Join a Campaign

The election is just weeks away. It is time to volunteer for a campaign. There are many pro-equality candidates that need our help. Some of our best advocates in the legislature are under attack for their support of LGBT equality. We must stand up for them now as they have done for us in the past. This is when they really need our help.

Find a campaign close to where you live and give them a call. If you have any time on the weekends or after work you can make a huge different in the fight for LGBT equality.

I have compiled a list of the campaigns that need our help the most. Included are the phone numbers and websites for the pro-equality candidates. There is also a little information about the candidates and the races they are in.

Click on the maps below according to where you live.

Click here if you live in the Boston area

Click here if you live North of Boston

Click here if you live South of Boston
Click here if you live in Central Massachusetts

Click here if you live on Cape Cod

Click here if you live in Western Massachusetts

Click here for the complete list of campaigns in Massachusetts

Rhode Island Gay Couples Can Marry

In what the Boston Globe is calling a "significant victory for gay rights advocates", Judge Thomas Connelly has ruled that gay and lesbian couples in Rhode Island can legally marry...in Massachusetts.

The ruling by Judge Thomas Connolly is the first to find that same-sex couples from outside Massachusetts may wed under the Supreme Judicial Court's 2003 ruling that legalized same-sex weddings in the Massachusetts.

GLAD (Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders) has released a statement containing few details. Judge Thomas Connelly ruled that Rhode Island’s laws do not explicitly prohibit same-sex marriages.

“At last the fence of discrimination has been removed at the border of Massachusetts and Rhode Island,” said Michele Granda, the GLAD attorney who represented plaintiffs Wendy Becker and Mary Norton of Providence.

Governor Romney has tried to prevent out of state same-sex couples from marrying in Massachusetts by reviving a racist law from 1913. This law says that couples from other states cannot marry in Massachusetts if their home state would not legally recognize the marriage.

However, in March of this year the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decided that only couples from states with no “express prohibition” against marriage in their home state could marry here.

That is when Wendy Becker and Mary Norton of Providence, R.I., went to court. They argued that the 1913 law that forbids out-of-state residents from marrying in Massachusetts did not apply to them because Rhode Island does not specifically ban gay marriage.

Attorney General Thomas Reilly, who had defended the 1913 law in court, said officials in Rhode Island could challenge the decision, but said his office would not appeal.

"In Massachusetts," Reilly said in a statement, "pursuing this matter further in the courts would be a waste of time and resources."

Kris Mineau, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute had this to say, "This creates a new level of legal chaos for regulators and lawmakers in the state of Rhode Island and any state that does not expressly forbid same sex marriage. It also furthers the notion of Massachusetts becoming the Las Vegas of gay marriage."

The anti-gay organization Vote On Marriage has sent out an email alert. They are furious with the court's ruling. My favorite line in their emails states, "Already Massachusetts is the laughing stock of the nation for our far-left policies and disregard for the will of the people, and now we're impacting other states."

Fasting For Discrimination

I was reading the latest email update from the anti-gay organization, Massachusetts 'Family' Institute (MFI), when I came across something that really caught my attention. The email had a section in it titled:

Prayer group commits to 40 days of prayer and fasting for marriage

This sounds very interesting. I had to read on...

JHOP (Justice House of Prayer) Boston is launching a forty-day season of prayer and fasting from September 29 through November 7 for both the state elections and the Constitutional Convention on Nov. 9.

This is very intriguing. It is the first time I have heard of fasting taking place to affect the outcome of any Massachusetts elections. The flier announcing the season of prayer and fasting goes on to say:

"The outcome of the election on November 7th will have ramifications equally as important as those felt by the consequences of Roe v. Wade,"

The November 7th general election is very important to me, but I wouldn't exactly compare it to the landmark Supreme Court decision Roe v Wade.

I do agree with this part of the JHOP flier:

"The results of their votes [at the Constitutional Convention] will play a key roll in the definition of marriage for the state of Massachusetts and subsequently, the nation. In addition, the outcomes of these two dates will not only affect our nation's religious liberties, but ultimately, it is our children who are at stake."

