JAN|FEB 2016
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Constitutional Showdown A gay chef seeks job at Catholic prep school
Mass Business
First state welcomes LGBT supplier diversity
INT ESTION O J L I A T K BEST COCACE TO POP THE QUTRIP BEST PL ASON FOR A ROAD d! e r e v BEST RE o you c got We’ve
Philanthropy
The who’s who of local giving
NAGLY’s New Home North Shore opens a dedicated youth center space
L ove wins on Boston’s beautiful waterfront. Celebrate at the New England Aquarium.
Artifact Images
Leah Haydock Photography
Artifact Images
Zev Fisher Photography
617-973-5205 events@neaq.org
#lovewins
CAN CANBOTH BOTH OUR OURMOTHERS MOTHERS WALK WALKUS USDOWN DOWN THE THEAISLE? AISLE? BenBen & Adam, & Adam, Provincetown, Provincetown, MAMA
Traditions Traditions are are what what you you make make them. them. From From rings rings toto proposals, proposals, Long’s Long’s is is here here toto help. help. www.longsjewelers.com www.longsjewelers.com Photo Photo © 2013 © 2013 Eileen Eileen Counihan Counihan
publisher@bostonspiritmagazine.com
Boston Spirit Magazine supporters
From The Publisher Happy New Year! It’s always interesting starting a new year. On one hand we tend to focus on all that is coming up and everything that needs to get done, and on the other hand we typically spend a bit more time looking back on all that has happened over the past year. This is certainly the case hear at Boston Spirit. Looking back at 2015, it was a great year. It all started back in January at our sold out LGBT Power Players of New England Gala. What an amazing group of people all gathered at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Boston. It was a very special night. That night was followed by another special night with our friend Julian Edelman of the New England Patriots. Julian served as the featured speaker at our 10th annual LGBT Executive Networking Night in May. More than 1,000 of you showed up to hear him speak. We had another record breaking night in June at our Summer Sunset Cruise with
more than 700 of you on board. Once again we had great weather, great food (thanks again, Summer Shack!!) and great music (thanks again, DJ Mocha!). We look forward to these events once again in 2016. We are also looking forward to a new event in 2016 as we kick off the year with our LGBT Family Day at the New England Aquarium on Feb. 27th. Check out the information in this issue (and on our website BostonSpiritMagazine. com) to get tickets. As great as 2015 was, we are even more excited for 2016 and we can’t wait to see you at all of our events. If you have any additional ideas for us, please let me know. Feel free to email me at publisher@ bostonspiritmagazine.com. Here’s to a happy and healthy 2016.
David Zimmerman Publisher
Saturday, February 27, 2016 6-8:00pm bostonspiritmagazine.com
2 | BOSTON SPIRIT
Boston Symphony Orchestra
63
Burns & Levinson, LLP
44
Carpe Diem
THE GUIDE
Celebrity Series
59
Circle Furniture
47
Club Café
39
Condor Air
11
Destination Salem
61
DJ Mocha
THE GUIDE
Dover Rug
5
Eastern Bank
3
Fenway Health
13
Fertility Solutions
15
Harvard Pilgrim Health Care
19
Harvard University
67
Jasper White’s Summer Shack
49
Johnny Appleseed Trail Association
35
Kolman Artisan Glass
51
Landry & Arcari
12
Lombardo’s
37
Long’s Jewelers
1
Lucia Lighting
65
Marriott Copley Place
25
NE Aquarium
COVER
Partners Healthcare
57
Peabody Essex Musem
7
Provincetown Tourism
55
Rockland Trust
17
Royal Sonesta Hotel Boston
9
Seasons Four
41
Seligman Dental Designs
THE GUIDE
Sienna
COVER
Thought Action
53
Making progress, together.
Rates may fluctuate, markets rise and fall, trends come and go, but here at Eastern Bank our success is driven by yours. Whether it’s by providing free checking, offering online and mobile banking to make life simpler or advocating for fairness and equality in the communities we serve, our mission is to move you and your life forward. That’s why here, you’re first.
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Contribute your opinion: editor@bostonspiritmagazine.com
As We Go To Press … We in New England are known for firsts—first in legal marriage for same-sex couples, first in universal health care, first out state attorney general, and on and on and on. And now, here at Boston Spirit magazine, we’re publishing our first “Best of LGBT New England.” And with so many amazing choices, this is probably one of the most difficult features we have ever had to put together. Some are slam-dunks—who else would be Best Political Power Player other than out Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey? (Massachusetts State President Stan Rosenberg comes in a close second.) Others aren’t so clear cut. And then there’s how do we categorize everything. Should we do a travel and leisure category? Or should we split them up into two parts? Should we create a politics category? Or call it community and advocacy? And what about all the places, people and things we wished we could have included? Is this really the best of LGBT New England? Let’s call it our best guess. Let’s say this is a great way for all of us to think about our local LGBT community and what it has to offer. In fact, let’s hope this opens a discussion for coming up with more ideas of what’s best in LGBT New England. Send us your thoughts on what you think of as best in LGBT New England. We’d love to hear them. This is our first best list. Will we have another? We’re not sure yet. Whether we do or don’t, any ideas you send us will help us decide what to cover going forward.
4 | BOSTON SPIRIT
When people ask me what I do for work, rather than merely saying I’m the editor in chief of Boston Spirit magazine, I frequently emphasize that I’m not so much an editor as that I feel that I am a facilitator of community. I like to see Boston Spirit magazine as a mouthpiece for and catalyzer of community for New England’s LGBT citizens. So, as readers of Boston Spirit and members of the LGBT community, your input is highly valued. That leads me to my next point. There’s one item that’s not on this list. And it almost goes without saying. We, here at the magazine, think that the best people in New England are our loyal Boston Spirit magazine readers. We love each and every one of you. You make the work that I and everyone here at Boston Spirit magazine does worthwhile. It’s because of all of you that there are so many things that Massachusetts and New England can boast about being first in. It’s because of you that making of Best of LGBT New England list can be so gosh darn difficult. It’s because of you that New England is quite simply the best place in the world to live. Welcome to 2016! As difficult as this may be—because we’re already so great as an LGBT community—let’s make this year the best year yet!
James Lopata Editor
Living Well RUGS | CARPETING | FLOORING | WINDOW TREATMENTS BOSTON • NATICK • Coming Soon: 3RD AVE. BURLINGTON
DoverRug.com
10
12
LPAC
Contents
Seasonal Open for Inclusive Business
56
Scene
8 10 12 12 14 16 18
Bostonians are a generous, committed and caring bunch
20
A Marriage of Civil & Religious Rights 36 Barrett v Fontbonne is setting Constitutional precedent against firing LGBT church workers
Best of’
72
The Soundtrack to his Life
60
‘Violet,’ Then and Now
62
Putting It Together
64
Clothes and Closets
66
Karen Akunowicz Loves Food!
69
Dogs for a Cause 76 Community Serving’s Pie in the Sky 76 Human Rights Campaign Fund Dinner 77 7th Annual Toys 4 Joys Gift Gala 78 Celebration of Life Thanksgiving Dinner 80 The Welcoming Committee at Boston Ballet 81 Hispanic Black Gay Coalition Gala 82 OutRyders Opening Party 83 Victory Programs’ Home for the Holidays Celebration and 21st Annual Peter Medoff Awards 84
By Design
70
Coda
Culture
Feature
44
New England Events
Billy Childs reimagines Laura Nyro on CD and for Boston concert
Jeanine Tesori, Tony Award-winner for ‘Fun Home,’ revisits her first musical The Lyric Stage Co. showcases Stephen Sondheim past, present and future Orry-Kelly’s memoir and Gillian Armstrong’s film open the door on old Hollywood
Ricardo’s List
Calendar 44
Massachusetts is first in the nation again—this time with an LGBT-owned supplier diversity program
Spotlight
Senior Spirit
The Best of LGBT New England We make a list of the Best of LGBT New England
JAN|FEB 2016 | VOLUME 12 | ISSUE 1
Hit List Community Cliffnotes Bruins take a shot at homophobia Scoring Points in Division I From the Blogs Senior Spirit Moving on Up
16
Chris Burns
The executive chef of Myers + Chang has a lot of things cooking
With ‘Rent,’ Fiddlehead Theater Company’s Stacey Stephens merges past and present
69
Karen Akunowicz
Cinematic Haigh
Creator of indie-hit ‘Weekend’ and HBO series ‘Looking’ delivers new award-winning film
72
Calendar
88
P E A B O D Y
E S S E X
M U S E U M
“PEM’s curator ... refuses to reduce Native expression to a quiver full of fashion clichés.” — THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Experience the visual range, creative expression and political nuance of Native American fashion, from vibrant street clothing to exquisite haute couture.
THROUGH MARCH 6, 2016
Just five stops from Boston’s North Station!
The Coby Foundation Ltd., Ellen and Steve Hoffman, and Mimi and Jim Krebs generously supported Native Fashion Now. Carolyn and Peter S. Lynch and The Lynch Foundation and the East India Marine Associates of the Peabody Essex Museum provided additional support. MEDIA PARTNER
161 Essex St. | Salem, MA | pem.org
Jamie Okuma (Luiseño/Shoshone-Bannock), Boots (detail), 2013–14. Glass beads on boots designed by Christian Louboutin. Museum commission with support from Katrina Carye, John Curuby, Dan Elias and Karen Keane, Cynthia Gardner, Merry Glosband, and Steve and Ellen Hoffman. © 2015 Peabody Essex Museum. Photo by Walter Silver/PEM.
SPOTLIGHT Trending STORY Scott Kearnan
Hit List NEWS, NOTES AND TO-DOS FOR EVERY GAY AGENDA
Manhunt
SET YOUR SIGHTS on the new mobile version of Manhunt. The Cambridge-based progenitor of the online hookup sphere has finally rolled out an app for iPhones and Androids that now lets you browse, wink, and chat from the comfort of your rosy palm. The just-debuted app follows the popular location-based approach Manhunt helped pioneer, though developers are working on creative future enhancements that could help users sort potential matches with even more specificity. More: manhunt.net
Under 30” rising culinary stars by Zagat, finished within the top five of the 2015 season of Gordon Ramsay’s hit Fox show. And now Peters, a North Shore native, has just been appointed to his first exec chef role at Sea Glass, the upscale restaurant inside Gloucester’s historic Castle Manor Inn. More: castlemanorinn.com
POP THE QUESTION to your
loved one this Valentine’s Day, but only after you’ve read
HAVE A HEAVENLY DINNER
with “Hell’s Kitchen” alum Nicholas Peters. The 27-year old gay chef, recently honored as one of the Boston area’s “30
Chef Nicholas Peters
“The Fellows” up on an expansive survey of LGBT attitudes toward marriage proposals, conducted by gay-founded company MyVoucherCodes. Among the more interesting findings: 44% of women want their partner to “ask the in-laws” before proposing, compared to only 13% of men. But while 73% of men want their partner to drop to his knees to propose, that’s only important to 63% of women.
MEET “THE FELLOWS” AND “THE MAVENS” a new set of
initiatives from Bostonbased LGBT events biz The Welcoming Committee that is designed specifically to offer social and networking opportunities to gay men (Fellows) and woman (Mavens) in their thirties: those who might be tiring of the
twenties-skewing bar scenes. The venue-hopping group hosts monthly meet-ups on third Wednesdays. Past soirees have included everything from cocktails at The Liberty Hotel to private shopping experiences at Ted Baker. More: thewelcomingcommittee. com
SALUTE THE LEGACY of Sylvia
Rivera, who just became the first transgender American to be included in the National Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian Institution. A photo by Luis Carle that captures Rivera (alongside her partner Julia Murray and activist Christina Hayworth) at the 2000 NYC Pride March was installed in October, recognizing the contributions of the LGBT right advocate. Rivera, among other accomplishments, was a founding member of both the
PUBLISHER David Zimmerman EDITOR IN CHIEF James Lopata MANAGING EDITOR Robert Phelps [rob@bostonspiritmagazine.com] ART DIRECTOR Dean Burchell CONTRIBUTING LIFESTYLE EDITOR Scott Kearnan [lifestyle@bostonspiritmagazine.com] CONTRIBUTING ARTS EDITOR Loren King CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Ricardo Rodriguez, Christopher Wallenberg CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Joel Benjamin ON THE WEB [bostonspiritmagazine.com] TALK TO US [feedback@bostonspiritmagazine.com] EDITORIAL CONTACT [editor@bostonspiritmagazine.com] PUBLISHING AND SALES CONTACT [publisher@bostonspiritmagazine.com or 781-223-8538] THE FINE PRINT Boston Spirit magazine. A Division of Jake Publishing, LLC
JAN|FEB 2016 | VOLUME 12 | ISSUE 1
Published by Jake Publishing, LLC. Copyright 2004 by Jake Publishing, LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this periodical may be reproduced without the written permission of Boston Spirit magazine. Neither the publishers nor the advertisers will be held responsible for any errors found in the magazine. The publishers accept no liability for the accuracy of statements made by advertisers. Publication of the name or photograph of any person, organization or business in this magazine does not reflect upon one’s sexual orientation in any way. Boston Spirit Magazine, 398 Columbus Ave #395, Boston, MA 02116
8 | BOSTON SPIRIT
SAY
I DO
Sylvia Riviera
Gay Liberation Front and Gay Activists Alliance.
Stephen Hartley (Kitty Litter)
HIV/AIDS organizations (often in the form of his drag alter ego, Kitty Litter); and Jonathan Scott, CEO of Boston’s Victory Programs, a multi-service agency that’s programs include the Boston Living Center, a longstanding community resource for HIV-positive people. More: poz.com
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READ UP A STORM and grab a
SALUTE THE LOCAL HONOREES
recognized by “POZ” magazine, the publication for people living with HIV/AIDS, in its latest “POZ 100” list of heroes doing important work in the fight against the epidemic: Ryan Grant, an early intervention specialist at the Greater Bridgeport Area Prevention Program in Connecticut; Providence’s Stephen Hartley, a tireless supporter of and fundraiser for
copy of “Hurricane Days,” the latest from Massachusettsbased lesbian author Renee Lukas. The novel is a dramacomedy about a Republican governor, a somewhat Sapphic Southern belle Lukas describes as “a cross between Scarlett O’Hara and Julia Sugarbaker,” who finds her political career in jeopardy when a same-sex love affair from her college years suddenly reignites as a headline-grabbing scandal. More: bellabooks.com [x]
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SPOTLIGHT Politics STORY Scott Kearnan
Community Cliffnotes
Lesbian Political Action Committee (LPAC)
Spotlighting New England LGBT organizations and the work they do. Helping you to discover some new neighbors—and fresh facts—about our diverse community.
This winter has been a contentious political season—and we’re still many months away from the presidential election. (Brace yourself for a social media onslaught.) But supporters of LPAC, the nation’s first Super Pac focused specifically on representing the interests of lesbian Americans, already know how their votes will be cast. Last year LPAC became the first national LGBT organization to endorse Hillary Clinton for president. But whether you’re ready for Hillary or Feeling the Bern, there’s good reason to get to know this first-of-its-kind collective.
WHAT IS LPAC? LPAC was founded in 2012 to help build the political power of lesbians and queer women. The group throws its financial support, the clout of its politically connected board, and the star power of celebrity supporters like Billie Jean King and Jane Lynch behind candidates—male or female, gay or straight, at the federal or local levels—who support LGBT and women’s rights issues, particularly the protection of reproductive freedom, as well as social, racial and economic justice for all Americans. And in case you’re wondering, LPAC “is a bipartisan organization,” says founding board member Elyse Cherry. “Should the Republican Party put forward someone who in fact supports our issues, we would support them. I would look forward to that day.” Tick tock.
10 | BOSTON SPIRIT
Elyse Cherry and Hillary Clinton
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT? Cherry knows a lot about what it means to build community. She is an esteemed lesbian power player, civic leader, former chair of Mass Equality—and CEO of Boston Community Capital. Her national model for social justice-through-finance has invested over $1 billion in lowincome communities and celebrates its
20th anniversary this year. Cherry was invited to the board by her old law school classmate, LPAC vice-chair Urvashi Vaid, an attorney, organizer and co-founder of the Creating Change conference. And she understood the value in building a collective of women who could represent interests of lesbian Americans.
“Elections matter, and we need to be in the political field or we forfeit our agency,” says Cherry. “LPAC is a community of LGBTQ women who are going to change the world. We are fighting for our values and that means winning within the electoral system. To do that, we need the support of every LGBTQ woman and all our friends and allies.” Yes, there are other political action committees that separately reflect the interests of women and LGBT people. But by representing lesbians in their wholeness, LPAC also has the potential to foster civic engagement among women who may have felt shut out of other circles. “I think having a national political organization explicitly aimed at them can really impact lesbian participation,” says Cherry. “It’s something very special and affirming to people, especially people haven’t been as civically active in the past.”
