in every state.
Capture the Castle
Emerg-O! Percept-O! Joan-Crawford-waving-an-axe-in-your-face-O! These are some of the tricks cult filmmaker William Castle used to lure kids into theaters and scare the pants off them. Learn more in Spine Tingler!, one of the highlights of this year’s Boston Underground Film Festival.