As the JHOP flier mentions, the November 7th election and the Constitutional Convention will play a key role in the future of marriage in Massachusetts and the nation. We need to keep marriage equality legal here in order to bring full equality to the rest of the country. I also agree that our children are at stake. I want to make sure that our children grow up in a world where marriage discrimination is written into history books, not into constitutions.

The MFI email blurb leaves us with this thought:

"The Church can win the battle for Massachusetts and the nation, but it will only be won with the weapons of prayer and fasting."

I have to disagree with that statement. I believe that you and I can win the battle for Massachusetts and the nation. I believe that we can win with hard work and dedication.

I encourage you to go eat a great big meal and then join a campaign! While they are praying and fasting; we need to be knocking on doors, making phone calls, stuffing envelopes, contacting voters and winning elections. That is how we will win "the battle for Massachusetts and the nation".

Gay Versus Gay

This election season is a looking very gay on Cape Cod. The 4th Barnstable district, which includes the towns of Eastham, Chatham, Harwich, Orleans, Wellfleet, Truro, and Provincetown, will have a historic decision to make on November 7th. The voters of these towns will choose between two openly gay candidates to representative them in State House.

This is the first time in Massachusetts history that two openly gay candidates from the two major parties are running for the same seat. This district, which includes the gay haven of Provincetown, has not elected a Democrat in over 100 years. That might change this fall.

The Democrat running is Sarah Peake. She is currently a selectman in Provincetown. Two years ago she ran against the current anti-gay Republican state representative, Shirley Gomes. Gomes is retiring this year.

The Republican running is Aaron Maloy. He won the Republican primary by just 11 votes. He is a 24 year old Cape Cod native from Orleans. The sad part is that even though Maloy is openly gay, he is against gay marriage.

Bay Windows wrote an interesting article on Maloy a few weeks ago. In the article he "recalls being called a “fag” and doused with salad dressing by a fellow student. He hints that his experiences spurred him into gay activism during his teen years, but declines to elaborate for fear of alienating his conservative supporters."

As for marriage, Maloy say it “is an institution between a man and a woman and I think that it’s part of the heterosexual culture. I don’t buy the whole separate but equal thing”.

It gets even worse when he is asked about how banning equal marriage rights would affect him. Maloy answers, “It is probably going to hurt me”.

It is too bad that even though voters will be choosing between two openly gay candidates, only one of those candidates supports gay rights. Nevertheless, it is still amazing that there will be two openly gay candidates running against each other in the general election.

No matter who wins they will go on to join the other openly gay members of the Massachusetts legislature. Currently, there are four out gay legislators: Senator Jarrett Barrios, Representative Liz Malia, Representative Cheryl Coakley-Rivera, and Representative Carl Sciortino. There are a couple more that do not hide that they are gay, but they are not exactly out to the public. In a legislature of 200 we know that there must be quite a few more gay representatives. I believe there are a few that are totally in the closet, maybe even to themselves.

Whatever the outcome of the race in the 4th Barnstable district, we will soon have five openly gay state representatives on Beacon Hill. I will be on Cape Cod in these next six weeks to make sure that the next openly gay state representative is one that supports gay rights!

My Election Day

Tuesday, the day of the primary election, was a very busy day for me. I have been working on electoral races all across the state. As it got closer to Election Day I started to work on the DiBella race in Methuen. I ran Chris DiBella's Get Out The Vote (GOTV) campaign on Election Day. We came very close to winning but lost by 192 votes out of the nearly 6000 votes cast.

The daily newspaper in Methuen had this headline the day after the election:

Campbell is Democratic nominee for state representative; Wins close contest against newcomer DiBella
Former City Councilor Linda Dean Campbell became the Democratic nominee for state representative from Methuen yesterday edging out political newcomer Christopher DiBella by 192 votes.

I was honored to be part of this campaign. Chris is an amazing guy who believes in many of the same things that I do. There is something about him that inspires people. He actually reminds me of a modern day JFK. I know for sure that we have not seen the end of Chris DiBella.