WHAT HAS IT DONE? LPAC has raised over $2 million since its inception, supporting dozens of races of pro-woman, pro-LGBT candidates. In New England specifically, LPAC
“ LPAC is a community of LGBTQ women who are going to change the world. We are fighting for our values and that means winning within the electoral system. ” Elyse Cherry supported the campaigns of Maura Healey, now America’s first out lesbian attorney general, as well as Senator Elizabeth Warren, Senator Ed Markey, and New Hampshire governor Maggie Hassan, among others. The organization also mobilizes constituents around ballot measures and policy issues, and over the past year has been particularly vocal in its support of Planned Parenthood amid conservative attempts to defund the country’s largest provider of reproductive health services. And of course, LPAC will continue to do everything it can to help Hillary Clinton
secure the Democratic nomination—and, eventually, the Oval Office. “It’s clear to us that she is hands down the best candidate on our issues,” says Cherry. “She has stood for women’s issues forever. She has been wonderful on LGBT rights. Some people want to say she was late to the game on gay marriage, but frankly, I don’t see any reason to hold that against her. She is there. She’s a strong supporter. I think back to when I started as an attorney, when your career was finished if you were out. Everyone has evolved since then.” Thanks to an organization like LPAC, the evolution—and revolution—goes on. [x]
teamlpac.com
Fly where you love:
Germany. Nonstop.
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SPOTLIGHT Sports STORY Scott Kearnan
SPOTLIGHT Sports STORY Scott Kearnan
Scoring Points in Division I CHRIS BURNS HAD TO COME OUT TO TWO FAMILIES
Bruins take a shot at homophobia Since its inception in 2012, the You Can Play campaign has made great strides in promoting inclusivity for gay athletes in sports—especially professional hockey, where most of the project’s official partnerships are based. The campaign was created by Massachusetts native Patrick Burke in tribute to his late brother Brendan, a gay hockey player whose comingout sparked significant media coverage. The campaign debuted its very first advertisement during a Bruins-Ranger game, and in February the Bruins will show support by hosting a “You Can Play Night”—typically these nights allow guests to purchase special tickets that kick back a portion of each sale to the non-profit. (Visit youcanplayproject.org—and check out bostonspirit.com—for a full update on the game date). Efforts like You Can Play are fostering a world in which more and more gay athletes are coming out every year. And as we enter 2016, it’s worth looking back at some of the most notable coming-outs of last year. Many of them slid under the radar of mainstream media coverage—so if you haven’t already heard of these brave folks, here’s a primer on new names playing on our team. Gus Kenworthy. The 24-year old freestyle skier took home the silver medal from the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. He became a bit of a social media celebrity at the time, when his efforts to adopt a litter of stray Russian puppies went viral. (Swoon!) But it was October 2015 when he official won hearts by coming out on the cover of “ESPN The Magazine.” “Rolling Stone” dubbed him “the first action-sports star to come out.” Bill Kennedy. The NBA referee came out in December, albeit under unfortunate circumstances. Kennedy ejected Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo during a game, and the player called him an anti-gay slur
12 | BOSTON SPIRIT
in response. Kennedy took the incident as an opportunity to publicly come out. Rondo has since issued an apology, stating that “There is no place on or off the court for language that disrespects anyone’s sexual orientation.” Jesse Taylor. South Dakota: probably not a place known for its progressive LGBT climate. But in August Taylor, a basketball player at Dakota Wesleyan University, became the first college athlete to come out in The Mount Rushmore State. In an essay Taylor wrote for “Outsports,” the 21-year old discusses his difficulty reconciling his orientation with sports culture and his Christian faith, but arrives at the conclusion that, “We all have our own relationships with God and no one can interfere with that. Life is short so just be you and enjoy life.” Dalton Maldonado. Okay, technically the 20-year old came out during a high school basketball game in December 2014 (catalyzing some serious harassment in the process). But 2015 was when he gained public notice: when his photo was the only player’s left out of a basketball team spread in his senior yearbook, the story went viral. (The school maintains it was merely human error.) In November, Maldonado was named by “OUT” magazine to its “OUT 100” list of influencers, and the young activist has even created his own cologne called Formula 3. A portion of sales from the fragrance supports You Can Play. Keegan Hirst and Sam Stanley. It’s not just America making strides toward acceptance in sports. In August, 27-year old Keegan Hirst, a father of two who is formally separated from his wife, became Britain’s first professional rugby league player to come out. Only a month later, Sam Stanley, 23, became the first professional rugby union player to come out. [x]
First there was the family that the 31-year old grew up with just outside of Manchester, New Hampshire. He had kept his sexuality a secret for years, first as a star high school athlete, then as a breakout basketball player at Bryant University. But finally he steeled himself and revealed himself, first to his brother, then his mother, and eventually to his stepfather—in the most bro way possible: during a bachelor party in New Orleans. “I came out to my stepdad in the middle of Bourbon Street,” chuckles Burns now. Across the board, he says, his family was supportive. But perhaps even more intimidating, Burns had to come out to his second family: his team. Though recent years have seen more prominent LGBT athletes make headlines (Michael Sam, anyone?), it remains notoriously challenging for gay players and professionals to come out in the sports industry. Burns is now the assistant basketball coach for the Bryant Bulldogs, and when he assembled his players in the locker room last year to come out to them, Burns became the very first openly gay coach among the thousands in Division I basketball. He says he wasn’t necessarily looking to make history—just to be part of it. “So many people have worked so hard and for so long to keep things moving forward,” says Burns, who says he was particularly inspired by the gay sports figures he met at the annual Nike LGBT Sports Summit. “Eventually you realize we’re a community, and that this is about something bigger than yourself.” It took many years for Burns to get to that point. By high school he knew he was attracted to men, but he resisted the idea— dating cheerleaders, pouring his full focus into basketball. “It was really about me not being willing to accept it myself,” says Burns. “I was comfortable in the role I had established, and the thought of messing that up wasn’t something I was ready to tackle.” But in college he met Anthony Nicodemo, a basketball coach who was similarly closeted. They connected, and slowly, haltingly inched their way toward becoming clandestine boyfriends. As Burns told “Outsports” in a first-person coming-out essay he penned for the site in October, “It was the
“ With coming out in sports, people always assume that you’re withholding because of all the masculinity. But the hardest part really has to do with relationships. You’re in close quarters with these people, yet you’ve built up a little bit of a wall between you. You’re holding back. You’re not giving 100-percent of yourself. ” Chris Burns ultimate unspoken bond. Over the years we formed a connection that was as special as they come. We were as close as two people could possibly be.” The closet, though, wedged them apart. Nicodemo is seven years older, and “he was able to mature faster than me,” Burns tells Boston Spirit magazine. “There were conversations I wasn’t ready to tackle. I
withdrew. I shut down.” Today Burns is still working to slowly mend a friendship with Nicodemo, but his ex, now a rare out high school basketball coach in New York, wrote a recent essay for “Outsports” in support of Burns’ coming out. And in fact, Burns says that the support he has received over the last several months. He received phone calls from basketball
world legends like Mike Krzyzewski (aka Olympic Hall of Famer “Coach K”) and NCAA president Mike Emmert. He has received stacks of letters from gay athletes and their families. He knows there will always be detractors, even from within the LGBT community. (“There will always be people who want to tear you down, who say ‘He’s just doing that for the attention and publicity.’”) And he knows that when you’re first at anything, you set expectations unrealistically high. “There’s a lot of pressure on you that pushes you farther to be good at what you do,” says Burns. “The amount of scrutiny goes up.” But he’s already won. Yes, he’s made history and become a role model for gay Division I athletes and coaches. But more importantly, he finally feels truly at home with both of his families. “With coming out in sports, people always assume that you’re withholding because of all the masculinity,” says Burns. “But the hardest part really has to do with relationships. You’re in close quarters with these people, yet you’ve built up a little bit of a wall between you. You’re holding back. You’re not giving 100-percent of yourself.” Give it 110 percent, boys. [x]
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SPOTLIGHT News COMPILED Rob Phelps
From the Blogs
Deborah Shields, new executive director of MassEquality PHOTO courtesy of MassEquality.
Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker PHOTO courtesy Wikimedia
Arline Isaacson PHOTO courtesy of Boston
MASSEQUALITY APPOINTS DEBORAH SHIELDS NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
GOVERNOR BAKER ISSUES FIRST-IN-NATION EXECUTIVE ORDER LGBT BUSINESSES
ISAACSON HONORED WITH LIFETIME LEGACY AWARD
With strong Massachusetts and Maine roots in LGBT advocacy going back to the early ’80s, attorney Deborah Shields has been named the new executive director of MassEquality. The appointment came after an extensive search by the group’s boards of directors.
Massachusetts is once again the first state in the nation in recognizing LGBT rights and this time it’s especially great news for the business community. Governor Charlie Baker has issued an executive order to include certified LGBT business enterprises in contracting and procurement opportunities along with those already afforded to businesses owned by women and minorities.
“We are thrilled to have Deborah on board to help guide us as we move towards MassEquality 3.0,” said Stan Zanarotti, chair of MassEquality’s 501c4 Board. “While we are working diligently on the Transgender Accommodations Bill, we look to the future on what will be next so that all LGBT people can thrive throughout the Commonwealth at all stages of life.” With coalition partners, MassEquality is working to pass legislation for transgender non-discrimination protections, culturally competent care for LGBT elders, the end of the abusive practice of conversion therapy on LGBTQ youth, insurance access for people with lipodystrophy, and supporting the teaching of comprehensive sex education in Massachusetts schools. Shields’ previous leadership positions were with the Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition, the Better Oral Health Massachusetts Coalition and in Maine with the AIDS Project and the AIDS Lodging House. She has also served as policy analyst, legislative campaign director, and legal advocate in various social justice and health organizations.
14 | BOSTON SPIRIT
The policy paves the way for fair and equal access to business opportunities for some 21,000 LGBT-owned businesses in the Bay State, according to a report issued by the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. (The NGLCC is the exclusive certifying agency for LGBT-owned businesses in the United States.) “This is a huge win for LGBT owned businesses that deserve equal opportunities to bid on contracts with the Commonwealth. We are reminded to harness the momentum of this victory to keep fighting for equal dignity and respect for all LGBT citizens as we advocate for similar intentional inclusion orders from coast to coast,” said Sam McClure, Senior Vice President at NGLCC and one of the architects of this initiative. Before this executive order in Massachusetts, only the California Public Utilities Commission and several municipal governments—including Essex County, NJ and Cleveland, OH— touted the intentional inclusion of certified LGBT business enterprises. This executive order is the only statewide initiative of its kind, and an easily replicable model for other states to follow.
Women’s Communicators
Prominent marriage equality activist and LGBT-rights advocate Arline Isaacson received some major well-deserved recognition when Boston Women Communicators honors her with its 21st Annual Lifetime Legacy Award on Wednesday, October 21, at The College Club of Boston. “In the battle for Marriage Equality in Massachusetts,” the group recognized Isaacson for her “efforts [that] made ours the first state in the nation to defeat an anti-gay marriage DOMA.” Isaacson has been listed in Boston Magazine’s “50 Most Powerful” residents and has received, among many other honors, the Lawyer’s Weekly “Women of Justice” award and Mass Women’s Political Caucus “Abigail Adams” award. A graduate of Tufts University, she is a Boston resident with daughters in high school and college.
BOSTON-BASED RAFANELLI DECORATES WHITE HOUSE FOR THE HOLIDAYS Boston-based events planner Bryan Rafanelli, working closely with First Lady Michelle Obama and a few friends, developed the theme, “Timeless Traditions,” and created the design for the White House holiday décor this year. The theme, commemorates traditions cherished by Americans for more than two centuries. Twenty reps from Rafanelli Events led more than 200 volunteers from 35 states to bedeck the halls, cozy fireside interiors and grounds of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
29 NEW ENGLAND CORPS RATED ‘BEST PLACES TO WORK FOR LGBT EQUALITY’ Twenty-nine New England-based corporations received perfect scores of 100 percent on the 2016 Corporate Equality Index, the national benchmarking survey and report administered by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, which calls its top-score winners “The Best Places to Work for LGBT Equality” in America. Boston-based events planner Bryan Rafanelli worked closely with First Lady Michelle Obama to create the holiday décor for the White House interiors and grounds. PHOTO courtesy of Dini Von Muffling Communications “The inspiration and designs of Rafanelli Events, Carolina Herrera, Humberto Leon and Carol Lim of Opening Ceremony and Kenzo, and Duro Olowu have turned the White House into a winter wonderland,” said First Lady Michelle Obama. “I’m overjoyed to share their talent with tens of thousands of guests from across our country and around the world who will visit the White House this holiday season, and I know visitors will be as delighted by their work as I am.”
“We are so pleased to have been able to execute this Holiday vision by creating only 10 percent of the design with new products and materials,” said Rafanelli. “The remaining 90 percent uses repurposed ornaments and embellishments that were already a part of the White House holiday inventory.”
The 2016 CEI rated 1,027 businesses in the report, which evaluates LGBT-related policies and practices including non-discrimination workplace protections, domestic partner benefits, transgender-inclusive health care benefits, competency programs, and public engagement with the LGBT community. Boston Spirit magazine extends our heartfelt congratulations and gratitude to all the top-scoring businesses on the list and to all those businesses striving toward reaching the shared goals of nondiscriminatory workplaces for all. [x]
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fertilitysolutionsne.com JAN|FEB 2016 | 15
SPOTLIGHT Elders STORY Bob Linscott
Senior Spirit
Making Connections LGBT AGING PROJECT LAUNCHES NEW PROGRAM TO ALLEVIATE ELDER ISOLATION Have you ever paused to recognize how many circles of people we are connected to? For many of us we have a core set of friends, those who know us inside and out who are there unconditionally for better or worse. Many are connected to other circles of friends from work, from our neighborhood, clubs and sports teams, from college, and even from our childhood. We also have our family circles as well, which for some is no more than the obligatory holiday gathering or wedding. For others, family represents the core of their connection. As we age we begin to see some of those circles slide farther from our lives. Childhood and college friends we once thought we couldn’t live without are reduced to glancing updates on Facebook. You may even notice the shifting placement of current friends as some drift in and out of our lives. But can you imagine what your life would be without any of those circles? Have you ever stopped to appreciate how much we rely on those people for nearly every aspect of our lives? Who or what would take their place if they were not there? The sad statistic for our current generation of LGBT elders is that they are aging alone. This is the very generation who fought so hard for the growing acceptance we enjoy today. Many survived those intolerant and hostile decades, survived plagues and discrimination only to face social isolation in their final years. To understand how this happened is to go back in time when being gay was against the law in all 50 states. If anyone found out your ‘secret’ you could lose your job, apartment, and children or be committed to a mental institution since homosexuality was not only illegal but considered a pathological illness. Finding other LGBT people in those days was difficult, and once you did you had to be very careful in public. Many of our current LGBT elders did not want to risk being guilty by association with other LGBT people so they never had the opportunity
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Sam Goldfarb and Mel Simms to develop stable and lasting social connections. Some LGBT people, with acts of courage, defied the odds and sought out friendships and still maintain those connections today. Sadly many gay me who lived through the early years of the AIDS crisis had their entire social networks wiped out. If we fast forward to the present day we find these LGBT folks in their 70s and 80s with very few, if any social connections. They don’t feel welcomed in any of the places heterosexual seniors socialize such as senior centers or faith communities. These were the same people who shunned them decades ago. Even the gay community doesn’t offer a safe haven as it is just as youth-centric as the rest of society. So we end up with LGBT elders aging alone and cut off from the supports that would help make these years more meaningful.
