Author donates book profits to MassEquality
As the mother of a gay son and a committed MassEquality volunteer, author Suzanne Brockmann has supported equal marriage rights by knocking on doors, making phone calls and braving the elements to campaign for pro-equality legislators. But she knew there was more she could be doing to support the cause.
VA system issues memo on treating trans vets
With little to no fanfare the Veteran Affairs (VA) Boston Healthcare System issued a patient care memorandum to its staff in September detailing guidelines for providing care to transgender patients. Advocates describe the memo as a landmark achievement in transgender healthcare and say it is the first known case of a VA system demonstrating in writing its commitment to creating an inclusive and welcoming environment for transgender veterans.
Community Servings completes capital campaign
Community Servings, which delivers meals to people who are homebound due to HIV/AIDS or other life-threatening illnesses, exceeded the $4 million fundraising goal for its capital campaign, but it came down to the wire. David Waters, executive director of Community Servings, said the Kresge Foundation offered a $400,000 matching grant if Community Servings could raise the rest of the money for the campaign by Oct. 31. By August the organization still had to raise $500,000 to qualify for the grant.
Lesbian alleges sex discrimination
In what her attorney calls a "classic" case of sex discrimination, a Brookline woman is suing her former employer, the Delaware-based business consulting firm LEK Consulting, alleging that she was treated less favorably than her male colleagues, both on the job and in the way in which she was terminated.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
A cockwork orange
Gay freedom fighters wage a high-tech war against an oppressive government regime in Tom Bachhus's juicy new pulp novel <italic>Q-FAQ</italic>. Imagining a worst-case-scenario growing from the present political climate, Bacchus takes us to a near-future America run by New Puritans who are clamping down on any kind of "deviancy." Against this grim backdrop his protagonists, a wily Turkish hacker and a mysterious mercenary, make love, make trouble, and make tracks across the country as they prepare a counterstrike against the dystopian authorities.
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