On Election Day I was in Methuen by 5:30am. I ran DiBella headquarters, managed 50 volunteers, and successfully completely a full scale GOTV campaign. We had poll checkers in place all day, a 10 person phone back, and four teams of canvassers knocking on doors. We got all of the 1500 people who said that they would vote for Chris to the polls.

The polls closed at 8:00pm and we anxiously awaited the results. As my precinct captains called in the results we remained hopeful. With 9 out of the 11 precincts reporting we were winning by just under 100 votes.

Then the last two precincts came in: we had lost.

In the end Chris got 1715 votes. Unfortunately it was not enough. We needed 193 more to win.
I am very proud to have been part of Chris DiBella's campaign.

After I packed up campaign headquarters and said my goodbyes, I headed back to Boston. That is when I heard the great news that the longtime incumbent Representative from Milford, Marie Parente, had been defeated! I was elated over this news. She has been a staunch opponent of gay rights for 20 years. The best part is that she was planning on retiring this year, but then decided to run for re-election one more time. She made a mistake, and she got the boot!

I was also excited to hear the results of the Gubernatorial race come in. Deval Patrick trounced his competition. My dad has been a big part of Deval's campaign and was extremely excited as well. He headed in to Boston for Deval's victory party.

Then the news came that the votes in the Second Suffolk senate district were going to be counted that night. This was a surprise because every candidate in this race was running a sticker campaign. I did not think that we would know the outcome of this race until the next day.

Around 11:30pm I headed over to Senator Senator Dianne Wilkerson's victory party. I was overjoyed to hear that Senator Wilkerson beat her challenger Sonia Chang-Diaz. I have supported Senator Wilkerson all the way, even in this tough time for her.

In Newsweekly reports on the Wilkerson victory party:

Partygoers included a relieved MassEquality executive director, Marc Solomon, as well as Chris Mason, a campaign manager with the gay lobbyist group. Ken Reeves, the openly gay mayor of Cambridge, was also there to share in Wilkerson's joy.

Marc Solomon, MassEquality's campaign director had this to say to In Newsweekly:
"Two years ago some people in the African-American community said that if things got tough for Dianne the gay community would easily abandon her. But today proved that we were there when she needed us and I was proud to stand with her."

Yet, some in the gay community turned their back on her.

I am very disappointed by those in the gay community that abandoned Senator Wilkerson when she needed us most. She stood up for us when other people would not. She has fought incredibly hard for our community. She has lost family members because of her unwavering support of equal marriage rights.

In Newsweekly endorsed Sonia Chang-Diaz. In their endorsement they write:

We know she's (Senator Wilkerson) inspiring and committed to our concerns. And that would be more than enough to support her for another term, except that she has a bright, energetic, long-time supporter of GLBT rights issues challenging her. This is a woman who has worked with MassEquality, Cheryl Jacques and others on GLBT issues for many years.

In my opinion you support people who have stood up for you. That is the right the to do. Worth mentioning is the fact that, even though the article mentions that Chang-Diaz worked with MassEquaity and Cheryl Jacques, both MassEquality and Cheryl Jaques have endorsed Senator Wilkerson.

Another writer in the gay community to desert Senator Wilkerson was Mass Marrier. He also endorsed Sonia Chang-Diaz. Some people just don't get it. Not only is supporting Senator Wilkerson the right thing to do, it also is crucial for the fight to preserve marriage equality.

We need to be able to assure the fence sitting conservative legislator that if he votes with us, he WILL be re-elected. We need 151 votes to kill the anti-gay constitutional amendment. To get that number we need conservative legislators to vote our way. We can't have them say to us, "Look what happened to Dianne. In her liberal district she got beat in the primary. How can you possibly stop me from getting beat in the primary in my conservative district?"

I am thrilled that Dianne won her primary race. I was also there in Boston City Hall today as they counted the last eight precincts. Senator Dianne Wilkerson will be able to continue to fight for our community on Beacon Hill, even if some in our community didn't fight for her when she really needed us.