The LGBT Aging Project is now embarking on a new pilot program that has the potential to eradicate the festering social isolation that has plagued so many elders in our community. Creating new social circles Our initiative is called Connected and it starts with circles of five LGBT elders who voluntarily sign up to participate in the three-month pilot. Participants in the circle agree to weekly check-ins with fellow group members. They will have a phone tree that indicates which person they are calling each week and at the same time one of the other members will be checking in on them. The frequency of the check-in calls increases if there is any type of situation or need such as an illness, depression or other emergency. The next week each participant calls a different person in the group and the process
repeats throughout the program. Each Connected circle will have a Circle Coordinator, which will be a staff member from The LGBT Aging Project during the pilot program and then staffed by volunteers for future groups. In addition to the regular phone check-ins, participants in the circles will be asked to have at least one face-to-face meeting at the start of the pilot so they can get to know each other. Circles will then be encouraged to plan monthly outings to connect with each other and check-in in person. Participants will also receive some coaching on skills such as caregiving, peer listening and accessing resources through their local elder service provider. These educational sessions will come in the form of workshops offered at Fenway Health open to all participants in the program. The circles will also be supported by Fenway’s LGBT Help Line (617-267-9001), staffed by trained volunteers who are excited to be linked with this new initiative. This initiative has the potential to help LGBT seniors who are living alone and struggling with social isolation to feel connected again with the larger LGBT and mainstream community. At the very least we hope that it will provide at least one level
Allen Howe and Frank LaPiana of comfort during the winter months, which can be isolating and frightening. Getting involved We could use your help with this important project. After the pilot phase of Connected we will be looking for volunteers to take on the role of Circle Coordinators. In the future we hope to add the ability for face-to-face check-ins via webcam chats for elders who
are homebound. We welcome any assistance in guiding us with the technology and recourses to make that happen. And if you are an older LGBT adult yourself and feel you could benefit from this program don’t hesitate to call we would love to talk with you further about Connected. [x]
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FEATURE Youth STORY Scott Kearnan
Moving on Up Thanks to a major grant, NAGLY now has its first dedicated youth center in Salem LGBT youth organizations, much like the youth they serve, often find themselves struggling: for respect, for support, for hope. Guess what? It gets better. The North Shore Alliance of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Youth (NAGLY), has a new home and, thanks to major charitable grant, an even brighter future ahead. For the past 23 years, NAGLY has operated out of a shared basement space at Salem’s First Unitarian Church, limited to three hours of meeting time per week. Now, thanks to a major grant received from a large locally-based company, NAGLY has its own 5200-square foot office at the
Museum Place Mall, which gives the group the space and funding it needs to take its programming—and its service to young LGBT people—to the next level. The move from a somewhat clandestine church space to a storefront in the middle of a downtown mall has also offered an optimistic message to LGBT youth: You do not need to be relegated to the shadows. “It really gives a great sense of pride,” says interim executive director Steve Harrington. Harrington is quick to acknowledge the nonprofit’s deep gratitude to the First Unitarian Church, which has supported NAGLY since its
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1992 inception. He has been active with the organization for nearly a decade, previously serving on its board of directors. But he acknowledges that, without a true home of its own and with only a modest operating budget, there were limitations to what NAGLY could offer the young people who seek its services and support from all over the North Shore. Harrington thought he experienced a windfall shortly after he assumed the interim executive director role in July 2014. At that time, Salem mayor Kim Driscoll was receiving heat for terminating a contract with Gordon College because the school’s LGBT-related policies violated the city’s Non-Discrimination Ordinance. Pundit Glenn Beck gave the story national notice, and Driscoll’s office was flooded with angry anti-gay phone calls. In response, the
mayor announced that her office would tally the hateful calls and donate $5 to NAGLY for each one received. NAGLY received $13,000 as a result, says Harrington. It was a great sum. But it couldn’t compare to what would happen next. In August 2014, an employee of Needham-based TripAdvisor nominated NAGLY for a major grant from the travel company’s charitable foundation. And in February NAGLY received the news: It was among the select nonprofits that would be awarded $80,000 per year for three years. To say the group was elated would be an understatement. By April NAGLY was offered a “great deal” on the Museum Place storefront, says Harrington, and the move-in could begin. Furniture was purchased from the liquidation
sale of a closing hotel. (Though NAGLY still has a “wish list” of items for its new space. Visit nagly.org for more info.) The sparkling new community center is a major change from NAGLY’s pop-up style roots in a basement. The Museum Place space has a huge meeting room for the organization’s young leaders and volunteers (NAGLY is a youth-led group, Harrington reminds). There’s also a library, a lounge where youth can gather in a sensitive and supportive environment, a health and wellness room for STI and HIV testing, and even a “clothing exchange boutique” where young people can leave donations or pick up items, free of charge. The clothing exchange has the obvious utility of keeping struggling or homeless young people, who are disproportionately LGBT, warm during the cold winter.
But Harrington points out that it also fills a particular need for trans youth, who may otherwise deal with discrimination while shopping for clothes that suit their gender expression. NAGLY is now also able to ramp up of its services. The organization still hosts its Tuesday evening meetings, but has added Friday drop-in hours from 2-8 PM. The space is also being used for special workshops hosted by groups like Gen20, NAGLY’s alumni network. And the nonprofit is in the process of conceptualizing new programmatic elements, from age 18+ movie nights that screen historically important LGBT films, to ballroom nights. NAGLY is also working with PFLAG to understand how it can better expand its reach toward serving middle school youth, says Harrington. And it is planning to identify new ways for its
young people to get involved in community service opportunities, including non-LGBT specific works, like park cleanups. But right now, NAGLY is just basking in the glow of its first dedicated, self-directed space in over two decades of existence. The milestone is more than a symbolic victory: It will have a real, tangible effect on the young people the organization is there to support. “Some kids who need us may be more likely to find us, because now they can just say to their parents ‘Drop me off at the mall,’” says Harrington. And for those who are already involved, enthusiasm is renewed. “I’ve had several youth come by and say, ‘Can I show my friends?’ They have a sense of ownership. There’s a real pride in saying, ‘This is my space.’” [X]
Valuing differences and creating value through differences ... Count Us In. Harvard Pilgrim is a proud supporter of Boston Spirit Magazine.
FEATURE People CREATIVE DIRECTION Ricardo Rodriguez PHOTOGRAPHY Joel Benjamin
Ricardo’s List Hot Giving A tribute to those going the extra mile Bostonians are a generous, committed and caring bunch. Not only with their money but their time, expertise and love. These Bostonians go the extra mile to help make a better city and a better world. In the New Year, let’s reflect on how all of us can contribute and help. And let’s raise a glass to these amazing human beings and to every single person who makes a difference.
[MAKE-UP] Tavi de la Rosa
[PHOTOGRAPHY ASSISTANT] Michael Kelley
[HAIR] Charlotte for Salon Mario Russo
[SPECIAL THANKS]
[STYLIST] Terri Mahn for Team Artist
Jennifer McMahon, Anna Murphy and Heather Greenbaum, and the entire Boston Harbor Hotel team
Shot on Location at The Boston Harbor Hotel
HARRY COLLINGS
HOPE D. FREEMAN ALLISON W. WRIGHT, ESQ.
DAVID GOLDMAN JACQUES ABATTO
Harry Collings 71
Hope D. Freeman 32
DEVELOPMENT REAL ESTATE CONSULTANT
COUNSELOR
What does giving mean to you?
Allison W. Wright, Esq., 29
It is about giving back to our community, which has given me so many gifts.
How and what can we teach others about giving? Showing by example and bringing new folks into the giving tent.
What’s been your most gratifying giving experience? Being part of the team building the new Fenway Health headquarters.
What person has had the most influence on you and your philanthropic life? Ron Ansin; watching and learning over many years from an amazing and kind man.
What are your top philanthropic interests? Fenway Health, True Colors of Theatre Offensive, and Victory Programs
fenwayhealth.org thetheateroffinsive.org vpi.org Edward Armah boutonniere- Neiman Marcus Boston
ATTORNEY
What does giving mean to you? We both feel that supporting causes and grass root organizations are key to a successful movement towards racial justice.
How and what can we teach others about giving? We believe that giving can look different ways, there is the financial aspect but there is also altruism through volunteering and learning what your passions are.
What’s been your most gratifying giving experience? A local non-profit, that we both love and respect, was asking for community support to throw a fundraiser. We provided everything and asked our friends and colleagues to bring a financial contribution. That night we made a very impressive amount and gave 100% of what was donated to the non-profit.
What person has had the most influence on you and your philanthropic life? HF: I have always felt that giving was out of my reach and never had anyone to look to as an influence. It wasn’t until Michael Brown was shot and killed in Ferguson, MI last year that I felt my ability to give really kick in. AW: My parents and my Alma Mater, Spelman College have influenced me the most.
What are your top philanthropic interests? Racial justice for LGBTQ People of Color, upholding the rights of incarcerated LGTBQ People of Color, and empowering and educating LGBTQ Youth of Color.
blacklivesmatter.com astraeafoundation.org blackandpink.org
nbjc.org
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David Goldman 60 REAL ESTATE DEVELOPER
Jacques Abatto 59 CONSULTANT
What does giving mean to you? It is simple, giving back is the right thing to do.
How and what can we teach others about giving? The best way to teach is by example. Giving, both financially and volunteering, provide a sense of community and involvement for the greater good.
What’s been your most gratifying giving experience? DG: It is never about money but rather about giving our time whether it is serving holiday meals to the homeless, mentoring or just visiting with people who are turning their lives around. JA: Volunteering at GLAD which won the Supreme Court case for marriage equality.
What person has had the most influence on you and your philanthropic life? Our parents, who taught us the value of caring for others.
What are your top philanthropic interests? LGBTQ issues, homelessness, and inner city youth.
glad.org pinestreetinn.org thelennyzakimfund.org .
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GARY BAILEY
ELYSE CHERRY
JAN|FEB 2016 | 27
AN G. HINDS
WENDELL K. CHESTNUT ZANE BELL
Gary Bailey DHL, MSW, ACSW 60 SOCIAL WORKER/PROFESSOR
What does giving mean to you? I embrace the concept of “Sankofa”. It teaches us that we must go back to our roots in order to move forward. That is, we should reach back and gather the best of what our past has to teach us, so that we can achieve our full potential as we move forward.
How and what can we teach others about giving? By modeling the act of giving and doing.
What’s been your most gratifying giving experience? My ongoing work with the AIDS Action Committee for the last 30+ years.
What person has had the most influence on you and your philanthropic life? My parents—but especially my mother who was always actively engaged and involved in the workings of our community when my brother and I were growing up in Cleveland Ohio.
What are your top philanthropic interests? I want my giving to support those organizations that are working towards racial justice, LGBT-Q advancement, and the elimination of disparities of all types.
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Elyse Cherry 61 CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
What does giving mean to you? The goal is to aim time, talent and treasure toward leading a values-driven life and toward building the world we want – a world in which full equality is a given, not a goal, for all of us.
How and what can we teach others about giving? By emphasizing the importance of mutual support, the value of giving back, and the responsibility of service.
What’s been your most gratifying giving experience? Contributing to and chairing the Board of Directors of MassEquality during the fight for same sex marriage equality in Massachusetts.
What person has had the most influence on you and your philanthropic life? My teachers in Revere (the community in which I grew up), Wellesley College (my undergraduate alma mater), and Northeastern University School of Law (my law school).
What are your top philanthropic interests? I primarily provide support for LGBTQ rights, economic justice and full equality for women.
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The meaning of life is to find your gift.
An G. Hinds 58 EXECUTIVE
What does giving mean to you? Paying it forward towards helping others. Making a difference.
Wendell K. Chestnut 49
How and what can we teach others about giving?
Zane Bell 51
When we give of our time or resources we are stepping out of ourselves to think of others. The return is tenfold in what we get in return; a feeling of satisfaction that we are part of all humanity.
What’s been your most gratifying giving experience? Helping with my time, resources and energy in the Fenway Health organization.
SENIOR RELATIONSHIP MANAGER
DESIGNER
What does giving mean to you? The opportunity to give wisdom, wealth and work to those who might be in need of these resources or are unable to access them on their own.
How and what can we teach others about giving?
Unequivocally, Nan Dumas.
The only real cost of giving is of your time and we all can find that in order to aid others, especially those who may not look, act or be like the person in the mirror.
What are your top philanthropic interests?
What’s been your most gratifying giving experience?
What person has had the most influence on you and your philanthropic life?
Women’s health, health care, and animal welfare.
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Aiding the next generation with the hope that the lenses that they peer through are more focused on understanding and supporting people other than just themselves.
What person has had the most influence on you and your philanthropic life? Our moms.
The purpose of life is to give it away.
What are your top philanthropic interests? Greater Boston PFLAG, Squashbusters and Mass Mentoring
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ALEXANDER DORAN SPRAGUE BRIAN PICCINI
VERNA TURBULENCE / DANIEL FAUCHER
JAN|FEB 2016 | 33
Alexander Doran Sprague 24 EVENTS MANAGER
Brian Piccini 35 RESTAURATEUR
What does giving mean to you? AS: Inspiring, improving and nourishing others. BP: Giving back to the community that supports us.
How and what can we teach others about giving? Leading by example. Time and knowledge can be more impactful than monetary gifts, especially if that’s all you have.
What’s been your most gratifying giving experience? AD: Walking the Susan G. Komen 3-day 60-mile journey with my mother by my side. BP: The live auctions we do with my business partner, Chris Coombs, to benefit Fenway Health.
What person has had the most influence on you and your philanthropic life? AS: I can easily say my Mother, Joann. BP: Carl Rosendorf, who showed me how to get involved and effect positive change.
What are your top philanthropic interests?
Verna Turbulence / Daniel Faucher RETIRED SHOWGIRL/FASHION DESIGNER/EDUCATOR
What does giving mean to you? Touching another person’s heart.
How and what can we teach others about giving? That putting the needs of others above yourself in the end is not only better for our community, in the end it is what’s best for the soul.
What’s been your most gratifying giving experience? A year-long initiative to help The Mathew Shepard Foundation, through The International Imperial Court System.
What person has had the most influence on you and your philanthropic life? The Founder and current Exec. Director of The IICS Jose Sarria and Nicole Murray Ramirez.
What are your top philanthropic interests? The Boston Living Center, The International Imperial Court System, and breast cancer charities, in memory of my mom.
bostonlivingcenter.org imperialcourtofma.org impcourt.org Alan Anderson drop earrings- M. Flynn
The Young Leadership Counsel at Fenway Health, The Theater Offensive, Susan G. Koman, and the Alzheimer’s Association of Massachusetts.
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The warmest of welcomes, in the coldest of months.
BETWEEN BOSTON AND THE BERKSHIRES This winter, hit the slopes at Wachusett Mountain or snowshoe wooded paths in the Hilltowns; browse for used books in downtown Northampton; warm up with wine from Hardwick or Nashoba Valley Wineries; or explore world class museums like the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art or the Fitchburg Art Museum. Learn more about our uniquely uncommon destinations at www.OutInMA.com.
JAN|FEB 2016 | 35
FEATURE Law STORY Rob Phelps
Matthew Barrett and Ben Klein, Barrett’s lead attorney on the team from GLAD that’s representing him
A Marriage of Civil & Religious Rights Barrett v Fontbonne is setting Constitutional precedent against firing LGBT church workers
Editor’s note: Please visit our blog at bostonspiritmagazine.com for updates on this unfolding case, which may be taken up by the Supreme Judicial Appeals Court of Massachusetts. When Matthew Barrett applied to be Fontbonne Academy’s food services director, he wasn’t looking to set a historic precedent in civil rights law. He just wanted the job. He got the job. But two days later he got fired. Barrett had listed his husband, Ed Suplee, as his emergency contact. Fontbonne, a private Catholic college-prep
school for girls, rescinded its offer because Barrett disclosed his same-sex marital status on a routine form after he’d formally received the offer and accepted the job. He could have jotted down his mother or sister’s name instead and who knows? He might be cooking breakfast and lunch at the academy today. But, says the winsome 40-something Dorchester resident, “I was raised Catholic. My parents were very religious. I was confirmed.
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Every Saturday night at 5 o’clock, there I was in the fifth pew. And on that application I was just being honest. Why would I lie? I’m proud that I’m married to Ed. I didn’t know it would be an issue. Not in this day and age.” On the other hand, Ben Klein, senior attorney with Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, was not surprised when he heard what happened to Barrett at Fontbonne. “We are now seeing a new wave of religiously motivated discrimination,” Klein says, “and mostly against LGBT people with a huge emphasis against people who are married to people of the same sex.”
Matthew Barrett and his husband Ed Suplee. [AT RIGHT] With Felony the Boston Terrier and Judge the English bulldog
Several months after Barrett’s termination at Fontbonne, GLAD filed a complaint against the academy under Massachusetts General Law for discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. “We have to establish the precedent that the claims of this sort are not justified,” Klein says. “This case will set a national precedent and be looked to as one of the first courts to address this issue.” There are only a handful of similar cases being litigated in the country so far, he points out, but there are many more in the works and even more that are going unchallenged all over America.
