The Governor has kept his promises to the GLBT community – vigorously defending marriage equality, supporting repeal of the 1913 law, signing anti-bullying legislation & being a consistent and strong public voice for equality. Now it’s our turn to show where we stand. March and show support for the Governor at Pride tomorrow!!
Meet at 11 a.m. on Saturday near the corner of Dartmouth & Tremont. Be fabulous and wear your green organizer t-shirt if you have one!
Please share widely!
Mine was 1981 in NYC
…Niki Tsongas and Steve Grossman. I’m sure there are others as well.
There was a huge contingent of marchers in green shirts, and the crowd LOVED the Governor — it seemed he’d hardly take a few steps before someone would run out to shake hands or snap a picture. Rain held off until we made the turn to go by the Common, but then it came down pretty hard.
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p>Home now watching NECN and irritated by the coverage. They are reporting Baker supports the community, including transgendered people, because of his “homosexual” brother and gay running mate, without noting that Baker is NOT supporting the transgender rights bill. Meanwhile, they report that the Governor “tried” to win over the crowd. Hello, NECN, did you spend any time with the Governor along the route? He didn’t have to “try” to win people over; it was applause, photos, handshakes and thumbs up the whole way.
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p>Weirdness of the day – we came back along the route with our Patrick/Murray signs to watch the rest of the parade and were standing there as Baker came by. Richard Ross was with Baker and made a point of coming across the street to shake my hand and tell me that he had voted for marriage equality in the legislature while the Governor never had to cast that vote. Are the Republicans really trying to run as more pro-gay than the Governor? I’m not buying it (Baker’s lack of support for the transgender rights bill, for one), but I’d welcome the return of an opposition party that doesn’t define itself by its bigotry.
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p>Cahill wasn’t there – continuing his play for the right wing, no doubt. Other pols spotted: Suzanne Bump, Steve Grossman, Mayor Menino, John Connolly, Mike Lake, Carl Sciortino, Bill Bowles, Sonia Chang-Diaz, Andrea Cabral.
I have been a vocal critic of the governor and is ineptitude on a variety of issues, but he has done more for gay rights is this Commonwealth and arguably the country than any other public figure. It is important that he came out early and often for gay rights since the start of his campaign. He came out forcefully against the ballot initiative while a lot of Democrats including then Democratic frontrunner Tom Reilly and Senate President Travaglini were lukewarm towards gay marriage and in favor of putting it towards a vote. As Governor, Deval killed any and all attempts to put civil rights up for a vote. Additionally he has streamlined state government to recognize gay employees and really updated it to ensure marriage equality for all. His courage on this issue marks him as one of the few American governors willing to take this issue on, and certainly a progressive leader willing to fight for equality for all, the C effort of the Obama administration is a telling comparison.
A few things, Baker/Tisei also got an amazing reception. I however was working the crowd to discuss Charlie Baker’s and Richard Tisei’s pro-gay stances–many had no idea.
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p>Baker prior to his selection of Tisei went on record with me clearly telling me that he was 100% for marriage equality, would not choose or suggest a running mate for LG that would differ from him on this issue and if faced with the anti-gay activists running another marriage ballot initiative in 2012 would not support that even if “it is only to let the people vote.”
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p>When Baker chose Tisei, Richard made it perfectly clear that RT had co-sponsored the Transgender Rights Bill, so this was not something of a surprise to or over-looked by Baker. My conversations with Baker (pre-Tisei) which was back late last Summer included discussions of Transgender Rights. Baker at the time seemed under informed of the bill and the issue. I immediately called Gunner Scott of the Mass Transgender Political Coalition and told him that Baker was a rising figure in GOP politics and that I would suggest Gunner make an appointment to educate Charlie on the issue and the bill, that exposure to transgender people would be good right now. Gunner did not take me up on this, nor to this day has anyone from the MTPC contacted Baker. i recently was told by Holly Ryan that before she left the MTPC she tried to get it to talk to Baker before the GOP convention. Again, no attempt was made. If either of these actions happened, we may not have seen what we saw at the convention.
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p>RE, NECN, let me talk about the Globe article instead. It would have been nice if the Globe reporters had spoken to gays marching with Baker and maybe that story would not have been so Patrick biased.
