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Gay-rights group endorses Menino
By adamg on Tue, 06/02/2009 - 12:52pm
MassEquality's political action committee today backed Tom Menino's re-election bid:
Tom Menino ranks among the most-pro LGBT mayors across the country. From Day One he has always stood with us in building a stronger, safer, and more equitable city for all. Whether it was his refusal to participate in the St. Patrick's Day parade after organizers barred an LGBT group from marching or his early advocacy and action on behalf of the campaign for equal marriage, Tom Menino has always been our champion.
Complete statement:
BOSTON – The political action committee for MassEquality, the commonwealth's largest LGBT rights organization, announced today their endorsement of Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino in his reelection bid. Menino, a Readville Democrat, is a longtime champion of equal rights for all.
This marks the first time that MassEquality is making an endorsement in a municipal election. MassEquality cemented its reputation as an electoral powerhouse in the 2004, 2006, and 2008 legislative elections by supplying elected officials and candidates with armies of strong field assistance and well-executed campaign support.
Executive Director Scott Gortikov explained that Menino's longtime support of civil rights and his key role in advocating for marriage equality at the legislative level made endorsing the mayor an easy call.
"Tom Menino ranks among the most-pro LGBT mayors across the country," Gortikov said. "From Day One he has always stood with us in building a stronger, safer, and more equitable city for all. Whether it was his refusal to participate in the St. Patrick's Day parade after organizers barred an LGBT group from marching or his early advocacy and action on behalf of the campaign for equal marriage, Tom Menino has always been our champion."
Lifelong Bostonian David Wilson, Chairman of the MassEquality Board of Directors, echoed Gortikov's call.
"Mayor Menino is a visionary when it comes to LGBT rights. Early on, he fought for – and passed – domestic partnership benefits for city employees. After that, he signed an anti-discrimination ordinance that protected gender identity and expression that is currently the model for a statewide initiative. As a steadfast supporter of full marriage equality, he opened up city hall to my husband and I and countless other couples across Boston. He has led the fight on so many important issues," Wilson said.
Added PAC Treasurer, Board Member and South Boston resident Peter T. Dziedzic, Jr., "Mayor Menino's record on LGBT issues is flawless. His work in the schools, health centers, and with public safety officials has always been inclusive of all communities. This race is too important for us to sit out."
MassEquality boasts a membership base of 200,000 Massachusetts residents. In the city of Boston, there are more than 10,000 active members.
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Comments
Wait a minute. This reminds
Wait a minute. This reminds me of something. I remember when Mass Equaltiy endorsed Diane Wilkerson, despite the fact that she was a thieving piece of garbage and any thinking person knew that something was very, very wrong with her. Now, Mass Equality howls like a pack of dogs b/c Menino pats their heads and doesn't even wash his hands afterwards. Couldn't a mature organization like Mass Equality (what are they doing now, anyhow--other than sucking much needed funds from organizations that serve gay people who really need help?) have the balls to not endorse the status quo and do the right thing? You can't tell me that a group of people who are this politically connected don't know what is really going on with Menino at this point.
Whit
I'm glad i stopped supporting Mass Equality
After the marriage issue was settled, the group sent a mailing asking whether it should disband or find something else to meddle in.
While the group was useful in getting equal marriage rights, I damn well did not like what I saw when i went down to their offices to volunteer. I voted for "disband - you've become a bunch of overweight, overpaid lobbyists despite the populist appeal of your marketing materials." Well, that didn't get me anywhere, of course.
Oh yeah, WIlkerson. I did some hard work for the gay marriage thing and so was "invited" to a "thank-you reception" (for DW) where there was a nice lady at the door asking for money for the crack lady... I dutifully wrote a modest check and handed it over. I ate some CRACKers.
And suddenly there she was, D Dawg, standing right there next to me. I tried to say hi... but she wouldn't talk to me because there were more important people in the room and she needed to be over there, there, there, and there Right Now. That was really all I needed to know about her. I mean, SHE invited ME to the soiree. Fool me once, etc.
Wilkerson! (read that like Newman! on Seinfeld
That explains a lot - before Sonia ran against her I used to write my own name in because I absolutely refused to vote for her even when she was the only one on the ballot!
For future reference if there are any unopposed pond-sucking criminal scum on your ballot, feel free to write in Stevil!
Around here I might end up winning half the elections!