This is a photo that appeared in this weeks In Newsweekly. It was taken around midnight on Election Day. This is four afters after I was in campaign headquarters in Methuen getting the results in from the polls. In this picture I am with the highest-ranking Black elected official in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Senator Dianne Wilkerson, MassEquality Campaign Director Marc Solomon, and the Mayor of my fair city of Cambridge Ken Reeves (the first openly gay black mayor in the United States). (photo credit: Eric Hess)

This Election Day was a long day for me. It was full of emotions. At 8:00pm as the results came down in Methuen I had tears in my eyes. Just a few hours later I was hugging Senator Wilkerson at her victory party. Let's hope the November elections are just as exciting.

Primary Election Results and Analysis

The primary elections went very well for progressive candidates all over the state. Deval Patrick won the Democratic nomination for Governor, making history in Massachusetts. The House and Senate races were overwhelmingly positive for us as well.

Take a look at the results of the elections and my analysis here.

This is a basic overview of where we stand after the primary elections:

We SAVED 10 pro-equality incumbents
We saw NO CHANGE in 6 anti-equality seats
We PICKED-UP 8 pro-equality seats previously held by anti-equality reps (This is HUGE!)
We LOST 2 open-seats to an anti-equality candidates (who we might be able to switch!)

This means that we have picked up 6 more votes to defeat the anti-gay constitutional amendment!

These numbers are only for the primary election. These could change after the general election.

See how I got these numbers in my analysis.

Victories Across Massachusetts

We had victories for progress candidates all over Massachusetts on Tuesday!

We kept every single one of our pro-gay incumbents.

BIG NEWS: We booted anti-gay, anti-immigrant Rep Marie Parente! The anti-gay folks love her and will miss her dearly.

I will have much more information tomorrow with an analysis of the primary election.

Get Your Vote On!

Today is Election Day!

Get out and vote! The polls are open from 7:00AM until 8:00PM. It is very helpful to the campaigns if you vote early in the day. Click here to find out where your polling place is located.

I am managing the Get Out The Vote (GOTV) campaign for Chris DiBella in Methuen. He is running for state representative for the 15th Essex district. This election is one of the closest in Massachusetts. He needs every single voter that committed to vote for him to get to the polls today. If you have any time after work, come to Methuen and help us out.

I will let you know the results of the primary races as soon as I am able to post them. In the mean time, check out my analysis of the primary election and who I predict to win in each race.

MassResistance Sends Hate Mail to Voters

The anti-gay organization, MassResistance, has gotten involved in the primary campaigns. They have mailed a postcard size piece of literature to primary voters in Representative Mark Falzone's district. The mailing attacks him for his positions on gay marriage, in-state tuition for the children of undocumented workers, and for voting to fund gay/straight alliances in our schools. (Click on the mail pieces below to enlarge the picture)The mailing is much better than the pieces MassResistance did in the primary two years ago. In the last election all they had was homemade flyers. This year they look a little more professional. Although they are still very poor mailings. The mail pieces are small, they have no color, and not a single picture. I don't think the mailing will be very effective.

MassResistance did the mailing to Falzone's district in response to mail that had been sent by MassEquality. On the MassResistance website they have a whole page dedicated to the mail MassEquality has been doing (including pictures). You can see how the MassEquality mail pieces are big, colorful, and full of pictures.

In a recent email, MassResistance claims:
The homosexual lobby has already started their slick, misleading district-wide mailings. Someone in Saugus sent us a big MassEquality postcard for Rep. Mark Falzone. It doesn't even mention MassEquality's issue -- homosexual marriage -- probably because they know it's not a selling point in very many places. Instead, it talks about Falzone supposedly delivering "aid to our towns." And the MassEquality name is in very tiny print! Click here to see them! )

The email goes on to say:
MassResistance is not taking this race (or other important races) lying down! We have some action planned in this race and several races. And YOU should get involved, if you possibly can!