An Ideal Opportunity Back in the summer of 2013, Matthew Barrett decided it was a good time to look for a new job. He was working part time for Milton Public Schools in food services and the students were away on vacation. Approaching his mid-forties, he wanted a full-time job that included benefits. Barrett’s husband, Ed Suplee, works as a database architect for State Street Bank. The two reside in the Dorchester house where Suplee grew up. In the summer they spend most of their free time at a cottage in Hull or on their boat, motoring around Boston Harbor or across Cape Cod Bay to Provincetown for Carnival and Bear weeks. In the winter, aside from an occasional vacation to somewhere warm, “we’re basically homebodies,” Barrett says. They like to
entertain, have friends over for dinner. Barrett says he’s always loved to cook. “My mother is an awesome cook and I don’t even know how young I was when she started teaching me. I was making pasta before I knew it,” he says. His passion led him to focus on culinary arts at Plymouth South Vocational High School, where he also studied business management. “I was thinking I was going to be a chef somewhere. But it turns out working in an actual restaurant is not what I wanted to do. Basically, the hours are terrible for a chef, although I love what they do.” Now that he’s married, he says, he knows he made the right choice in his career. He’d rather keep his hours regular and take time off over school vacations to spend with his husband and their two dogs, Judge the English bulldog and Felony the Boston
JAN|FEB 2016 | 37
terrier (Suplee’s father was a policeman). Life was good, but Barrett knew he needed to move forward in his career. The opportunity at Fontbonne seemed ideal— an easy commute and, as food services director, a step up. He applied and got an interview with Maryann Enright, who would be his supervisor. “She showed me around the kitchen and did a quick walkthrough as she did with all the candidates,” he says, “just to scope us out.” Barrett was Enright’s top choice. At the second interview, he met the woman who would be working for him. That went well too. On July 9, he returned to Fontbonne. He’d been called back to interview with Mary Ellen Barnes, head of schools. Barnes offered him the job. Barrett readily accepted. And
Two days later, Barrett received an email … stating that there was an “issue” with his employment and asking him to come to Fontbonne to meet. then, among other formalities, he filled out the questionnaire asking for the name of an emergency contact and that person’s relationship to him. “Ed Suplee,” he wrote. “Husband.” That same afternoon he gave notice to his current employer, called his family and friends to share the good news and posted on Facebook, “Thank you to all of you who gave me a great reference. Guess who landed an awesome job? This guy!!!”
Two days later, Barrett received an email from Enright stating that there was an “issue” with his employment and asking him to come to Fontbonne to meet with her and Barnes. “So I had to go back to the school and they sat me down and said you put Ed’s name as your husband for your contact,” Barrett recalls. “And I said, well, that’s what he is, and they said that’s against Catholic faith, the same-sex marriage, so we can’t hire you.”
Barrett says he was in shock. “I was totally speechless. They’re going to fire me? For that? My position, food services director, has nothing to do with religion. I mean, it’s cooking food, planning menus, that’s it,” he says. “And they liked what I had to offer.” The bad feelings and the agonizing self doubt, settled in swiftly. Barrett began calling back his friends, facing his family to tell them what happened. He wrote an email to his former employer: “[Fontbonne] declined the offer because I am gay. So, I am coming crawling back for my old cook position with you if it is still available.” “I was telling everybody about the job, and they all wanted to congratulate me but now I’m saying I don’t have it, and I had to explain, and everybody was so mad. They said they can’t do this. And I’m like
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they can, they can,” he says. “But the more I thought about it, the more upset I got.” And then Jackie Morgan, his former boss at Milton Public Schools and ironically a Fontbonne graduate, returned his email. “It will be an honor to be able to continue to work together,” she wrote. “Your time will come to shine when the time and the place is right. I am so sorry this happened. Milton is honored to work with you. We think you are great.” The only thing better, he says, was the support of his husband. It was Suplee who contacted GLAD. And with the complaint filed on January 30, 2014 and the arguments presented before the state’s Superior Court on December 1, 2015, the rest—as they waited for the court’s decision—was history in the making.
Where is the line between the right to make employment decisions and flat-out discrimination? Fontbonne’s ‘Issue’ When Maryann Enright emailed Matthew Barrett to tell him that Fontbonne had an “issue” with his employment, the issue was very much with the academy and not with their new hire. Barrett was confident in his culinary abilities and secure in his marriage. He firmly believed he’d made the right decision in applying for a job at a Catholic school as a gay man.
A friend of his mother is a retired nun with Sisters of Saint Joseph, the order that sponsors Fontbonne. Before applying for the job Barrett asked her, “You know I’m married to Ed. Do you think they’re going to have a problem with this? She assured me, no way, not in this day and age, not with the new pope. She didn’t have any thought there would be any issue.” At the deposition, where both sides formally presented their arguments, Mary Ellen Barnes,
Fontbonne’s head of school, testified that she did not know whether or not the school could hire a person in a samesex marriage. “That was striking to us because if it was such a deeply held concern of the school, why was she uncertain?” says Ben Klein, Barrett’s lead attorney on the team from GLAD that’s representing him. So Barnes called the Sisters of Saint Joseph to ask advice from the organization that oversees the school. “And that person was also unsure of whether it would be okay for the school to hire somebody who was married to a person of the same sex,” Klein says. So the advisor from Sisters of Saint Joseph, also being unsure, called the Archdiocese of Boston and spoke with the Archdiocese’s then-education secretary and superintendent, Mary Grassa O’Neill, a
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layperson who’s since left the Archdiocese to serve as senior lecturer at Harvard School of Education. O’Neill told the advisor from Fontbonne’s supervising organization that the academy could not hire a person in a same-sex relationship. Whether or not O’Neill gave much thought to the particular issue at Fontbonne—did she consult with anyone who was not a layperson at the Archdiocese?—or simply made a snap judgment on that brief phone call remains unclear. One hopes she acted in good faith but who knows? By the time this issue went to press, O’Neill had not returned this reporter’s phone calls. Barnes could not be reached either. She has since left the school. After similar inquires were made to the Archdiocese, Boston Spirit magazine received the following statement: “Due to the ongoing legal preceding involving Fontbonne Academy it would not be appropriate for the Archdiocese to comment at this time.” In any case, O’Neill did not have the authority to call for Barrett’s termination. Although the Sisters of Saint Joseph would appropriately turn to the Archdiocese for consultation, Fontbonne’s supervising organization is privately run, not part of the Archdiocese. “What’s interesting is that the school is asserting now that it couldn’t [hire a person in a legal, same-sex marriage], but actually it was something [the school and its supervising order of nuns] had been open to” had they been advised differently, Klein says. The point is, “they didn’t know. And that just calls into question the basis for firing Matt.” The school could not be reached for an interview but issued the following statement: “While Fontbonne
Academy does not comment on legal cases, state laws do grant religious institutions the right to make employment decisions based on the tenets of its faith.”
The ‘Ministerial Exception’ To this claim in Fontbonne’s terse statement to the press, Klein says yes—and no. Where is the line between “the right to make employment decisions” and flat-out discrimination? “The basic point,” he says, “is that it has never been the law that religious entities have a right to discriminate against just any employee. We have doctrines that protect the right to unfettered hiring when somebody’s job [falls into the category of ] what’s called the ministerial exception.” Klein defines the ministerial exception as “a doctrine that precludes employment discrimination suits against religious employers when a person’s job has to do with teaching and conveying the concepts and precepts of its faith.” This would apply to a priest. Or a rabbi. Or anyone whose “primary duty,” Klein says, involves teaching and conveying the faith. “And there’s no formula for that. So for example a theology teacher may be in that exception. Clearly a food services director doesn’t come close to meeting that standard.” “It would be a dangerous precedent to set. What Fontbonne’s arguing is that every employee regardless of their job is considered what they call to be a minister of the mission and therefore must model Catholic teachings,” Klein says. That would exclude Episcopalians and Baptists, Jews and Muslims, agnostics and
atheists, heterosexuals and homosexuals in legal civil unions, even a large swath of American Catholics—none of these people, it follows, could work at Fontbonne Academy in any capacity. This argument also flies in the face of a Fontbonne stated “core value”—“to help to create an environment that values and respects diversity of all kinds.” “Critical thinking is essential to the educational process,” Klein says, “and Fontbonne acknowledges that. Fontbonne would permit a student to write a paper supporting marriage equality for samesex couples. They would applaud students who are critical of Catholic doctrine because they’re an educational institution. They have openly lesbian students. (It’s an all-girls school.) And they have a formal policy that they
don’t discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.” This is clearly stated in Fontbonne’s employment policies, which can be found on its website.
A Time to Shine As Matthew Barrett’s boss, Jackie Morgan, wrote in her email, a “time will come to shine.” On Dec. 1, at the Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Justice Douglas Wilkins heard the arguments presented by GLAD and opposing counsel led by John Bagley, a partner in the Springfield-based firm Morrison Mahoney (which also did not respond to this reporter’s inquiries). Along with Klein, GLAD’s legal director, Gary Buseck, and founder, John Ward, were there to represent Barrett. Barrett and his husband also attended the proceedings. No
one from Fontbonne showed up except its legal counsel. “For Matt to be sitting there having the discrimination he faced being discussed and debated in front of a judge was a very powerful moment for him,” Klein says. “It was very emotional for us,” Barrett concurs. “It’s been a lot to deal with from that day that they fired me. It’s just been a whirlwind for the past two years and a half now. I had many sleepless nights over this.” “This case will set a national precedent and be looked to as one of the first courts to address this issue,” Klein says, likening it to the 1983 Bob Jones v the United States case, in which the South Carolina university refused to admit students in interracial relationships, married or just dating. The university didn’t even admit black students
until 1971, and from 1971 until 1975 only if one was married to another black heterosexual. Like Fontbonne, Bob Jones University also based its right to discriminate solely on its religious beliefs. “The fact that [cases like Barrett’s] are even considered worthy of a legitimate dispute is really just a reflection that our society is not yet at the point where we really see sexual orientation discrimination as equally anathema as racism.” But we’re getting there, says Klein. GLAD’s founder, John Ward, agrees. Now living in San Francisco, Ward flew the 3,000 miles to hear the case argued. He also helped prepare the legal briefs. “We didn’t struggle all these years to win the right to marriage equality only to be told that if you exercise that right,
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10 QUESTIONS TO ASK BEFORE CHOOSING A RETIREMENT COMMUNITY Many of us will be involved in a discussion, either for ourselves or for a family member or friend, about choosing between options for a retirement or assisted living community. As professionals who help clients make these decisions, we know that such discussions are not easy and can be fraught with emotion, angst and guilt. Too often they also take place during a time of crisis, when limited information or time is available. Although no one can address all the concerns that may come up in making a decision, we can highlight some of the most important issues.
QUALTY OF LIFE 1. IS THIS A TEMPORARY OR LONG-TERM MOVE? It’s important to determine whether an individual will be moving into a senior community while she is well and can care for herself, or into a “continuing care” facility that offers independent living, assisted living and skilled nursing that the resident may transition to if needs arise. If this is intended to be a place for the resident to stay long-term, a continuing care facility may be preferable. 42 | BOSTON SPIRIT
2. WILL THE RESIDENT MEET MENTAL CAPACITY AND PHYSICAL SELFSUFFICIENCY TESTS? One sad truth is that we sometimes see people waiting too long to seek entrance into a retirement community. As a result, she then failed to meet the tests that the community imposes for residents. Familiarize yourself with these requirements when researching communities and timing your decisions.
3. WILL THE RESIDENT NEED TO CHANGE PRIMARY CARE PHYSICIANS AND/OR CAREGIVERS? This issue comes up less frequently with other trusted advisors like financial planners and attorneys, but it can arise here, too.
4. IS IT LOCATED IN AN AREA WHERE THE POTENTIAL RESIDENT WANTS TO LIVE? Be sure to consider whether the retirement community will provide easy means for the resident to get to activities he wants to continue in
the community and if he will be able to maintain existing friendships. Is it likely that friends and family will travel to the community to visit? Will there be opportunities within the new community for the resident to stay socially and intellectually engaged?
5. DOES THE RETIREMENT COMMUNITY WELCOME COUPLES? If the resident is in a committed relationship, it’s important to make sure she and her partner will be welcome both within the community and in the surrounding area. Although prejudice and discrimination exist throughout society, a concern for those choosing a retirement community may be whether the community is affiliated with a religion. While a Massachusetts court recently upheld the state’s anti-discrimination laws against a college which claimed its affiliation with the Roman Catholic Church allowed it to terminate a food service manager who is married to a person of the same sex, it is not clear whether that ruling will withstand further state or Federal review.
6. CAN THE RESIDENT KEEP THEIR CAR AT THE NEW COMMUNITY?
When making decisions about a retirement community, think about quality of life considerations as well as financial and estate planning concerns.
If this form of independence will be taken away, be sure to determine what transportation will be provided by the sold within a set time after the line is retirement community and whether opened. Being able to buy a retirement public transportation options exist. community unit without having to wait for the sale of a house can help when a FINANCIAL PLANNING waiting list exists or when the would-be AND ESTATE ISSUES resident needs to or wants to move in quickly. 7. WILL THE RESIDENT BE
ABLE TO MEET INCOME OR NET WORTH TESTS THE COMMUNITY IMPOSES?
If not, you will want to determine whether the retirement community will accept a guarantee from a creditworthy friend or relative to cover any potential shortfall expenses.
8. DO RESIDENTS OWN OR RENT THEIR UNITS? This factor can have implications on several levels. If the person seeking to move into a retirement community currently lives in a house or condominium unit he or she owns, for example, it may need to be sold in order to afford to buy into the community. An alternative that some have taken advantage of is to procure a socalled bridge loan to provide cash to fund the purchase of the community unit prior to the house or condo being sold. Although this can also be accomplished with an equity line of credit, those lines usually are not given, or have prepayment penalties, if the property securing them is
9. IF THE RESIDENT PASSES AWAY, WHAT IS THE PROCESS FOR SELLING THE UNIT?
rolled into another residence, such as a unit in a retirement community, can become a “countable” asset for Medicaid qualification purposes. This means these assets have to be spent down to near zero before the owner can be eligible for state-funded nursing home benefits. If, however, the proceeds were rolled over into a unit in a retirement community, they may not be “countable” for this purpose.
In most if not all cases, the management entity for the community will take control of the resale effort, and in some cases may purchase the unit back after a period of time. Think ahead if you want to consider having title to the unit be held in a trust, which may avoid the need to probate the estate of the deceased owner, if the title otherwise were in that owner’s name directly.
Financial and estate planning for qualifying for entitlements like Medicaid nursing home benefits is highly specialized and complex. Having only a little knowledge can sometimes lead to expensive mistakes, so we urge anyone considering this to seek specialized advice.
10. HOW DO TAXES AND BENEFITS PLAY INTO THESE QUESTIONS?
We’ve reviewed some of the major issues and concerns that someone making or helping to make a decision about a move to a retirement or senior community should keep in mind. Every situation is different. There are many other issues to consider and the ones we discuss here will vary accordingly.
Another concern is whether capital gains taxes will apply to the sales proceeds of a primary residence in connection with a move into a retirement community. If certain requirements are met, a portion of the capital gains received from the sale of a primary residence may not be taxed. In addition, the money received from a sale of a principal residence and not
EVERY RETIREMENT SITUATION IS UNIQUE
As always, using experienced legal and financial professionals to advise you in this process is invaluable. They will ensure you make the best decision either for yourself or for someone you care about.
This communication provides general information and does not constitute legal advice. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. © 2015 Burns & Levinson LLP. All rights reserved.
Burns & Levinson is a Boston-based law firm with more than 125 attorneys and offices in Providence and New York, as well as in the Merrimack Valley/North Shore, Metro West and South Shore areas of Massachusetts. We work with entrepreneurs, emerging businesses, private and public companies and individuals in sophisticated business transactions, litigation and private client services. burnslev.com l 617.345.3000 MASSACHUSETTS l NEW YORK l RHODE ISLAND
Our LGBT Group: Lisa Cukier l Scott Moskol l Deborah Peckham l Laura Studen l Donald Vaughan l Ellen Zucker JAN|FEB 2016 | 43
New England is known for its LGBT-friendliness—so, quite frankly, everything here is the best! So when we make a list of the Best of LGBT New England, you can expect that you’re looking at the crème de la crème. Whether you’re looking for the most LGBT inclusive church, place to pop the question, or reason for a road trip, we’ve got it covered. Isn’t that just the best?
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JAN|FEB 2016 | 45
FOOD DRINK PARTY PALACE Club Café
BEST PLACE TO POP THE QUESTION The Red Inn
Kristen Kish
TOP CHEF Kristen Kish This year the Boston-based, out winner of the tenth season of “Top Chef” scored a great new gig: Co-host of the globe-trotting Travel Channel show “36 Hours,” where she guides viewers around the culinary scenes in different international cities. It’s nice to have you back on the small screen, chef.
FIRST DATE SPOT Cathedral Station The drinks are cheap, the vibe is laidback, and there’s always a game on. The South End’s relaxed gay sports bar is the antithesis to the preening crowds that populate other hangouts, and the kind of place all sexes can suggest for a low-pressure, let’s-getto-know-each-other brew or round of pool. tation ral S d e h Cat
Red is the color of love — and in fact, this historic Provincetown inn and restaurant was originally built in 1805 as a sea captain’s gift to his wife. It’s in the West End, set slightly apart from the bustle and right on the waterfront, where the patio’s unobstructed horizon views are a perfect sunset proposal spot.