I gave Mass Equality some
I gave Mass Equality some money back then, since they seemed to be doing good work on a huge civil rights issue. History was made, and the biggest problem was solved. I occasionally hear from gay friends about smaller ways in which they're still not treated equally in Mass., but I feel like the battle in Mass. is mostly won for now.
I'd be kinda curious to hear the exact logic behind endorsing Menino. Is this loyalty? Do they think he's going to win, and want to be on his good side? Do they think he would be more LGBT-friendly than any of the other candidates?
It's both a payback, and insurance
as a large lobbying group with a fragile agenda, they had no other choice, except possibly to endorse no-one. Imagine the case where Menino wins another one, and MassEq endorsed a rival... just ponder their ability to get any help from the city between the date of the endorsement and the end of Mumbles' next term...
this is another reason the organization should have disbanded. As a practical matter, it piled up so much political debt over its one (massively important, don't get me wrong) issue that there was, and is, simply no way for the organization to go forward and take, much less endorse, politically difficult positions...
I see nothing in that organization but de-fanged lobbyists buying food for themselves and fat white guys on the Hill with donor money.
Sounds about right, ZBert.
Sounds about right, ZBert.
I think that there are still issues for the gays to get behind. Marriage is great--and I know we have a lot to be thankful for. Someone commented that the gay folks he knows are happy and don't seem to have a lot to worry about. Very true--for middle-class, middle-aged fellas I think that is about right. But there is still plenty of work to be done in solidarity with trans people (and there is overlap in some ways, and not in others, though that isn't the point). There is still lots to do to make schools safe for young gay and trans people. There is still tons to be done for aging gay people who are rejected by what is left of the community. There is even more to be done to help the huge number of GLBT young people who are homeless b/c they have been kicked out of homes that punish them for their identity--most people would be surprised to hear the percentage of homeless young people who identify as GLBT--the majority do according to surveys of homeless youth. How about some gay bucks going to organizations that help them, house them, counsel them? JRI Health, Bagly, AIDS Action, The Boston Living Center. All worthy of our money. Not Mass Equality.
Whit
Not Quite
Whit,
You are very right about the issues facing the GLBT community and that marriage isn't a panacea that cures all the community's problems. You also point out a host of worthy organizations that are doing fantastic work for the community. However, you ignore the part that MassEquality is playing in those issues and with those organizations. MassEquality has take an important leading role in making sure that the trans bill gets passed this year. In addition, MassEquality is working to ensure that even in these tough fiscal times for the state, funding for LGBT programs, such as those for youth and the elderly, continue to receive state funding. LIke it or not, no other GLBT organization has the reputation and "name" on the hill that MassEquality does. And while their work might not be splashed on the front page as it was during the marriage battles, the organization is still doing a ton, especially in connection with other GLBT organizations, to ensure that the state makes further progress on GLBT rights and concerns.
Yo, anonymous MassEq apologist
1. Out yourself: What is your connection with the organization?
2. You realize the org is a couple of years behind in filing 990's?
Can we discuss the half million dollars spent on "technology consulting" over the three year period ended 12/2007? I've been in the office. I've seen the network. I've helped with data entry. Also, i do "technology consulting" and kid, there's not half a million dollars worth of "consulting" in there. who did the work? are they connected with anyone at the organization? Matter of fact now that I think about it, that online system was far from the best I've seen.. you had volunteers coming in to enter - and re-enter - data because it was such a mediocre system. Yes, I've built much larger systems for a fraction of half a million dollars.
And what about the personnel overhead? In 2006, you took in about $2 million in donations from the public.
$683.000 of that went to wages, benefits and wage taxes.
$34,000 went to accounting fees. $34,000 in accounting fees on a $2 million budget? Seriously?
and $77,000 for "office administration". What's that all about?
The perception at any and
The perception at any and every organization that provides direct service to vulnerable GLBT people is that Mass Equality is eating all of the cookies. I don't really believe that Mass Equality is especially interested in the issues that poor and young GLBT face because the people who are involved don't get it on so many levels. People with money and even a little power usually make it just fine--hell, I bet GLBT people with a little cash and a little pull made out fine before Mass Equality ever came along just about like they do now.
Having said that, thanks again for your part in the marriage thing. It's mostly a good thing though it has increased the speed with which the "community" has disconnected itself from progressive politics. But that's a whole new thing to argue about and this has nothing to do with the thread--or does it?
Whit
Still doing a ton?
It's not even splashed on their Website. They have a "legislative agenda", but hell, so don't I.
heh.
