Tag Archives: Massachusetts

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley has won the Democratic primary to replace Ted Kennedy in the U.S. Senate. The victory came at a critical time for President Barack Obama’s Democratic Party, which is counting on maintaining its 60-seat majority in the 100-member Senate as the body wrestles with legislation for a sweeping overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system. Coakley, 56, …

In a decision sure to rile the Christian right, the Episcopal bishop of Massachusetts has granted priests permission to solemnize same-sex weddings. The decision by Bishop M. Thomas Shaw III was immediately welcomed by advocates of gay rights in the Episcopal Church, who have chafed at local rules that allowed priests to bless same-sex couples, but not sign the documents …

Moderate GOP candidate for governor of Massachusetts Charlie Baker has named openly gay state Sen. Richard Tisei as his running mate. “Richard has years of experience fighting for the taxpayer on Beacon Hill and I’m thrilled to have him on the team,” Baker said in a statement posted on his campaign Web site. The Web page contained on CharlieBaker2010.com included …

Fox News has picked up the story of Peter Vadala, the man who was fired from a Boston-area Brookstone for telling a lesbian coworker to shut up about her impending marriage. A JMG reader has provided me with screenshots of virulently homophobic Facebook postings made by Vadala, which I have provided to Brookstone corporate offices in case they are helpful …

MassResistance, one of the Christian right organizations listed as anti-gay hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, has filed a bill to eliminate a Massachusetts state commission created to protect LGBT students. From their website: As a major part of our fight to take back the schools for parents, we have filed Bill H145, which would eliminate the Massachusetts …

Anti-gay hate group MassResistance is championing the case of a Boston airport Brookstone manager who was fired for telling a lesbian co-worker to stop discussing her upcoming marriage while at work. Brookstone’s termination letter to Peter Vadala told him his actions constituted harassment. Below, Vadala pleads his case, which has been picked up by Free Republic, World Net Daily, and …

LGBT activists and allies plan to protest President Obama’s appearance this Friday at a fundraiser in Boston. Via press release: President Barack Obama will be visiting Boston on Friday, Oct. 23rd, for a high dollar fundraiser to be held at the Westin Copley Hotel. Outside the hotel, a protest will be held from 12:30pm – 2:30pm urging President Obama to …

This 1500-calorie Krispy Kreme + cheeseburger item was a huge hit this weekend at a state fair in Massachusetts. Popularized by celebrity chef Paula Deen, the Craz-E-Burger is also known as The Luther, for the late Luther Vandross, who some credit with inventing it. Krispy Kremes and cheeseburgers are two of my favorite things in the world, but even I …

Paul Kirk, a longtime aide to Ted Kennedy, has been chosen by Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick to be Kennedy’s interim replacement in the U.S. Senate. Kirk was a longtime senior aide to Kennedy and served as chairman of the national Democratic Party in the late 1980s. Patrick is to announce his selection for the Senate seat at 11 a.m. at …

Rachel Maddow reports that after five years of legalized same-sex marriage in Massachusetts, the state’s divorce rate has plummeted to “pre-WWII levels.” Kinda sticks a fork in the argument that homo marriage destroys opposite marriage, dunnit? Oh, but don’t you dare expect our enemies to squawk a peep about this.

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley, who in July filed a federal challenge to DOMA, is the first candidate to request paperwork for the special January election to replace the late Ted Kennedy in the U.S. Senate. Ms. Coakley, 56, who has not officially announced her candidacy, is required to gather 10,000 valid signatures by Oct. 20 to participate in the …

Sen. Ted Kennedy is worried that he will die or be too ill to vote on health care fall this fall and has asked the Massachusetts legislature to speed up the process for replacing him. Kennedy’s request comes in the midst of the heated national debate over health care, which has been the senior senator’s focus in Congress for decades. …

Fiscal conservative/social moderate Charles Baker entered the Massachusetts gubernatorial race this week, pledging to cut taxes and support same-sex marriage. Baker immediately pledged not to raise taxes as governor, and even said he would try to lower the state’s increased sales tax – which will go from 5 percent to 6.25 percent on Saturday – if he is elected. “I’m …

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley filed a lawsuit today challenging the federal government for denying equal benefits to the citizens of her state under DOMA. In March, Coakley expressed strong support for GLAD’s similar DOMA challenge, saying, “DOMA is a law that codifies discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Because of this law, individuals in same-sex marriages often pay …

Two lesbians were beaten in Provincetown over the weekend in what police describe as a hate crime. Eric Patten (left), 23, is also charged with resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer. P-town cops say Patten was drunk early Saturday when he got tossed out of Vixen nightclub and beat up two lesbians, one of whom was shoved through a …

Yesterday was the fifth anniversary of the legalization of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts and a study released to coincide with the anniversary says that the state has reaped an additional $111M in revenue from gay weddings. The average couple spends $7400 on their nuptials there and one in ten spends more than $20,000. “A second study by the same group …

Fenway Health in Boston has opened what is thought to be the largest building ever built for a LGBT organization. Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino cut the ribbon as Fenway Health officially named its new 1340 Boylston Street home The Ansin Building at a ceremony attended by 200 people on Thursday, May 7. The 100,000 square foot, $60 million facility, …

Certified hate group MassResistance is claiming that LGBT activists led by Wayne Besen “terrorized” a meeting of “ex-gay” loonies Exodus International last week at a Boston church. Here’s the video MassResistance made of the protest. Besen’s group had a permit, police were called, no arrests, no citations. No “terrorism”. RELATED: In November 2007 the teenage daughter of MassResistance founder Amy …

Today the Boston Globe published an editorial titled Bullied To Death in which the paper decries anti-gay bullying and points out how much worse the situation can be for children in the inner-cities. Relentless bullying, including anti-gay slurs, by students at the New Leadership Charter School in Springfield pushed sixth-grader Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover to take his own life, according to …

And yet the Christianists will pull their children out of school rather than allow them to participate in any anti-bullying protest. Via GLSEN: An 11-year-old Massachusetts boy, Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover, hung himself Monday after enduring bullying at school, including daily taunts of being gay, despite his mother’s weekly pleas to the school to address the problem. This is at least …