They say the thirties are the new twenties. Maybe that explains why Boston’s Club Café, opened in 1983, is still the most vital LGBT nightspot around. Jazzy vocalists surround the piano in the front’s Napoleon Room. Beat-dropping DJs get crowds sweating in the rear dance club. Stiff pours keep the bars packed. Party on.
CHEAP EATS Happy Camper Taste buds rejoice (and waist lines mourn) Provincetown’s new sweet treats and coffee joint, which just opened next to its sibling The Canteen, a classy-meets-counter service spot where you nosh gourmet lobster rolls at picnic tables. Gayowned Happy Camper’s pastry cases are stocked with truly unique, equally amazing eats like cranberry-walnut doughnuts and green tea ice cream.
SPLURGE SPOT Menton Star restaurateur Barbara Lynch’s French-Italian restaurant in Fort Point is one of New England’s most expensive spots, but it’s worth every penny. Gay chef de cuisine Scott Jones creates decadent multi-course tasting menus that can total $300 per person when wine-paired. Smaller budgets hit the adjacent Gold Bar for “humble” eats like foie gras frankfurters.
Scott Jones
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COCKTAIL JOINT Trophy Room Give a gold medal to this replacement of Fritz inside Boston’s Chandler Inn. Chef Evan Campbell serves spectacular food, like the addictive Drunken Mussels. And bar manager William Barr Yerxa oversees an awesome athletics-themed cocktail list — think the “Heisman,” a combo of tequila and pear puree — that keeps crowds as merry and gay as ever.
HANGOVER BRUNCH Stella Where to recover from a messy night? Hop a streetcar named desire (or maybe just the T) to Stella in the South End gayborhood. You’ll reliably find Sunday crowds piecing together last night’s hot gossip over duck confit omelets, chorizo- and sweet corn-stuffed frittata, and of course, plenty of morning-after mimosas.
AMAZING INTERIOR Boston Chops Most steakhouses look like they were designed by Donald Trump: stodgy and conservative. But this chophouse is sleek and sexed-up thanks to gay architect Stephen Martyak, cochair of March 19’s Men’s Event for Fenway Health. His still-young firm, studioTYAK, is behind the interiors of several high-profile restaurants, including Harvard Square’s The Sinclair and Loretta’s Last Call by Fenway.
Boston Chops
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ART CULTURE NEW CLUB NIGHT, BOSTON Fascination
APPLAUSE-WORTHY THEATRE COMPANY It’s never easy to choose a favorite theatre organization in a region overrun with amazing arts groups. But the Boston Center for the Arts’ resident company, celebrating its 25th anniversary with an April 1 gala, always delivers ovationworthy shows. Coming in March: “Bootycandy,” a series of vignettes on growing up black and gay.
ath erw ax
SpeakEasy Stage Company
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GAY MUSIC GROUP Boston Gay Men’s Chorus
BREAKTHROUGH AUTHOR Annie Weatherwax
Last year their five summer concerts in Israel and Turkey made the handsome, history-making gents of the BGMC the first gay chorus to tour the Middle East. Violent police activity prevented them from marching as planned in Istanbul Pride — but not before their music brought love, hope, and inspiration to still-struggling LGBT people.
“All That” was an appropriate title for Weatherwax’s debut novel about a financially struggling motherdaughter duo and their cast of small town pals, including a sage advicedispensing transgender waitress. Its movie rights were snatched up immediately, and the now-filming adaptation is will be actress Katie Holmes’ directorial debut. Well done, Weatherwax.
Boston Gay Men’s Chorus
This gear and kink party launched late last year as a second-Mondays event at Jacques Cabaret. It proved so popular it’s now expanded to fourthFridays too. Inspired in part by the 1963 hustler novel “City of Night,” Fascination founders Michael Flowers and DJ Colby Drasher have tapped into nostalgia for the days of glorious gay grit.
NEW CLUB NIGHT, PROVIDENCE EGO Events producer Chris Harris has reason to be proud: For years he has managed to sustain multiple club concepts while others have come and gone. His latest accomplishment is EGO, Providence’s bumping gay club where drag queens strut, go-go boys shake it off, and the dance floor swells with writhing crowds nightly.
REASON FOR A ROAD TRIP
Jacob’s Pillow Dance
This internationally famous, annual summertime dance festival is legendary in LGBT history for its founder, modern dance pioneer Ted Shawn, whose trail blazing allmale troupe included his longtime lover and muse. Pay special mind to “Weekend OUT at the Pillow,” a gay-focused weekend bursting with special exhibits, performances, tours and socials.
Jac ob’s Pil low Dance
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LGBT HISTORY GROUP Peace Encampment
EMERGING GROUP TO WATCH
This volunteer-run initiative has done the important work of preserving an oft-overlooked piece of lesbian history: the Women’s Peace Encampment, a decades-spanning, all-women’s social justice movement launched in upstate New York in 1983. This year digital archives of the encampment were compiled for the Schlesinger Library for the History of Women in America at Harvard University’s Radcliffe Institute.
This new Boston-area group bills itself as only the second alltransgender chorus in the country, but it’s already making beautiful music. Besides offering community and belonging, founder Sandi Hammond helps build confidence and better singing technique in some performers who may elsewhere feel sensitive or stigmatized if their voice doesn’t match the gendered expectations of their post-transition body.
Herstory Project
For this award-winning new documentary, director Ellen Brodsky trained her camera on True Colors: OUT Youth Theater, the empowerment-through-arts program of Boston’s The Theater Offensive. The fascinating film follows the stories of several queer youth, and in the immediate aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing. It is powerful and poignant.
BEST OUT PERFORMER Thomas Derrah ct roje mpment Herstory P
Thought About Love”
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QUEER FILM “The Year We
Pe ac
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Butterfly Music Transgender Chorus
Julius Caesar. Mark Rothko. R. Buckminster Fuller. A 1960s Catskills cross-dreasser. An aggrieved, aging socialite in husband John Kuntz’s “Necessary Monsters” — Thomas Derrah’s indelible (and often awardwinning) characters have graced Boston stages ever since his arrival as a founder of the A.R.T. He’s one of the reasons Boston audiences don’t have to go to New York to see great theater.
JAN|FEB 2016 | 49
PEOPLE PLACES
SECRET GAY GETAWAY Camp Camp
INSPIRING ENTREPRENEURS
The Welcoming Committee
Ma tthew
Simko
Founder Daniel Heller and his team have turned their LGBT social events biz into a 10-city movement that builds networks, fosters community—and, whether hitting the dance floor or the ski slopes, knows how to have a fun time while they’re at it. Savvy accelerators like StartOut have welcomed the Committee with open arms, recognizing their still-growing reach.
Katya Zamolodchikova
QUEEN OF DRAG Katya Zamolodchikova Our hometown queen didn’t snag the crown on the most recent season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race”—but she won over viewers, big time. Her wit, kooky kindness, and bedazzled unitards made her a fan favorite (and earned the “Miss Congeniality” title), and her hilarious YouTube series keeps us entertained from afar while she tours the world.
FABULOUS PHILANTHROPIST Ron Ansin
SOCIAL MEDIA STAR @Simkosays Dapper gay dude Matthew Simko has emerged as a Boston-based men’s style maven, and the Chubstr.com editor is particularly expert at outfitting the kind of bearded, bearish guys who often aren’t reflected in fashion. Besides his Twitter and Instagram accounts, you’ll catch him every other Monday on NBC Springfield’s morning chat show “Mass Appeal.”
This “gay summer camp for adults” might be New England’s best-kept secret. During a weeklong annual retreat in Maine you’ll slumber in lakeside cabins, hike amid towering pines, make friend around the fire—and even get in some barn dances and drag shows while you’re at it. Unplugging and unwinding like a teenager again? Sign. Us. Up.
GREAT GAY OUTDOORS Winter Rendezvous Every year the gay ski week (coming up from January 20-24) dumps a flurry of glitter on the snow-covered mountains of Stowe, Vermont. It’s a great way to hit the slopes with fellow LGBT folks, and the lineup of entertainment—which this year includes headline performer Sandra Bernhard—always brings welcome heat to a chilly winter.
Longtime gay philanthropist Ron Ansin, for whom Fenway Health’s Ansin Building is named, is a beacon of support and civic engagement. He lends the power of his name and network, not to mention monies, to vital organizations like Greater Boston PFLAG and Community Servings. He never seeks the spotlight, but we’ll gladly give him his well-deserved due.
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end ezv ous
Sue O’Connell
Extra! Extra! Read all about it: This year the co-publisher of “Bay Windows” newspaper scored a big new gig as the host of NECN’s “Broadside.” Whether she’s chatting up local politicos or taking on the pop culture news du jour, O’Connell brings a lot of smarts, a little bit of sass, and some much-needed LGBT representation to TV.
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OUT MEDIA PERSONALITY Sue O’Connell Gr ra et
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MUST-VISIT LGBT HISTORIC SITE Beauport Born too soon for “Queer Eye,” Henry Davis Sleeper was the original gay interior designer. At his rambling Gloucester summer home, one of the earliest National Historic Landmarks to directly recognize its LGBT
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connections, guests tour 40 of the estate’s ornate, inspiring and antiquestuffed rooms, each commanding a totally different theme: from English cottage to Chinese trade.
Distinctive Provocative Elegant Each piece of glass is handcrafted in our Sudbury Massachusetts studio. Whether the glass is used as an architectural statement, a beautiful piece of fine art, or a fine furnishing, once Kolman Artisan Glass® is incorporated into the realm of design, the space is transformed into a setting not soon forgotten. Serving the most discerning residential and corporate clients throughout the United States.
Photo: Greg Premru®
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ADVOCACY COMMUNITY EMPLOYEE RESOURCE GROUP Pride
in Our Workplace (PIOW)
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This LGBT networking nonprofit builds personnel power, connecting professionals and employers from industry-leading companies in the greater Boston area. With corporate partners like Fidelity, Bank of America and State Street on its side, PIOW cultivates a “who’s who” network you need to know.
NEW ADVOCACY EFFORT Our Tomorrow
aley a He r u a M
POLITICAL POWER PLAYER Maura Healey From the Revolutionary era to equal marriage, Massachusetts has always made history by looking to the future. With her election, Healey became the first openly gay state attorney in America, marking another huge milestone in on the road to political parity for LGBT people.
52 | BOSTON SPIRIT
Former GLAD director Lee Swislow is at the helm of Our Tomorrow, which unites over 100 nationwide LGBT organizations in a collaborative effort to answer an important question: Now that we have equal marriage, what’s next? It’s a campaign crowd-sourcing the fears, hopes and dreams that could shape the future of a movement.
ESTABLISHED WATCHDOG Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) This year GLAD’s Mary Bonauto, the same attorney to successfully argue Massachusetts’ Goodridge case, stood before the Supreme Court and helped usher equal marriage into being nationwide. GLAD is still taking on first-of-their-kind cases, recently filing a complaint on behalf of a gay man denied insurance because he takes PrEP.
Winter Plunge
BEST UNDER-THE-RADAR FUNDRAISER GLBTQ Domestic Violence Project’s Winter Plunge No tux required for this fundraiser— just a swimsuit and a lot of nerve. Every February dozens of brave souls dive into the freezing water of Boston Harbor to raise money ($17,000 in 2015) that supports a vital community nonprofit, many donning costumes or decked in drag. Polar bears unite.
PRIDE OUTSIDE OF BOSTON Noho Pride When you can’t make it to Boston, the Berkshires are the place to go for Pride. Northampton’s annual event, celebrating its 35th anniversary on May 7, draws about 20,000 people to its parade and live entertainmentfilled festival. And though we love a wild time in the city, fresh air and scenery does a proud body good.
LGBT FAMILY GROUP Greater Boston PFLAG G PFLA
om Bou r
T
The Boston-area chapter of the nationwide organizations continues to flourish under new executive director Tom Bourdon. He’s building a robust network that incorporates wide-ranging intiatives, from inschool education to policy-related advocacy. And he recently brought in campaign manager Kyle Megrath, who previously managed successful equal marriage efforts in Rhode Island, Native, and Indiana.
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TRAVEL EXPERIENCES MVP SPORTS GROUP FLAG Flag Football This 300-player gay flag football league doesn’t just offer a fun, safe place for out athletes of all skill levels. It makes a point to give back to the greater LGBT community, as with its new scholarship program that offers an annual $2500 gift to a graduating Massachusetts high school senior who has worked to make sports more inclusive.
MOST RELAXING RESPITE OutBreath
Eben House
NEW PROVINCETOWN GETAWAY Eben House
PLACE TO PLAY IN OGUNQUIT The Front Porch
First came their Salt House Inn in 2013. Then last year husbands David Bowd and Kevin O’Shea, both wellestablished names in the luxury hotel world, opened Eben House, a boutique B&B inside a 1776 sea captain’s house. It combines quaint charm with cosmopolitan style for the best of both worlds.
There’s something for everyone at this adorable gem in the center of town. The downstairs dining room serves fantastic surf and turf, while the upstairs piano bar and lounge is keeps strong cocktails coming while friendly locals and eager out-of-towners croon show tunes and standards. It’s a guaranteed great time with just a bit of throwback charm.
54 | BOSTON SPIRIT
Sometimes you just need to slow down. This Greater Boston meditation group for LGBT people is the perfect place to learn the value of meditation—or deepen your practice—in a supportive environment. In a frantic fast-paced world, the focus and stillness it cultivates is absolutely invaluable— especially after the hectic holidays.
FLAG Flag Football
“Best Gay ResoRt” GayCities.Com, Planetout, and outtraveler
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“Best summeR vacation destination”
Skoah
SPLURGE-WORTHY SPA Skoah This South End skincare spot, run by husbands Jay Judas and Pete Dziedzic, former chair of MassEquality’s board of directors, is a sleek little spa specializing in facials. Its top tier treatment is the Facialiscious, a 75-minute indulgence that includes soothing hand, foot, and neck massage. Go ahead. You’re worth it.
INCLUSIVE CHURCH Arlington Street Church In May 2004 the first church- and state-sanctioned same-gender wedding in America was held at this Back Bay house of worship, an always welcoming an inclusive oasis for LGBT people who have felt shunned elsewhere. Out reverend Kim K. Crawford Harvie just celebrated her 25th year of service at Arlington, a testament to its history and future. [x]
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iPtown
BUSINESS Feature STORY James Lopata
Open for Inclusive Business Massachusetts is first in the nation again—this time with an LGBT-owned supplier diversity program
Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker announcing LGBT supplier diversity program at the statehouse PHOTO courtesy National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce
Stacy Robison built a health communications company out of the attic of her home in Northampton 6 years ago. Since then, CommunicateHealth has grown to 36 employees, adding 20 employees in the past 2-3 years alone! While most of her staff work in the Western Massachusettsbased headquarters, the majority of CommunicateHealth’s work comes from clients in the Washington, DC area. Robison expresses optimism that more of her business will be generated in the Bay State in the next couple of years. Why? As a majority LGBT-owned business, Robison’s company becomes eligible to be part of a recently launched initiative by the Commonwealth to support diversity and inclusion in business. On November 3, by executive order, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker announced the expansion of the Commonwealth’s supplier diversity goals to include LGBT-owned businesses.
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While initiatives supporting women and minority-owned businesses are common in Massachusetts and elsewhere, no other state has yet included LGBT businesses until now. Chalk up another first for the Bay State. In fact, Robison has a head start on many other LGBT business owners in the Commonwealth, because CommunicateHealth is certified by the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC), which is a prerequisite for being part of the state’s database of eligible businesses. “One of the biggest things is visibility,” Robison said. “As a business owner and entrepreneur you have to be confident. You have to be a risk taker. And those things can be hard when you’re faced with discrimination or just worried about how you’ll be received. For the state to do something like this—really rolling out the welcome mat—is really huge.”