There is one very interesting thing about these mailings. The return address says:
Parents Rights Coalition
PO BOX 1612
Waltham, MA 02454

Now look at the MassResistance website. Check out the address to send donations to MassResistance:
MassResistance
PO BOX 1612
Waltham, MA 02454

We have known for a while that the "Parents Rights Coalition" and "MassResistance" is the same exact group with the same people, same address, same phone number, and same PO BOX.

I wonder why they decided to use the name "Parents Rights Coalition" on the mail piece attacking Representative Falzone. Is it because they know MassResistance is not taken seriously and is considered a fringe group by Massachusetts voters? Is that why they didn't want their name on the mail piece?

Take Mass Action in Methuen

As we get closer to Election Day it looks like our main battle ground will be in Methuen, Massachusetts.

There is a primary race happening there that will be decided by just a handful of votes. This close primary race will have a huge impact on the future of marriage rights for same-sex couples. The retiring state representative, Arthur Broadhurst, has consistently voted against the amendment to the constitution that would eliminate equal marriage rights.

There is a four way primary race to fill this open seat. Out of the four candidates, two are tied neck to neck in the closest race in Massachusetts! Between these two candidates, only one of them supports marriage equality. The other candidates would vote in favor of the constitutional amendment to take equal marriage rights away.

This race has become one of the most important races in the fight for marriage equality.

Chris DiBella is running a good campaign and has the votes needed to win. The challenge will be getting those people out to the polls on Election Day. He needs to make sure that every single one of those voters who said they were with him gets out to vote.

This race will be won or lost by less than 50 votes!

All the real action on Election Day will be taking place in Methuen. This is where you can really make a difference!

Contact me to volunteer in Methuen. We need people to help the DiBella campaign get out the vote. We need poll checkers, phoners, door knockers, and other campaign volunteers.

This race could literally decided whether or not gays and lesbians will have the right to marry.

Take the day off from work if you can. If you can't, then join us after work. Email me now for more info and directions to the campaign Headquarters.

Even if you have never done anything political before, it is time to take action.

If you don't fight for your rights, they will be taken away from you.

To volunteer or for more information, please email me at Chris@TakeMassAction.com

It is time to TakeMassAction.

Historic Governor's Debate

Tuesday was the nation's first ever LGBT forum for Gubernatorial candidates. The debate was hosted by the National Association of Lesbian and Gay Journalists (NLGJA), In Newsweekly, the Boston Pride Committee and HLS Lambda (Harvard Law School's GLBT student organization).

The two front runners in the race for Governor in the Democratic primary were both at the debate. Deval Patrick and Chris Gabrieli are both strong supporters of marriage equality and other LGBT rights. It seems that there are few differences between Patrick and Gabrieli when it comes to LGBT issues. Tom Reilly did not attend the debate.

You can watch the debate here.

It does appears that Patrick will be a stronger advocate for LGBT rights across the board. In Newsweekly reports that Patrick said he would take "concrete steps" to protect the transgender community by extending the state's hate crime laws and broadening civil rights laws to include "those who identify across genders."

I believe that Patrick will be a more outspoken leader on LGBT issues and other issues of social justice. In my opinion, Deval Patrick is the right choice for LGBT voters next Tuesday.

New Poll Shows Patrick Leading

Great news for Deval Patrick in a poll just released by CBS4. Deval has jumped ahead of the other two candidates in the race for Massachusetts Governor. He is now the clear front-runner in this race.
It has been said by many that Reilly really did himself in during the last debates. The numbers seem to prove this to be true. What is interesting to me is where the fleeing Reilly supporters are going. I thought they would be moving into Gabrieli's camp. However, the latest poll shows that people are leaving Reilly and moving to Patrick.

The contrast in movement between Patrick and Reilly since our last Fast Track survey is striking: Among men, Patrick is up 10, Reilly is down 11. Among women, Patrick is up 13, Reilly is down 8. Among voters earning less than $40,000 per year, Reilly is down 13, Patrick is up 13. Among those earning more than $80,000 per year, Patrick is up 14, Reilly is down 14. In almost all of these cases, Gabrieli is unchanged, or has moved onlyslightly.