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p>RE Richard Ross, his vote was an essential vote switch which took alot of courage in the end. He was getting alot of threats from the GOP nutcase anti-gays. And of note, Ross marched int he parade with his lesbian daughter (who by the way, came out to Ross AFTER Ross’s vote for marriage equality)
Baker throwing Tisei and the gender ID under the bus.
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p>Great record, yup.
Tisei has been an elected official in this Commonwealth for many years, yet the first Pride he’s marched in. Why is that? In stark contrast Deval has marched in Pride every year and has a long history or advancing gay rights.
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p>Tisei may be a good guy, but the Mass. GOP will never be the party of gay rights, no matter how much you try to pretend otherwise.
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p>Also, why would Holy Ryan lie about contacting Baker?
Personally, I hope that the quotes around
are a sarcastic reference to something said or stressed by some idiot on NECN and not a suggestion of something else.
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p>Four years ago, I volunteered for the Patrick/Murray campaign and will do so again this year. However, I have also known Bakers for nearly 20 years now, through the brother in question and have meet Charlie Baker on several occasions (Christmas, Birthdays and such). This is not a case of “some of my best friends (and family) are (fill in the minority)”. And I hope that this does not become fodder for some pathetic conspiracy theories. There is enough difference in the various candidates that we should not have to sink to Teabagger nonsense.
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p>As I said, I hope the “stress” was based on some idiotic said on NECN.
Maybe the brother identifies as homosexual; most gay people I know prefer being called gay. The term used as it was by NECN seemed clinical and jarring to me.
I do have to say it is great to live in a state where all the gubernatorial candidates are committed to marriage equality for all people. There is not a major anti-equality campaign on the ballot, glad to see even the conservatives have recognized that bigotry is unelectable in Massachusetts.
I don’t want to see the equality-minded get complacent. Pro-equality politicians need the strong support of the glbt community and allies every election cycle.
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p>Look at Scott Brown’s election in the special this winter – Brown was an anti-gay vote his entire career in the State Senate, and it didn’t stop the independents for breaking for him. I think the number of voters strongly motivated to support anti-gay politicians is less than a majority and shrinking, but I think only very progressive voters – also less than a majority – would reject a candidate over an anti-gay record if they found other things about the candidate very appealing. Unless someone is part of the glbt community or has a close friend or relative that is, realistically I just expect that other issues are going to take priority.
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p>Looking back, if a few dominoes fell another way here in Massachusetts, I think marriage equality would not have survived. The glbt community was very fortunate to have friends in all three power seats – the Governor, the Speaker and the Senate president. There were also good pro-equality strategists working Beacon Hill after the Goodridge decision to delay the process and find the votes in the legislature to defeat the bid for an initiative amendment.
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p>I’m more hopeful, but still not 100% sure we’d win a ballot initiative even today if the question went to the voters.
there is a really strong threat by the Mineaus that in 2012 another Ballot Initiative may be in the works.
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p>Would we win? Only with a huge amount of work. This time we would be doing truth squadding, name posting, education, filming, monitoring, etc. But this is also the reason why I asked Baker if he would support the initiative if there was one in 2012. It took him no time at all to clearly and emphatically say “no!”
Transgender rights.
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p>That’s where there is a difference.
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p>The “born that way” argument turns out to be even stronger for the transgendered among us than the gays and lesbians.
and went to bat for many times over, defending him against bullies in school that is the reason for his stance on gay marriage. I think it is disingenuous to suggest that politics has something to do with it.
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p>Sen. Richard Ross seems even so much different now that his daughter came out. He is very proud to introduce her and talk about her in such wonderful ways.
There used to be a socially tolerant, fiscally conservative Republican party. It’s not that way, today, even if a few Massachusetts Republicans would like to be perceived as returning to those roots. Baker isn’t supporting transgender rights; Deval Patrick is. And we’d get a return to a fantasy fiscal policy with Baker – promising tax cuts without loss of services that’s just not possible. I’m glad, truly, the Massachusetts Republican party chooses standard bearers that aren’t personally bigoted, as Romney was, but I want a Governor who was there on equality from the start, as Deval Patrick was, and will be there based on conviction, not just political calculation, not just for me and my marriage, but for transgendered people, immigrants, people of color, poor people.