While Massachusetts has an estimated 21,000 LGBT-owned businesses, according to statistics compiled by the NGLCC, very few of them have gone through NGLCC’s certification process. In fact, Jason DeMello, president of the board directors of NGLCC’s local affiliate the Greater Boston Business Council (GBBC), could only think of a couple of GBBC’s 400 active members who have been certified in the past several years. Which begs the question: With so many programs dedicated to supporting women- and minority-owned businesses, why haven’t LGBT-owned companies taken advantage of such a program? Sam McClure, NGLCC Senior Vice President, in a recent phone interview from her office in Washington, DC, said that in places like Massachusetts, where LGBT rights are ubiquitous, LGBTbusiness owners sometimes question the need to be certified because they seek to
compete for business on the merits of their offerings rather than on the basis of who they are. These owners are often unsure how drawing attention to themselves as a LGBT owners can help their businesses. But with one-third of Fortune 500 companies onboard, supporting and recognizing NGLCC’s LGBT-owned business certification initiative, and now, as governmental organizations begin to as well, the opportunities are becoming more apparent. While being identified as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender may not make a difference for the product or service that a business offers, identity does matter to companies that are seeking to enjoy the multiple benefits of working with a broader, more diverse population. Plus certified companies have access to the networking and training resources that NGLCC provides. Robison’s experience with CommunicateHealth is a good example of how this
come on in
OPEN works. When Robison first launched her business, the visibility gained from being certified as a woman-owned business opened many doors. So, she thought, why not also with being certified as LGBT owned? While Robison has seen peer companies who are certified by the NGLCC garner business from the opportunities offered by the Chamber, her greatest benefits over her years of membership,
she said, have been the training provided. As a health policy professional, she said that she lacked some key business skills in the early stages of building her business. NGLCC offered her a myriad of workshops and resources that really got her business off the ground and continue to support her business. She now expects to benefit even more from her NGLCC certification now that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is recognizing it. So how did it happen? How did Massachusetts become the first—again!—this time in business? And how did it happen under a Republican governor? How did the NGLCC convince a GOP administration to be the first in the country to help LGBT citizens expand their business opportunities? It turns out the NGLCC didn’t need to do any persuading. In fact, according to the NGLCC’s McClure, it was Jabes Rojas,
f rom g e t t i n g a ru n n i n g i nj u ry to j ust g e t t i n g ol de r , w e’ re he re w hen you n eed us .
find your strength.
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[AT CENTER] Stacy Robison
of CommunicateHealth
PHOTO courtesy Stacy Robison)
“ As a business owner and entrepreneur you have to be confident. You have to be a risk taker. And those things can be hard when you’re faced with discrimination or just worried about how you’ll be received. ”
Governor’s Office Deputy Chief of Staff for Access & Opportunity at Commonwealth of Massachusetts, who made the first call, phoning McClure at the NGLCC in May of 2015. Baker had campaigned on a platform of diversity, said Rojas, in a phone interview from his office at the Statehouse. So when the topic came up for how to help businesses and opportunity in Massachusetts, everything was on the table. Rojas knew of LGBT supplier diversity initiatives that NGLCC helped set up for the California Public Utilities Commission and for the City of Cleveland. He also knew that many companies either headquartered in or with a large presence in the Commonwealth were already bought into the concept of including LGBT-owned businesses in their supplier diversity programs—citing companies like Fidelity, Harvard Pilgrim, MassMutual, Aetna, and JP Morgan.
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certification for veteran- and disability-owned businesses, as well as expansion of benchmarks for minority- and women-owned businesses. The program expansion has been widely hailed as an important breakthrough. Articles in Fortune, the Boston Globe, the Boston Business Journal, the Advocate, and others have hailed the program expansion as an important breakthrough. Boston Globe columnist Joan Vennochi called it “smart and safe politics.” She noted that “backlash is … developing on the Stacy Robison economic front, with politicians “The private sector is usually better at in states like Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, innovating than the public sector,” said and Louisiana pushing ‘religious freedom’ Rojas. proposals that would allow businesses NGLCC’s McClure said that the process to discriminate against LGBT people. took several meetings, and several months Baker’s executive order sends a counterof planning. “It was done quietly and message of inclusion: that Massachusetts carefully,” she said, “a thoughtful process, is open for business for all.” working through the details.” In fact, Because NGLCC has a proven track the upgraded Massachusetts supplier record of verifying LGBT-owned diversity program includes first-time businesses, the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts has turned to the NGLCC to be its exclusive certification partner in that area. Consequently, NGLCC has witnessed an increase in the amount of LGBT businesses seeking certification. GBBC’s DeMello said that his organization helped start the certification process for five companies just in the first days since the announcement of the executive order. The expectation is that many more businesses will join. Rojas couldn’t say how how many businesses he expects to become part of the database. He explained that usual practice is to see how many companies actually take advantage of the program in the first year or two before posting more specific benchmarks. But if the California Utilities Commission experience is any indication, the numbers could be big. NGLCC saw certifications in California triple after the announcement of the program for the commission in the Golden State. The plans for the Massachusetts rollout, according to Rojas, include partnering with some of the larger corporations in the Bay State, including Fidelity, IBM, and
“ The private sector is usually better at innovating than the public sector. ”
fact, while on the phone interview for this story, DeMello received an email from NGLCC providing approval to move forward on scheduling a site visit for one of the first of the several companies that GBBC helped get into the cerJabes Rojas tification process right after the announcement. The process for other. The Commonwealth will seek to becoming certified can move fairly quickly find out how they have implemented the when a company has its paperwork in supplier diversity certification system in order. And there’s lots of assistance for their businesses and which certified comhelping to expedite the process. panies they have been working with. As for Robison, and her business ComThe GBBC is also playing a major role municateHealth, she’s already ready. And in getting the word out and in actually she hopes others will join her. certifying businesses. “I think it would be great if more busiAccording to DeMello, the GBBC helps ness owners and entrepreneurs take mostly at the front and back ends of the advantage of this,” she said. “There’s a real certification process. At the front end, strength in numbers.” GBBC helps to get companies set up in She expresses optimism too that, not NGLCC’s system properly and on the only will it help businesses grow, but that, road to certification. In the middle of the in turn, it will allow her and others to hire process, NGLCC does all the background more employees. And creating more jobs verification of paper work and claims. in Massachusetts is exactly what Rojas After validation, NGLCC asks the GBBC and the Baker administration are hoping to send a qualified member to a company for. [x] for an on-site visit for final verification. In
Winter/Spring 2016:
Hear new music and all-time classics, see the latest choreography from beloved companies, and don’t miss return engagements and exciting debuts by artists from around the world. There are 30+ performances left in the season: take a look today!
COMING SOON: BalletBoyz January 29-30, CitiShubert Theatre
Kelli O’Hara
Billy Childs
Joshua Bell
Ana Gasteyer
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
celebrityseries.org
CULTURE Music STORY Loren King
“ That was the first song I learned to play on piano, that pattern she does in the middle, and it’s such a beautiful and spiritual performance. ”
The Soundtrack to his Life Billy Childs reimagines Laura Nyro on CD and for Boston concert Grammy winning composer/ jazz pianist Billy Childs was just 11 in 1968 when he first heard Laura Nyro’s music, courtesy of his older sister. “She introduced me to ‘Eli and the Thirteenth Confession’ [and to] Laura Nyro’s first four albums. I listened to them all. But it was ‘Map to the Treasure’ that did it for me,” Childs says. “That was the first song I learned to play on piano, that pattern she does in the middle, and it’s such a beautiful and spiritual performance between [Nyro] and Alice Coltrane [on the album “Christmas and the Beads of Sweat”]. That’s kind of been the soundtrack to my life, that song.” “Map to the Treasure” continues to be a touchstone for Childs, whose acclaimed, Grammy-winning jazz recordings showcase his gifts for
improvisation and lyrical composition. Childs nursed a passion project for many years that in 2015 became the muchheralded release of “Map to the Treasure: Reimagining Laura Nyro,” which brought together some of the music industry’s most gifted performers including Renee Fleming and Yo-Yo Ma, Lisa Fischer (of “20 Feet from Stardom”), Rickie Lee Jones, Dianne Reeves, and Alison Krauss, each bringing new interpretations and new life to some of Nyro’s most complex, haunting songs. Childs, who co-produced and performs on the CD, will bring a live version of “Map to the Treasure” to Sanders Theater in Harvard Square on January 22 at 8 p.m. as part of the Celebrity Series of Boston. He’ll appear with two powerful jazz/pop/soul vocalists: Alicia
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Billy Childs Referring to ‘Map to the Treasure’ on the album “Christmas and the Beads of Sweat”
Olatuja and Becca Stevens, who sings a gorgeous rendition of “The Confession” on “Map to the Treasure.” They’ll be accompanied by Childs on piano, along with a jazz ensemble and a string quartet. Childs is no stranger to Boston, having played many times at Symphony Hall, the Regattabar and Scullers Jazz Club. He says he and the singers will perform each of the 10 songs on “Map to the Treasure” as well as some new material. Nyro, as her legions of fans know, was one of the most original and revered singersongwriters of the late ‘60s and 70s. As a recording artist, she never had a gold album or a hit single, but many of her songs were huge hits for other performers: Barbra Streisand (”Stoney End”), the Fifth Dimension (”Stoned Soul Picnic,” ”Wedding Bell Blues”), Three Dog Night (”Eli’s Comin”’) and and Blood, Sweat & Tears (”And When I Die”).
Nyro was famously reclusive and enigmatic. Upon her death from ovarian cancer in 1997 at age 49, her survivors included her “companion” Maria Desiderio and Nyro’s 18-year-old son Gill Bianchini from an earlier marriage. The staunchly private Nyro wasn’t particularly open about her bisexuality but many, such as late lesbian author Michele Kort who wrote the biography “Soul Picnic: The Music and Passion of Laura Nyro” (2002) believe Nyro’s song “Emmie” is a love song to a woman (“Touch me, oh wake me, Emily/You ornament the Earth for me”) and therefore pop’s first lesbian love song. “Emmie” came from Nyro’s second album for Columbia, 1968’s ‘’Eli and the Thirteenth Confession,” an autobiographical journey that’s considered a pioneering masterwork. “With its abrupt changes of tempo and style and its fiercely emotional singing, the record was unlike anything that had
been heard in pop music, and it laid the groundwork for a female-dominated genre of quirky, reflective songwriting that continues to this day,” Stephen Holden of The New York Times wrote in Nyro’s obituary. For “Map to the Treasure: Reimagining Laura Nyro” Childs chose mostly Nyro’s introspective, contemplative, layered songs. “I’ve been thinking about this project for 12 years; I was surprised no one did it before,” he says. “At first, I thought it would be instrumental but her music is so married to words, they tell a story. So I thought, we’ll use a singer. But that singer would invariably be compared with Laura Nyro. So then I thought, the only way is to match a singer to each song. Laura Nyro can use her singular voice to convey the many moods of her songs but I don’t
Becca Stevens
Alicia Olatuja
think one singer can just jump into her world and inhabit it.” So Childs and co-producer Larry Klein went about finding the right singers for the material. “We thought about who would best serve the song,” says Childs. “‘New York Tendaberry’ struck me as an art song, an aria, so I figured a classical singer with piano and cello. Larry suggested Renee Fleming, and I said, ‘if you can get her.’ She jumped at the chance. I knew Yo-Yo Ma from
working with Chis Botti [who plays on ‘Save the Country’ with Shawn Colvin] so we pooled our resources and got both of them. … Susan Tedeschi has a voice of world-weary experience; there’s a blues tone to her voice that we thought would serve ‘Gibsom Street.’” Childs places Nyro among the great American composers. “I think her importance as an American songwriter is under appreciated,” he says, speculating that more mainstream
appeal eluded her because her “visceral” work is “metaphoric, allegorical and full of symbolism. It’s abstract and layered and hard to get to if you’re not paying attention,” he says. He also points out that Nyro “wasn’t typical of folk singers [from the ‘60s]. She wore long black gowns; she was gothlooking and her music is an amalgam of Broadway, doowop, gospel, Brill building. It’s crafted writing.” That’s why so many singers and songwriters continue to cite Gyro’s influence even as many millenials have no idea who she was. For Childs, Nyro’s eclectic and fearless approach to writing and performing “informs my music now,” he says. “She told me it was OK to take what you need from any genre and make it your own music.” [x]
For tickets and information go to www.celebrityseries.org
A National Historic Landmark... An American Masterpiece
STILL
In 1668, John Turner built a house destined to become one of the most famous structures in America. Join us as we celebrate more than 340 years of American architecture, Salem’s maritime history, and the life and literary legacy of Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of The Scarlet Letter and The House of the Seven Gables.
M KING MEMORIES
Discover the secret staircase. Stroll the three seasons garden. Shop for unique gifts and books.
Explore Salem this winter! Great dining, unique museums, boutique shops, and cozy accommodations. You won’t want to miss: The new Salem Comedy & Spirits Festival in January Salem So Sweet in February Native Fashion Now at the PEM. Just 15 miles north of Boston. 30 minutes on the Commuter Rail.
@DestSalem #SalemMA
Learn more about Salem, Massachusetts at Salem.org
115 Derby Street | Salem, Mass 01970 978-744-0991 | www.7gables.org Audio and written translations of the tour are available in Brazilian Portuguese, Cantonese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin, and Spanish.
JAN|FEB 2016 | 61
CULTURE Stage STORY Loren King The “Fun Home” creative team. Lisa Kron, director Sam Gold, and Jeanine Tesori PHOTO Joan Marcus
‘Violet,’ Then and Now Jeanine Tesori, Tony Award-winner for ‘Fun Home,’ revisits her first musical Tony award-winning composer Jeanine Tesori knows about tenacity. She worked for years with playwright Lisa Kron to adapt Alison Bechdel’s graphic memoir “Fun Home,” centered on a butch lesbian coming to terms with the life and death of her closeted father, into a musical. Against all Broadway obstacles and odds, “Fun Home” swept the 2015 Tonys. Kron and Tesori made history as the first female
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composer and lyricist to win the award for best musical score. “I never thought that ‘Fun Home’ would not only not run, but win awards. That was just out of the question for me. I’m still absolutely shocked. There are days when I ask, ‘did that really happen?’” says Tesori over the phone from New York City. “You have got to work and work and work; it’s
the staying with it when you’re not being rewarded for it that people fall off.” But persevering on a passion project is in Tesori’s theater DNA. Her first musical, “Violet,” about a young woman’s journey by bus through the segregated American south in 1964 to visit a faith healer that she thinks can transform her life, opened off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons in 1997. After an acclaimed concert presentation with Sutton Foster at Encores! Off-Center at New York City Center (Tesori is the founding artistic director), a restructured “Violet” finally debuted on Broadway in 2014 starring Foster and was nominated for a Tony as best musical revival. The 17- year gap allowed Tesori and book writer Brian Crawley to rework and improve on the material, she says. “I always wanted to revisit it because it was my first real show and I just didn’t have as much technique under my belt,” Tesori says. “It’s so gratifying to see that show really work after we were able to examine it with clear-sightedness. So it’s a joyride for me that we were able to get that opportunity.” Speakeasy Stage Company will present the new version of “Violet,” running Jan. 9-Feb. 6, as part of its 25th anniversary season. Producing artistic director Paul Daigneault, who directed “Violet” in a popular SpeakEasy production back in 2000, again takes the helm. “We will be working with a number of local gospel choirs who perform as part of the show. I guarantee you that the sound created by the voices in this show will be unforgettable,” notes Daigneault in a release. Tesori says she “can’t wait” to see “Violet” in Boston where her itinerary includes teaching a master class at Harvard. Her relationship with Speakeasy dates not just to the 2000 staging of “Violet” but also the company’s much-acclaimed 2006 production of ‘’Caroline, or Change,” the musical (called “a masterpiece” by the Boston Globe) that Tesori scored with a book by playwright Tony Kushner. Tesori’s prolific career includes “Thoroughly Modern Millie” (2000) and “Shrek
the Musical” (2008). She’s also composed music for several plays including “Twelfth Night” at Lincoln Center which also earned Tesori one of many Tony nods; John Guare’s “A Free Man of Color”; and Bertolt Brecht’s “Mother Courage and her Children” starring Meryl Streep in a 2006 Shakespeare in the Park production. Tesori was working as an arranger and conductor when the spark of inspiration for “Violet” hit. She saw a short film on Showtime based on the story “The Ugliest Pilgrim” by Doris Betts (the film, directed by Shelley Levinson, won the Oscar for Best Live Action Short in 1982.) “I remember thinking about that character; [it was] a female character I had not seen before. There are projects that haunt you, and that was one of them,” Tesori says. She traveled to North Carolina to meet with Betts and obtain the rights. “She wasn’t keen on it being a musical. We made promises to make it really low risk for her. And then I left [New York] for a year and just started writing.” She composed a country/folk/bluegrass/ gospel musical score faithful to Violet’s language and rural roots.
