News in brief: Catholic Citizenship goes shopping; Time for the HRC dinner

On Nov. 23 Simon Property Group, which owns more than a dozen malls in Massachusetts, will hold an exclusive, ticketed discount-shopping event at five of its Bay State locations to raise money for an assortment of local charities and non-profits. Most of the charities taking part in the Evening of Giving event seem relatively benign, and they range from Susan G. Komen for the Cure to the Massachusetts Adoption Resource Exchange to the Weymouth High School Swimming and Diving Team. But as supporters of these organizations do their early holiday shopping at Build-A-Bear and Yankee Candle Company they'll likely be standing on line at the checkout with the hardened culture warriors of one of the state's leading anti-LGBT groups, Catholic Citizenship, which is also taking part in the event.

Catholic Citizenship, which was one of the lead proponents of the failed state constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, e-mailed its supporters this week encouraging them to buy tickets to the Evening of Giving to benefit the organization. Simon allows participating non-profits to sell tickets for $10 each and keep $7 for themselves; the remaining proceeds go to the Simon Youth Foundation. And lest anyone have any doubts about Catholic Citizenship's intentions, the e-mail invites supporters "to take advantage of a special offer where your shopping can go directly toward battling the Culture War."

Les Morris, a spokesman for Simon, said Catholic Citizenship went through all the appropriate vetting procedures required to take part in the Evening of Giving.

"Evening of Giving is open to any charity or non-profit organization that wishes to participate by selling tickets. The criteria is that each participating charity must have non-profit status and be in compliance with all federal, state and local laws regulating charitable and non-profit organizations. And they must also complete a W-9 and submit it to the mall," said Morris, referring to an IRS form used to verify a non-profit's tax status and identity. "Catholic Citizenship is in compliance and has submitted their W-9 to one mall."

Asked whether Simon had any concern about providing fundraising support to an organization that has lobbied aggressively against LGBT rights, Morris wrote in his statement that the company does "not take any position on the participating charities' fundraising mission."

The event will be taking place at five Simon malls: the Burlington Mall, the Cape Cod Mall, the Northshore Mall, Solomon Pond Mall, and South Shore Plaza.

Barney Frank, Mario Cantone to speak at HRC dinner

On Oct. 25 the movers and shakers of Boston's LGBT community will pull their tuxes and dresses out of the mothballs for one of the fall's major LGBT social events, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) New England Dinner, which will take place at the Sheraton Boston.

The dinner falls just a week before Election Day, so it's little surprise that politics will be front and center, with Congressman Barney Frank serving as the keynote speaker. Broadway actor/comedian and Stoneham native Mario Cantone will be on hand to receive the HRC Visibility Award, and dance music legend Martha Wash will perform her hits for the crowd.

But this year's dinner will not pass without controversy; the activist group QueerToday.com plans to stage a demonstration outside the hotel to protest HRC's support last year for a non-transgender-inclusive version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) in Congress and for their support for conservative political candidates.

Richard Welch, who is serving as one of the two co-chairs of this year's dinner alongside Miranda Hooker, said he hopes this year's dinner will be a dynamic, exciting event.

"One of the things we've tried to do is a have a high-energy type of event. We're looking forward to having Mario Cantone. He's a great performer and really exciting," said Welch. [Barney Frank will] be able to give us a great perspective on all the things that are going on and a preview of hopefully the new Democratic administration and hopefully a lot of things to do."

In addition to the marquee speaker and entertainers Welch said Boston Mayor Thomas Menino would be on hand to welcome attendees, as he has at prior HRC dinners.

Welch said the goal of this year's dinner would be to show the breadth of HRC's work, from the local to the federal level.

"We get to see where all the pieces of HRC fit together. ... The theme is 'impact,' so how we built it is to think, what is HRC's impact on a local level and also on a national level," said Welch.

While revelers celebrate inside the Sheraton protestors from QueerToday will be standing outside protesting HRC's approach to transgender issues and its support for allegedly conservative candidates such as Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine). According to a press release from QueerToday the group expects at least 60 activists to take part in the protest.

Welch said there were no official plans to address the protestors' concerns from the stage, although he said HRC President Joe Solmonese may refer to the protestors in his remarks.

Tickets for the HRC Dinner are on sale through Oct. 24. To purchase tickets visit www.hrcboston.org. For information on the protest visit www.queertoday.com.