I am very excited to see Deval Patrick take such a clear lead with the election just one week away. I have already voted for Deval Patrick and I urge you to vote for him as well.

Pre-Primary Election Analysis and Predictions

The primary election is less than two weeks away! This is the best time to elect progressive candidates. While most voters are focused on the close race for governor, alot of action is taking place in races for seats in the state legislature.

Click here to see my analysis of all the primary races taking place in Massachusetts. I also include predictions of who I think will win in each race.

Using these predictions I analyze the out come of the primary election. I believe the result of the primary races will look something like this:

We will SAVE 12 pro-equality incumbents
We will see NO CHANGE in 7 anti-equality seats
We will PICK-UP 6 pro-equality seats previously held by anti-equality reps (This is HUGE!)
We will likely LOSE 1 seat to an anti-equality legislator (who we might be able to switch!)

A few of the races are too close to call, so I am making an educated guess. Check out my full analysis to see how I get the numbers above. Of course the final numbers above are subject to change.

Click here to see my analysis and my predictions of who the winners will be.

Vote Early and Vote Often

I went down to the City of Cambridge Election Commission and voted in the Democratic primary today. The actual primary takes place on September 19th, just 13 days away. However, I had to vote absentee because I will not be able to make it to the polls on September 19th. I am working on races all over the state and Election Day will be a very busy day for me. I will be working on campaigns while the polls are open and getting results after they close. Then hopefully the night will end with celebration.

I live in Cambridge where my state rep and state senator don't have primary opponents. The biggest competitive race I could vote in was for Governor.

In the Democratic primary I voted for Deval Patrick.

I voted for Deval because I believe that he has the leadership our state needs. Almost two years ago I saw him speak at a little book store in Worcester. I was amazed at what I heard. He didn't speak like an ordinary politician. He actually answered the questions that people asked him.

I remember one thing he said that night that I had never heard a politician say. Someone had asked him what he would do about taxes is he was elected. His answer was that it would definitely be possible to cut taxes in Massachusetts. He then went on to say that it would be possible if we built the roads ourselves, caught the criminals ourselves, and taught the children ourselves. But if you want the state to do these things for you then you have to pay for them. Call me a tax-and-spend liberal, but that just makes sense to me. Deval answered the question honestly. That is what really got me.

Deval is the person that I want to lead our state. Massachusetts has always been a great leader in the nation, and will continue to be in the future. It is time that we have a great governor to lead our state.

Vote early and vote often. If you can’t make it to the polls to vote on September 19th, call your town hall and ask them how to vote absentee.

Another Gay Movie

I saw the new film, Another Gay Movie, yesterday. This is a great film that isn't afraid to "go there". It was refreshing to see a happy, queer-positive, sex-positive movie. Go to the movie website to watch the trailer.

While I love most of the gay films I have seen, they are usually kind of sad. There are quite a few movies about coming out, falling in love, and how hard it is to be queer. Many of these movies show the rejection that many queer people face. A lot of gay movies touch on how hard it can be in gay relationships.

The majority of gay films portray the rejection, isolation and lack of acceptance that many gay people feel. These topics are incredibly important to portray in film. It helps for gays and lesbians to be able to identify with the strong emotions displayed in these movies. However, there is more to being gay than pain and suffering!

I love movies like Edge of Seventeen, The Trip, Latter Days, Trick, The Broken Hearts Club, Mysterious Skin, Transamerica, and Brokeback Mountain. While these are all great films, they all express how hard it is to be queer.

Another Gay Movie is completely different because all of the main characters are out and proud. Being gay is not the issue in this film. It is not a coming out film, or a boy-meets-boy movie. It is a campy gay teen movie (like the gay version of American Pie). It touches on every aspect of being queer and does not apologize for anything. This movie is incredibly sex-positive in a very gay way.

I suggest you see this film the first chance you get. Another Gay Movie is playing at Kendall Cinema in Cambridge.