“I really wanted to test how far we could push these folk songs/gospel songs. I worked with so many Southern musicians and I really wanted to get that right,” says Tesori. “At the time of ‘Violet’ I was working in Nashville one or two months out of the year—I almost moved there at one point—and I wanted them to be proud of the score. I played it with them in sessions, we sat around and talked about the orchestrations. That was important to me, being from the North.” Besides the authenticity of the score, “Violet” is rich with some of the same themes that Tesori would later revisit in “Fun Home”—a young woman’s coming of age, the personal journey of an outsider, and a complex father/daughter dynamic. “I think it’s a sign of youth—in the best way—that I didn’t know what I was choosing and why I was choosing it. Now, seeing ‘Fun Home’ back-to-back with ‘Violet,’ clearly there’s a [link with] a father/daughter theme. Any daughter is interesting to me, but the father/daughter relationship has been under-explored in musical theatre,” she says. “I had a very complicated relationship with my father
and clearly it allowed me to grapple with a woman of agency. …. I was close to the age that ‘Violet’ was when I was writing that, and I was close in age to Alison when I was writing ‘Fun Home’ so it travelled with me. I’m not sure there’s anything left for me to do at this point on that story, but it’s one that, I think, made me a storyteller.” A longtime advocate for women in the arts—Tesori is the creative director and co-founder (with Idina Menzel) of A Broader Way Foundation, an arts education program for girls from underserved communities of New York City—she laments the “missed opportunity” for global audiences when she and Kron celebrated their historic Tony win. It took place prior to the main telecast and was aired just briefly in a clip during the show. They had an opportunity to do something that said, ‘we see this change; we value it and we’re going to air it.’ It’s not for ego; it’s for the cultural shift,” Tesori says. “But I can’t get caught up in that because I’ll just eat Butterfingers and stare at the walls. You move on. You do more work.” [x]
For tickets and more information go to www.speakeasystage.com
MOZART & STRAVINSKY FRI, JAN 15, 8PM
ELIZABETH ROWE
#BSOStravinsky
François-Xavier Roth, conductor Elizabeth Rowe, flute Jessica Zhou, harp MOZART Double Concerto for Flute and Harp STRAVINSKY Petrushka (1911 version)
TICKETS: $20–$145
JESSICA ZHOU
DON’T MISS THE LAUNCH OF OUR NEW “CASUAL FRIDAYS” PROGRAM! Three Friday-evenings: January 15, February 12, March 18 Wear your casual attire and arrive early to enjoy a free, pre-concert reception at 7pm. Tablets will be provided before and during the show for those who sit in the designated area in the rear of the orchestra floor. View customized content designed to enhance the concert experience, including an in-depth look at the conductors and soloists, and informative audio notes on the program. Then, immediately after the performance, enjoy a reception in Symphony Hall with live music, snacks, and a cash bar. $45 for tablet designated seating
617-266-1200 • BSO.ORG #BSO1516 seiji ozawa music director laureate bernard haitink conductor emeritus
JAN|FEB 2016 | 63
CULTURE Cinema STORY Loren King
Putting It Together The Lyric Stage Co. showcases Stephen Sondheim past, present and future Lyric Stage Company art direction by Spiro Veloudos “Into the Woods” It’s pretty common for Spiro Veloudos, producing artistic director of Boston’s Lyric Stage Company, to receive compliments on a production. The Lyric, after all, for nearly 20 years has been one of Boston’s most revered small theaters, known especially for its stellar productions of Stephen Sondheim’s musicals. What is remarkable is that compliment came from Sondheim himself. As Veloudos remembers it—and he’s the first to tell you that he’ll never forget it—he’d just seen a celebration of Sondheim’s work as part of the Kennedy Center honors in Washington, D.C. and was standing with a friend in front of the Watergate Hotel. Sondheim walked past with Mia Farrow, and Veloudos’s friend, who was acquainted with the legendary composer, introduced them. Sondheim told Veloudos, ‘Oh, you’re the director of that wonderful production of ‘Assassins’ that I’ve heard so much about in Boston,’ Veloudos recalls.
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High praise, indeed. But it’s praise Veloudos has earned. He directed “Assassins,” one of Sondheim’s less-frequentlystaged shows, during his first season as artistic director at the Lyric in 1998-99. Since then, the Lyric has staged five more Sondheim musicals (“Follies,” “A Little Night Music,” “Sunday in the Park with George,” “Sweeney Todd” and “Into the Woods”) establishing the theater as one of the area’s premiere stages for Sondheim shows and Veloudos as a resident expert on the composer’s work. Now the Lyric is set to showcase “Sondheim on Sondheim,” an intimate portrait of the famed songwriter in his own words and music, as the fourth show of its current season. “Sondheim by Sondheim” features songs from 19 Sondheim musicals produced over a 62-year period, including well-known, rarely-heard, and cut material along with video commentary from Sondheim as he speaks to the audience via interviews through the years. It will run Jan. 15 through Feb. 21.
“I’d been reticent to do Sondheim revues but the difference with this one is that it’s Sondheim offering his insights into his own work. It’s a celebration of him,” Veloudos says. The 2010 Broadway production of “Sondheim by Sondheim” presented high-calibre performers including Barbara Cook, Norm Lewis and Vanessa Williams but without the composer’s commentary. The Lyric’s production will be bolstered by Sondheim’s own reflections that will give context to the songs that will be performed by some of Boston’s best musical-theatre performers, many of them veterans of Sondheim shows including Leigh Barrett, featured in the Lyric’s 2008 production of “Follies”; Christopher Chew, who earned acclaim for his leading roles in “Sweeney Todd,” “A Little Night Music” and “Sunday in the Park with George”; and Aimee Doherty, last year’s Elliot Norton Award winner for Outstanding Musical Performance by an Actress for “Into the Woods.”
“Sondheim by Sondheim” is a fitting choice this season as Veloudos heads toward his 20th year with the Lyric in 2017-18. The Lyric has already announced that it will open the 2016-17 season with “Company,” Sondheim’s groundbreaking 1970 show. “We’ll look at ‘Company’ through the lens of 2016 not the 1970s. Having lived through both, I’m qualified to do that,” says Veloudos. It’s part of a commitment to Sondheim that the Lyric undertakes over next five seasons. The Lyric will celebrate VelouChristopher Chew and Amelia Broome dos’s 20th anniversary with the company in the 2017-18 season with a new production of “Sunday in the The Lyric Stage will also sponsor a New Park With George” as well as his first stag- England College Sondheim Competition ing of “Merrily We Roll Along.” Veloudos and an annual Boston Stephen Sondheim hopes to present“Passion” and “Pacific Award for a figure “who has made signifiOvertures” for first time at the Lyric over cant contributions locally or nationally to the the next few seasons. furthering the art of musical theater.” As part of the Stephen Sondheim InitiaVeloudos’s interest in Sondheim began tive, Veloudos is also planning an annual while he was in college when he first summer workshop for teens and master started to “hear about this man who was classes for professionals starting in 2016. changing musical theater.” Sure, he knew
that Sondheim was the lyricist for “West Side Story” and “Gypsy” and he’d listened to the cast recording for “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” because he was a fan of actor Zero Mostel. But it wasn’t until he saw the acclaimed Broadway production of “Sweeney Todd” with Angela Lansbury that he became a full-fledged devotee. It was the first show he directed for the Publick Theater and for which he won his first Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Direction. Veloudos’s zeal for Sondheim’s work continued as Sondheim broke all kinds of barriers on Broadway. “When I saw ‘Sunday in the Park with George,’ I thought it was brilliant and I thought about who I would liken to Sondheim. I came up with Shakespeare. We continue to present his works as a playwright. Sondheim’s body of work is nowhere near as extensive but like Shakespeare it needs to be experienced and must never be forgotten.” [x]
For tickets and information go to www.lyricstage.com
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CULTURE Cinema STORY Loren King
A scene from “Women He’s Undressed “
Clothes and Closets Orry-Kelly’s memoir and Gillian Armstrong’s film open the door on old Hollywood The words “gowns by Orry-Kelly” may be familiar to fans of classic Hollywood movies, but it’s not likely that even we know much about the man with the odd hyphenated name. Australian-born Orry-Kelly’s stylish, sophisticated clothes grace some 285 movies spanning the 60s to the 60s, among them: Casablanca, Irma la Douce, Gypsy and Some Like It Hot. While head of the Warner Bros. costume department, he designed Bette Davis’s outfits in her best films including Jezebel, Dark Victory and Now, Voyager. He won the Oscar for best costumes three times (for An American in Paris, Les Girls and Some Like It Hot) which made him Australia’s most prolific Oscar winner until Catherine Martin, Baz Luhrmann’s production/ costume designer (and wife), overtook his record in 2014. But that doesn’t even scratch the surface of one of the most interesting characters ever to work in Hollywood. Perhaps Kelly will become better known to his admirers and find new audiences now that his long-thought-to-be-lost memoir Women I’ve Undressed has been published by Random House Australia
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(it’s available for purchase online). Concurrently is the new documentary about Kelly, “Women He’s Undressed,” directed by fellow Aussie Gillian Armstrong (My Brilliant Career, Little Women). Already a hit in Australia, the film was just released on DVD/digital by Rialto Distribution. Orry George Kelly (he later dropped the George and added the hyphen) left the New South Wales coastal town of Kiama for Sydney and then for New York City in the 1920s. A decade later, he was head costume designer for Warner Bros. studios. An accomplished painter, an alcoholic and, judging by his memoir, a saucy storyteller, Kelly, who died in Los Angeles from liver cancer in 1964, was pretty open about being gay at a time when very few in Hollywood were. Early in his career, he lived in New York with an up-and-coming British performer named Archie Leach, who dropped Kelly like the proverbial hot potato when Leach arrived in Tinseltown and became Cary Grant. “That was another thing Archie and I never agreed upon. I’d never run from anything or anyone, certainly not from my friends,” writes Kelly.
The 425-page book is filled with vintage photos, Kelly’s costume sketches and paintings, and his wry, witty recollections of his life from his boyhood to his arrival in Sydney and then New York in the 1920s where he designed sets and costumes for vaudeville and Broadway. He and Archie had a tie-making business for awhile (Kelly designed them; Archie sold them). Kelly also ran a speakeasy during prohibition and was pursued by mobsters, fleeing first to Reno, then to Hollywood which at the time was a magnet for everyone trying to reinvent themselves and make a buck in the booming motion picture industry. Armstrong didn’t know much about her fellow countryman until she began her extensive research along with writer Katherine Thomson. “I knew it was a great story but wasn’t sure just how rich it was. Then we began researching and found people who knew [Kelly] and found out how bad the drinking became, how everyone walked away from him, and then [we] found out about Cary. It’s a story of friendship and loyalty and that became the heart of it: how fame affects different people and the pressure Cary was under in a homophobic Hollywood. He wasn’t going to stand with a costume designer even though they were close friends and that’s what was heartbreaking for Orry …. It hasn’t changed all that much. A lot of actors still feel the need for a secret life because they live out our
fantasies on the screen. They feel they can’t live an authentic life,” she says. It was Thompson who unearthed the memoir after more than a year of searching and following various leads and rumors. A friend of Kelly’s grand-niece contacted Armstrong after hearing her in a radio interview. Kelly’s niece had been keeping his manuscript in a pillowcase for for more than 30 years. The film alleges it was Grant who had tried to block publication of Kelly’s memoir decades ago. But he need not have worried. The book doesn’t reveal sexual peccadillos; but it does portray Grant as callow and cheap, and more concerned with his image than his friendships. Over many years of research for the documentary, Armstrong and Thomson found “not a lot of footage or photos” of Kelly. “We kept hearing, ‘he has a great wit’ and we thought, ‘do I use his voice?’ You have to hear what he said.” So Armstrong and Thomson filled in the gaps by casting Australian actor Darren Gilshenan as Kelly who provides lively reenactments and commentary as the film traces his rise and fall, and rise again.
Aussie Gillian Armstrong , director, “Women He’s Undressed” Armstrong has an art background herself so she understands the importance of costume design to the overall vision of a film. “I’ve got a huge appreciation of the clothes he designed. I’ve worked with the best and I know what they bring and I know what can go wrong. [The film] is an appreciation of the art and magic and cleverness of costume. Like music and editing, it shouldn’t even be noticed but costumes say so much about character, also [the use of ] colors and fabric and the
whole subliminal effect is as important as the work of the DP,” she says. Women He’s Undressed presents a who’s who of Hollywood players, past and present, who offer anecdotes and insights. They include costumer designers Ann Roth, Colleen Atwood, Catherine Martin, Kym Barrett, and Michael Wilkinson; UCLA professor (and wife of John Landis) Deborah Nadoolman Landis, one of the world’s foremost experts on film costume; and gay film historian William Mann, author of Behind the Screen: How Gays and Lesbians Shaped Hollywood. One of the most entertaining interviewees is Jane Fonda, who worked with Kelly very early in her career. She offers a delightfully comic assessment of the eroticism of Kelly’s outfits for Marilyn Monroe in Some Like It Hot. “Jane was an absolute professional. I brought a crew, she sat down, and said, ‘I thought of what I want to say’ and she was still there an hour later telling funny stories so we were absolutely thrilled,” says Armstrong. “She started talking about Some Like It Hot and it was the best of anyone.” [x]
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hr.harvard.edu/jobs JAN|FEB 2016 | 67
CULTURE Cuisine STORY Scott Kearnan
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Karen Akunowicz Loves Food! The executive chef of Myers + Chang has a lot of things cooking Akunowicz, executive chef at the South End’s pan-Asian restaurant Myers + Chang, was a 2015 finalist for the James Beard Foundation’s “Best Chef: Northeast” award. (That’s the culinary equivalent of an Oscar nom.) Then the queer femme scored a spot on the current season of “Top Chef,” competing to be the top toque on Bravo’s mammoth reality hit. But things are just heating up for Akunowicz, a New Jersey native who earned a degree in social work before swapping career paths and eventually graduating from the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts. Myers + Chang’s eponymous restaurateurs, Joanne Chang and Christopher Myers, have a new Cambridge restaurant coming together, and Akunowicz is involved. She’s also co-authoring a cookbook with Chang, due out December 2017, and it’s bound to be both a professional and personal highlight. “My mom is a librarian, I grew up around book and this is such a dream,” says the chef, who now lives with her spouse LJ in Jamaica Plain. “My parents worked so hard to give me and my sister what we have. When my mother goes to a Barnes & Noble and pulls out a book with my name on it—that will be one of the proudest moments of my life.” [SPIRIT] When did you realize being a chef would be your career? [AKUNOWITZ] I supported myself all through college working in restaurants. After I graduated, I was waiting tables and bartending four nights a week. Then when I was 24 and applying to graduate school at Simmons, my girlfriend at the time was like, “You never talk about what you’re going to do when you’re a therapist or have your own practice, but you always talk about what you’re going to
“ I never came out to my parents or family, I think they just knew. I never did the whole dramatic thing at the dinner table. ” do when you own your own restaurants.” That was my turning point. I love food. I love community. In my family, as with many, sitting around the dinner table is some of the most valuable time we have together. That was my moment. [SPIRIT] So you owe your cooking career to a girlfriend! [AKUNOWITZ] That same person, when we met, I was trying to get her to go out with me. And I finally just said, “You should come to my house and I’ll cook dinner for you.” Until this point I never cooked! My mom said I couldn’t even boil water. [Laughs] So I went to Brookline Booksmith and bought a cookbook, went home and made puttanesca. It was probably very bad. But at the time I thought it was this amazing, magical moment. After all, it worked! We were together for four years, with cats and a joint bank account. [SPIRIT] What was your comingout experience like? [AKUNOWITZ] I always say I’ve been gay since I was born. … I never came out to my parents or family, I think they just
knew. I never did the whole dramatic thing at the dinner table, “I’m gay. Oh god, this is so horrible!” It’s just, at one point in college you bring your girlfriend home and say, “This is so-and-so.” I never felt there was anything to come out about. I always felt like it wasn’t a big deal, and that it was as normal and right and true as everything else. And if I ever chose to say, “This is something we need to have a discussion about,” then I was treating it like—well, something we needed to have a discussion about. [SPIRIT] What was the hardest part of doing “Top Chef”? [AKUNOWITZ] It tested me in ways that I never would have expected. Not just in terms of the time constraints of challenges, but in terms of being outside your comfort zone. … I don’t know if anything other than this show could have made me realize how much I really lean on my support system: my spouse, my mother, my sister, my family, my community. I missed my community in Boston a great deal. It’s probably bad, but I live in this bubble. I mean, I work in the South End, I live in JP—my life is all-gay all of the time. I assume everyone is queer until proven otherwise! [Laughs] I like to think I’ve been a grateful person, but this really made me appreciate the people who have held me up and helped me get to where I am today. [SPIRIT] Speaking of support systems, how goes married life? [AKUNOWITZ] Meeting my spouse has really allowed me to open up as a person. We got married a couple years ago. We’re closing on our first home this week, a great place we’re buying in Roslindale. I’m the luckiest femme you’ll ever meet. I could never have imagined that this would be my life. [x]