It is inexcusable that the MTPC didn’t listen to me and speak to Baker.
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p>When Charlie was at Harvard Pilgrim, Transgender Employees there had some of the strongest worker benefits. Charlie is NOT a bigot.
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p>And speaking of the Transgender Rights Bill, it would be nice if after 3 years the Dems were able to get it to a vote…wouldn’t it?
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p>For those of us who were in the trenches during the marriage fight, we know that ALOT of pols were not there with us until we reached out and told our stories in many many different ways. Why would you suppose that Transgender Rights would not follow that same path?
He was there by reason of his own values and convictions.
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p>I understand Baker’s been on the scene in Massachusetts for years and there are people who like him personally, but his values are f*-ed up if he needs lobbying to know that discrimination is bad for the people affected and wrong for the Commonwealth.
He assured us that property taxes would be lowered under his administration, that is how we all worked to sell Patrick to my District. He spoke in my house to a crowd of about 150 of the Romney/GOP “shell game” of rising property taxes.
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p>I felt like I betrayed my neighbor friends and colleagues in supporting Deval Patrick and selling this lie. Polls or not, I do not know of one person outside of the DP Campaign in my circle that is supporting Patrick.
The only people who will fare well under a Baker administration are the rich. Forget the poor, the people who receive services or the elderly. All Baker talks about is cutting taxes without addressing how it will effect the people who receive services.
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p>Sure Deval could have tried harder to cut property taxes but without that revenue services would suffer. I. myself would rather pay more taxes if it meant services could be maintained.
Certainly not I! And with all these polls in Deval’s favor, I am having a tough time locating anyone I know “from the good old days of Deval support” who is with him this time around.
I personally think all three gubernatorial candidates are not qualified to be dog catcher let alone Governor, that said I think we have to give credit to both Baker and Cahill for bucking the right wing trends of their Party (or campaign) and coming out in favor of marriage equality. We are living in a state that does not have any serious candidate running against gay marriage, which is a far cry from most blue states let alone the red states. Pat Quinn has long been a historic LGBT supporter here in IL, but he supports civil unions and opposes marriage. The same position our progressive President has I might add. Were Baker to win it would be a disaster for the state fiscally, but we can’t confuse being pro-LGBT rights with being liberal on other issues. Plenty of conservatives from Bush’s solicitor general Ted Olsen to Weld State Supreme Court Justice Charles Fried have come out in favor of marriage equality. The Civil Rights Act could not have been passed without the vote of Republicans, similarly LGBT rights will not become a mainstream cause unless both parties start supporting it.
To ostracize an ally like Baker because his party officially opposes marriage would be like having the civil rights movement abandon Truman in 48′ because his party voted down a civil rights plank in spite of the fact that he integrated the military, or voting against LBJ in 64 when he didn’t seat the freedom riders even though he was probably the most involved President in the civil rights struggle and was even better than JFK on that issue.
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p>So while I disagree with Alexander supporting Baker for other reasons, I do defend Baker’s record on LGBT rights and I do not think gay rights is or should be the monopoly of one party, in fact I hope and pray for the day when it is a widely recognize bipartisan position. Of course Baker’s tolerance is not excusing the intolerance of most Republicans, but that to me is all the more reason to celebrate his tolerance, and it is certainly not reason enough to condemn it.
You show so much antipathy toward the governor like he broke a promise to you personally. Do you think you would have fared better in this economy with Reilly, Gabbreilli or Healy?
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p>I don’t know where your district is. I know that mine is full of people who still support the governor and who will work hard to re-elect him.
A friend reminded me of this Globe magazine puff piece. Emphasis mine:
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p>
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p>I’ll say it again: sickening.
I work my ass off 6-7 days a week to afford what I have. I have been building that house together with my husband since 2001, when we can afford to continue we do. We scrambled to get the interior done so we could use it for fundraisers and political events around the marriage equality movement. We have lent it out to every group in my town and area that has asked from the council on aging house tours, to state reps, to alarge fundraiser for Deval Patrick where I introduced him to Bill Saltonstall, to a large fundraiser for the new Rockport Music Building. We have not only allowed friends who cannot afford to rent wedding locations to use it for their own, but we have bought flowers and supplied food and music for them. We use only local labor and hire artists and musicians from Boston Lyric, Opera Boston, etc as a way to give back.