"Now, Mass Equality howls like a pack of dogs b/c Menino pats their heads and doesn't even wash his hands afterwards." Whoo-ee!
I'm getting married this summer, thanks in part to MassEquality's labors, so I ought not to complain too much. But their hey-old-buddy-I-got-yer-back politicking stinks. You'd have thought Wilkerson was running against Fred Phelps and not, say, a progressive lesbian.
Funniest thing I ever saw: Menino playing the Pride crowd like a fiddle the year they launched the gay Duck Boat. On the topic of Macy's taking down, then putting back, their Pride display: "WHO AAHHHH THESE KNUCKLEHEADS?" (Insert wildly gay applause.)
Wilkerson was running against which lesbian?
What did I miss?
http://1smootshort.blogspot.com
thorough apologies....
...if I'm off on that. I know I heard/read somewhere during the first election that Diaz was, but God knows if it was reputable.
In any case, she's been an equal-marriage supporter from day one. She used to work for Cheryl Jacques.
Now that you mention it
I thought I recalled something too about Chang-Diaz having come out as a lesbian, but I can't find anything about same online, so I guess not. I doubt a local politician coming out would be so below-the-radar as to not merit a mention in the press, even here and now.
correction
A trusted source says I'm full of crap. Next time I'll use my special fact-checking decoder ring before I shoot my mouth off.
This source tells you
That, yeah, while I'm not positive how she identifies, she has a male partner.
Her crimes...
...were being suburban-born, not poor, and not nonwhite enough. So, you know, even though she lived in the district, had gotten an education, and seemed to care about the neighborhood, she constantly faced accusations of not being "one of them."
Why endorse in this race?
I don't understand the logic here. Are any of Menino's opponents less supportive of LGBT rights than Menino is? Isn't gay marriage a dead issue in Massachusetts, and now simply a fact of local life?
They have joined the gravy train
Ron is dead right. Mass Equality are slowly becoming part of the insider's club.
Maybe just playing the odds?
People don't necessarily endorse a candidate to help them get elected; they endorse them to share in the spoils once they do. But in terms of support, I can't imagine Flaherty supporters being all that receptive to LGBT causes. Just guessing here.
why did they endorse in the
why did they endorse in the Wilkerson race? They've lost their way and have their heads up their bums.
Yoon & Flaherty marched in St. Pat's parade
Menino didn't march in the homophobic South Boston St. Patrick's Day Parade. Yet, Yoon and Flaherty did. 'Nuff said.
Withholding endorsements from all three would have been best.
Not a dead issue
I mean, maybe as pertains to the mayor's race, but certainly not a dead issue.
A lot of same-sex couples in MA still can't marry, either because one or both are military members, or one is a citizen of a country where they'd be subject to criminal charges for marrying, or one or both work for a religious-or-Boy-Scout-ish organization that's exempt from following anti-discrimination laws and could be fired for creating a public record of their relationship. Also, it's still legal to discriminate against GLBT folks in most states. When someone chooses to marry here, they're also choosing to have a public record of their same-sex relationship, which could be mean not being able to get a job or rent an apartment if they move to another state and have a background check conducted.
Also, putting aside how flawed I think some of MassEquality's visions are, GLBT rights are hardly a dead issue here, or really anywhere else.
http://1smootshort.blogspot.com
How to get a list of candidates' websites.
You can request a list of City Councilor/Mayoral candidates addresses for email/websites by sending something like this to Elections
at
http://www.cityofboston.gov/contact/?id=33
Please send the addresses for email and/or websites for candidates for Mayor and City Councilor for those candidates who have emailed Elections or have included their addresses and/or websites in public records/writing/correspondence...
For example, but not necessarily limited to candidates corresponding on printed calling cards/writing papers/envelopes/enclosures that may have included addresses for email or websites in their stationery letterheads.
Advocacy is needed for Elections Commission disclosure of candidates' addresses for email/websites.
List of Web sites
Advocacy? Really, Zak? Do you even live in Boston? As somebody who does, might I suggest there are better things to be spending your time on than trying to force the elections department to maintain a list of candidate Web sites? Epecially since there's already a list here? Additions or corrections welcome.
Please provide in plain ASCII text
The e-mail addresses of every resident of Boston so that they can be contacted and provided with the election information.
http://1smootshort.blogspot.com
not ISO-Latin-1 or Unicode?
You can't spell "Sonia Chang-Díaz" correctly in ASCII.
UTF-8
Please!