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p>I really do not need to justify anything to you , but a comment like that was not only sickening but it was way off base. You are a disgusting individual.
You loudly, publicly, and correctly proclaimed Same-Sex Marriage to be one of (if not the) most important issues facing the LGBT community. Deval Patrick has been a staunch advocate of our community and has gone above and beyond his campaign promises, especially on the issue of SSM.
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p>However, instead of thanking and supporting him, you are not only dissing him, you’re supporting a candidate of a party whose national platform opposes same-sex marriage. Why? Here’s your own words:
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p>
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p>Clearly property taxes are more important to you than marriage equality.
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p>I’m not sure how pointing that out makes me a “disgusting human being.”
you are insane.
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p>We have marriage equality in Massachusetts, we have a GOP candidate who chose a gay man as a running mate, one that did pretty well in being elected by his peers as head of the senate minority, as a gay man. Charlie Baker committed to me publicly that he would not support any sort of ballot repeal of marriage equality in 2012 if Mineau tried again (even if it is under the “just let the people vote” context), Baker also spoke about his support for marriage equality and his gay brother in his announcement of his candidacy WITHOUT having the press ask the question or him being pressured by or promised support thru MassEquality. In light of the GOP’s stances this to me shows real courage and integrity on Baker’s part.
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p>There are many reasons why I am not supporting Deval and property taxes is one of them. I was very close to alot in that campaign and to the people in the “inner circles” and there are alot of personal reasons that I am making my choice against the man. That is my choice and IMHO the GOP needs some LGBT aside from Log Cabin always being on their shoulders.
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p>For you to even suggest, with my track record and support and work for the LGBT community, with what KnowThyNeighbor has had to go thru being attacked by the Right AND Gay Inc, you are way way way off base once again.
This smacks of a personal vendetta, combined with greed and self-importance
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p>I finally understand why the MassEquality guys describe you as the ugly underbelly of the gay marriage movement.
The machine can churn out its product, but the machine loses all integrity when it is hypocritical.
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p>And “huh” until you identify yourself, you are nothing more than an anonymous, windbag.
While I agree with you here, I think it is important to note that I have not met a single person in my (fairly liberal Democratic) circle who is excited about four more years for DP, but they are all petrified of a Baker or Cahill governorship. It is quite sad that Deval will probably win because he is the least of three evils in this race. I am still trying to convince my friends that the race is not close enough to justify voting for DP over Jill Stein, but that is just as hard a sell as Baker or Cahill as an alternative. It is incredibly sad but we will likely see Deval cruise to re-election on a ‘mandate’ of 40-45% of the vote and a state that mostly voted against him.
Of cutting the income tax and local aid and leaving it to cities and towns to figure out how to balance their books and still provide services. The Governor supported – and got passed – legislation to give municipalities local tax options in place of just property increases. His budgets also protected local aid to a great extent, despite the revenue freefall from the global recession, meaning that cities and towns were spared some tough cuts or overrides. He also has supported measures to reduce rising health insurance premiums – allowing town employees into the GIC, questioning insurance company rate increases – those costs have been a driver of budget woes and the need for towns to raise their property taxes. Baker was one of the insurance executives raising premiums and pocketing huge salaries while doing so. If you want lower property taxes, it’s a joke for you to support Baker. His fantasy-based budget plans call for rolling back the sales tax and lowering the income tax rate. Assuming he could get either through the legislature, either would entail sharp cuts in human services and in local aid. Baker’s approach is a fast track to destroying Massachusetts’ high quality school systems and further driving towns to rely on property taxes to pay their bills.
Deval walked the walk on the marriage vote and now you’re supporting a candidate from a party that officially opposes gay rights, because Deval wasn’t able to reduce property taxes during a recession?
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p>It seems your agenda is not what your profess it is. Sickening.
Shifting from property taxes to income taxes will take a while. The first step, in my mind, is make the operation of the state more transparent and more efficient so that that shift is acceptable to people.