JAN|FEB 2016 | 69
CULTURE Theater STORY Loren King
By Design With ‘Rent,’ Fiddlehead Theater Company’s Stacey Stephens merges past and present For Stacey Stephens, associate producing artistic director at Fiddlehead Theater Company, Jonathan Larson’s “Rent” is more than an iconic musical. It’s a part of his life. A native of a small Wisconsin town, Stephens moved to New York 20 years ago to follow his dream of working in professional theater. It was the mid-1990s—the era of ACT-UP and AIDS activism. “It was a scary time,” says Stephens, an acclaimed costume designer and director. “I was just coming out, but I was afraid to go out. AIDS had taken its toll on the generation just above me. Today’s younger generation doesn’t know the horror of that. We can’t forget.” Remembering is one of the reasons Stephens and Fiddlehead are staging Larson’s Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning musical about the lives and loves of artists in New York’s East Village in the age of AIDS. Based on Puccini’s opera “La Boheme,” “Rent” opened on Broadway in
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1996 and ran for 12 years. Stephens will direct and design the costumes for “Rent— 20th Anniversary Celebration” running Feb. 5-21 at the Back Bay Events Center, John Hancock Hall (180 Berkeley Street, Boston). Fiddlehead president and artistic director Meg Fofonoff who founded the company in 1993 tapped Stephens as Fiddlehead’s associate producing artistic director last year. He’d collaborated in various roles for the company over many years when it was still based in Norwood, including directing and creating costumes for “Crazy for You” in 2008 and “Funny Girl” in 2009, both of which earned Stephens IRNE awards for his costume design. He designed and directed “Aida” and “The Wiz” for Fiddlehead in 2014 at the Strand Theater. Stephens honed his costuming skills on Broadway, working on the original productions of “Les Miserables,” “Miss Saigon” and “Five Guys Named Moe,” and with national touring
companies of “The Lion King,” “Wicked,” “Les Miserables” and, most recently, “Memphis.” “I’m so particular about clothing that even I wouldn’t want to work for me,” he says. His five years on the road with “Les Miz” taught him much about the business and allowed him to see the country but it took its toll. “If I had to fit another Cosette, I’d pull my hair out,” he says. So Boston provided a needed respite from the rigors of Broadway. Once settled in Boston, the first thing he did was join the Boston Gay Men’s Chorus. “I was a wreck at the audition. I had not been singing for years,” he says. But he did end up performing with BGMC—as well as designing costumes for its spring concerts including “Ain’t Misbehavin’” with Nell Carter and several Pride concerts. Besides his work with Fiddlehead, Stephens also found time to design costumes for several productions at Speakeasy Stage Company including “The Wild
[BARRET FROM 41]
[ABOVE] A scene from the Fiddlehead production of “West Side Story,” which Stacey directed and costume designed. Credit is the same as above PHOTO Matt McKee Photography [OPPOSITE] Stacey Stephens, associate producing artistic director and Meg Fofonoff, founding artistic producing director, Fiddlehead Theatre Company PHOTO Matt McKee Photography
Party” and “Parade,” which netted him another IRNE Award in 2007, as well regional companies such as Wheelock Family Theatre, Stoneham Theatre, the Boston Conservatory and Reagle Music Theatre. Stephens, 48, makes his home in the Jones Hill area of Dorchester which, he says, provides him with a solid a gay community and the ease of walking to work when Fiddlehead staged its shows at Dorchester’s Strand Theater for the last three years. But Fiddlehead’s production of “Disney’s The Little Mermaid” in November was its final production at the Strand. After “Rent’s” stint in the Back Bay, Fiddlehead will move to the the Citi Performing Arts Center Shubert Theatre for its final production of 21st season— “Show Boat” which runs June 23-July 2. “Show boat” with a cast of 40 will summon all of Stephens’s wardrobe experience and skill. “What I like to do as a designer is period. People think
contemporary is ‘easier’ but it isn’t; it tends to be harder,” he says, citing the urban wear he designed for Fiddlehead’s modern-day version of “Jesus Christ Superstar” last year. “Street clothes are not enough; they need to heightened without being false. A costume must reveal character,” he says. “When it’s done right, it’s so subtle. I enjoy everything from the research to the building of the costumes.” “Show Boat” will close out the 201516 Fiddlehead season in which all its shows—starting with “Jesus Christ Superstar,” “West Side Story” and “The Little Mermaid” up to “Rent” and “Show Boat”—were linked by themes about “the damage done by prejudice and the search for a place of acceptance, a place to belong,” Stephens says. “That’s why these shows were chosen: they are so valid today. It’s amazing how timeless these stories are.” [x]
For tickets and more information go to www.fiddleheadtheater.com
you’ll lose your job, Ward said. “That’s what this case is about.” For Barrett and Suplee, it’s been a long journey and it isn’t quite over yet. Superior Court decisions can take up to three months, Klein says. However Judge Wilkins surprised Klein, taking less than two weeks to decide in favor of Barrett—and rejecting all three of Fontbonne’s defenses: that the school did not discriminate based on Barrett’s gender and sexual orientation, and that the case against it would infringe on the academy’s Constitutional rights beause its views of marriage are incompatible with its mission (if indeed they were, considering the indecisive behavior of its leadership when they fired Barrett). Still, Fontbonne may appeal, in which case, the Supreme Judicial Court would take up the case very quickly, he adds. There will also be a hearing to determine lost wages and other damages that Barrett is entitled to. Most of all, Klein says, “it was heartening that we were finally able to stand up in court and make the arguments that we believe it’s right and correct that religious entities don’t have an unqualified right just to fire any employee. Even Boston’s Archbishop Cardinal Seán Patrick O’Malley weighed in on the issue, although not directly in response to Barrett’s case since its final outcome is still pending if Fontbonne appeals. At the launch event for the Boston Globe’s cruxnow.com, O’Malley told a Globe reporter that the trend of firing LGBT church workers “needs to be rectified.” At the same public forum O’Malley said “I think the Holy Father’s notion of mercy and inclusion is going to make a big difference in the way that the church responds to and ministers to people of homosexual orientation.” As for Barrett, he’s working full-time now as head cook at the Collicot and Cunningham elementary schools. “I love my job,” he says. He’s also teaching a cooking class there for grades K–5. “Last year the teacher retired, I saw the posting, and I was like, wow, that’s the job I wanted,” Barrett says. “And sure enough, at the end of August, they replied and said you’ve got the job. You’re the perfect candidate.” [x]
JAN|FEB 2016 | 71
º
CALENDAR DJ Jim Clerkin
Winter Weekend: Sugarloaf Gay skiers are all over the slopes this winter. If you’ve been reading Boston Spirit you’ve already seen our recent coverage of mountain-hopping group OutRyders (their 2016 season is underway) and Winter Rendezvous, an annual gay ski week that’ll Michael Flowers PHOTO Sean M. Johnson sweep into Stowe, Vermont from January 20-24. Now here’s another snowy outing: The Welcoming Committee, a Boston-based LGBT events crew that attracts a largely twenty- and thirty-something crowd will hit the trails (and hot tubs) at Sugarloaf Actor and artist Michael Flowers and DJ Colby Drasher are doubling down on “Fascination,” their new nightlife series for kinky kids. The leather and uniform- Mountain Resort for a gay old time. Grab your poles and chill out with them. friendly party has proven so popular that its founders are adding a second installment: already held on the second Monday of each month, Fascination WHEN will now also be held on the fourth Friday of each month. That’s all the better February 19-21 to get your fix of dark electronic music, wild vintage video projections, and WHERE men in gear and jocks. (Though there’s no dress code, and creative dress is encouraged.) Sugarloaf Mountain Resort, Carrabassett Valley, Maine
Fascination Fridays
WHEN
WHERE
HOW
January 22, February 26, and every fourth Friday (9 PM to midnight)
Jacques Underground at Jacques Cabaret (79 Broadway, Boston)
$10 cover at the door
HOW
Weekend packages start at $319; visit thewelcomingcommittee.com
Backstage Thursdays When Downtown nightclub The Estate closed last year to make room for Emerson College dorms, crowds mourned the death of its Thursday gay night, Glamlife. Well, buck up—because Stage Nightclub, a swanky new Vegas-meets-Vaudeville venue right next door is picking up the slack. “Backstage Thursdays” launched as a monthly series at the end of 2015, but in January the gay club night makes its move to a weekly experience hosted by Boston drag star Mizery and featuring the beats of DJ Jim Clerkin. Plus you’ll probably find some of Stage’s regular performers, including aerialists and burlesque dancers, making the rounds. WHEN
WHERE
HOW
Thursdays
Stage Nightclub (19 Boylston Place, Boston)
Doors at 9:30 PM; no cover before 10:30 PM.
Paula Poundstone The self-avowed asexual has long been popular in gay comedy clubs: maybe for her conservative-spearing standup, maybe for an assortment of pantsuits that is second only to Ellen’s. Poundstone grew up in Sudbury, Massachusetts and cut her teeth at Boston comedy clubs. Now a regular voice on NPR’s “Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me,” she returns to her native New England to bring glib observations about her politics and personal life with a quartet of shows. WHEN
WHERE
HOW
February 6, February 19, March 3
VT and MA
paulapoundstone.com
Wanda Sykes Sykes has never been shy about speaking her mind: something that we found especially true in 2008, when she came out at an equal marriage rally in Las Vegas. Since then the GLAAD award winner has become one of the gay community’s most prominent comedians and actors. And if you’re feeling lucky— or just in need of a few hearty belly laughs—head to the casino for her latest local stand-up appearance. With Wanda, there’s no gamble involved: you’ll love every minute.
WHEN
Friday, January 22 WHERE
Foxwoods Casino in Mashantucket, CT HOW
ticketmaster.com
Melissa Etheridge Trailblazing out artist Melissa Etheridge has been rocking your socks and pulling your heartstrings for nearly 30 years now. She’s not slowing down. Etheridge hits New England to promote her latest album, “This is M.E.,” which features new songs like “Take My Number” and “Monster.” But we’d wager that the gutsy singer-songwriter will also deliver some of the iconic tunes that first catapulted her to fame, including “I Want to Come Over,” “Come to My Window,” “I’m the Only One.” WHEN
WHERE
HOW
January 14, 15
The Music Hall in Portsmouth, NH and Lynn Auditorium in Lynn, MA
melissaetheridge.com
Drag Misérables Victor Hugo never saw this coming. Heart & Dagger Productions revisits the famous musical with a slightly different, gender-bending perspective that features drag kings and drag queens inhabiting the roles of Jean Valjean, Éponine and others. It gets better: The show is arranged as a singalong, so closet theater geeks will be able to bust out with some timeless show tunes—and in fact, one lucky audience member per night will be drafted to strut his or her stuff as Cosette. “Do You Hear the People Sing?” You will, soon enough. WHEN
February 8-10
WHERE
Napoleon Room at Club Café, Boston
HOW
clubcafe.com
Rent
Heart & Dagger Productions artistic director Joey Pelletier
A lot has changed since this pioneering LGBT-inclusive rock opera premiered back in the ‘90s: we now have equal marriage, life-saving treatments for HIV, and a much greater, if still-growing, mainstream understanding of trans identity. (Whether a Clinton will soon be back in office remains to be seen.) But in February we’ll rewind with Fiddlehead Theatre Company to the days when this show changed the face of musical theater through its story of NYC bohemians struggling to find art, beauty, and love in a sea of poverty, cynicism, and disease. WHEN
WHERE
HOW
February 5-21
Back Bay Events Center, John Hancock Hall, Boston
fiddleheadtheatre.com
Sex Tips for Straight Women from a Gay Man Well, it’s about time that someone made a play about this. Gentlemen, you know you’ve been tapped for advice from your hetero gal pals more than once or twice— and that’s the premise of this interactive off-Broadway comedy featuring just three characters but a whole lot of tawdry talk. Yes, those in their seats may be tapped to take part in some of the sex tip-sharing and coitus-related conversations. And even if the show tends to be a bachelorette party draw (how unsurprising), the promise of Stefan, a hunky shirtless stagehand who is among the trio of cast members, is enough to tempt the (gay) boys too. WHEN
WHERE
HOW
Thursday, February 18
CityStage in Springfield, MA
Tickets at ticketmaster.com
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SCENE Benefit PHOTOS courtesy of The Lennox Hotel
Dogs for a Cause Lenox Hotel | Boston | October 30, 2015
Over 75 people stopped by for delicous hot dogs at The Lenox Hotel’s Dogs for a Cause Hot Dog Cart. All donations from weiner sales benefit Great Boston’s PFLAG (Partents, Families and Friends of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer people.
[ABOVE] Tom Bourdon, president of Greater Boston PFLAG; Lewis Ware, The Lenox Hotel’s director of housekeeping; Melissa Villabos, executive assistant to the Lenox Hotel’s vice president and managing director; Rodney Lavoie Jr. from Season 30, “Survivor: World’s Apart”; and Franc Castro of Greater Boston PFLAG. [LEFT] Greater Boston PFLAG President Tom Bourdon and Daniel Donahue,
The Lenox Hotel’s vice president and managing director
SCENE Culinary Benefit PHOTOS Courtesy of Community Services
Community Serving’s Pie in the Sky 76 | BOSTON SPIRIT
Royal Sonesta Hotel | Cambridge | November 25, 2015
The 23rd Annual Pie in the Sky saw its most successful culinary fundraiser ever this year, with pie bakers, pie sellers, pie buyers, and other volunteers rolling up their sleeves to raise more than $748,000. Pie in the Sky helps ensure that our homebound neighbors and those living with a critical or chronic illness are not hungry and alone. The generosity of Community Servings and its donors help provide nutritious meals to all in our community in need.
SCENE Category PHOTOS Piper Jo Nevins Photography
Human Rights Campaign Fund Dinner Westin Copley | Boston | November 7, 2015
Stronger Together was the theme at the largest LBGT fundraising event in New England. The 34th Annual Human Rights Campaign Fund New England Gala Dinner + Auction brought together over 750 LGBT people and their allies showing support for HRC. [x]
JAN|FEB 2016 | 77
SCENE Holiday Benefit PHOTOS Piper Jo Nevins Photography
Seventh Annual Toys for Joys Gift Gala Space 57 at The Revere Hotel | Boston | Deceomber 11, 2015
Revelers at the Seventh Annual Toys for Joys Gift Gala piled thousands of presents for children in need under a giant Christmas tree while enjoying passed hors d’oeuvres, signature seasonal spirits and dancing to DJ Steve Marsden under a state of the art light show at The Revere Hotel’s Space 57 in Boston. Each guest contributed at least three gifts. Talk about the spirit of the season! Toys for Joys, Inc. is a nonprofit, 100-percent volunteer, charitable organization that raises funds from individuals and corporate sponsors to collect and distribute new toys and gifts for underprivileged children and teens. The group partners with local charities like the Teddy Bear Foundation and Boston Housing Authority to get the gifts to the kids.
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JAN|FEB 2016 | 79
SCENE Fundraiser PHOTOS Courtesy Victory Programs
Celebration of Life Thanksgiving Dinner Hynes Convention Center | Boston | November 10
A traditionally early holiday event kindled spirits when Victory Programs served more than 600 Thanksgiving meals to members of our community living with HIV/AIDS and to their loved ones. More than 200 volunteers made the annual free community event possible. The 2015 Celebration of Life dinner featured live entertainment from Duo Michael O’Conner and Woza Moya and from the Boston Gay Men’s Chorus. This year the event raised more than $110,000 for the Victory Programs’ Boston Living Center, and former Boston Living Center Director and legendary HIV/ AIDS Activist Larry Kessler was honored with the Peter Daniel Clark Award at the event.
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SCENE Culture PHOTOS Lillian I, courtesy of Boston Ballet
The Welcoming Committee at Boston Ballet Opera House | Boston | December 9, 2015
More than 200 LGBT 30-somethings and their friends atttended a performance of the Boston Ballet’s “The Nutcracker” when the Boston branch of the The Welcoming Committee, partnering with the Boston Ballet, hosted a holiday “out night” night out. The festivities included an after party at Salvatore’s at 545 Washington Street in Boston’s Downtown Crossing. Christian Cole, Sunil Patel, Matthew Slattery, and Lawrence Rines.
Cassie Kling, Katelyn Dolan, Jahna Salvo, and Megan Martin.
Andres Garcia, Brittney Nichols, and Matthew Slattery
Luis Ticona, Kevin Madore, and Matthew Ruark.
Boris Richir, Sarah McKitterick, Beth Molling, and Erica Charis.
JAN|FEB 2016 | 81
SCENE Gala PHOTOS Courtesy of HBGC
Hispanic Black Gay Coalition Gala Hibernian Hall | Roxbury | November 18, 2015
The theme at the Sixth Annual Hispanic Black Gay Coalition Gala was “Rooted In Resistance” and the evening paid hommage to iconic LGBTQ figures of color while spotlighting the unique work of Boston’s leading LGBTQ organization for Black and Latino communities. At the top of the list of these honorees were Cambridge City Councillor Denise Simmons, who received the 2015 James Earl Hardy Legends Award; Darnell L. Moore, activist and writer, who received the 2015 Audre Lorde Founders Award; and the national organization Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement, which garnered the 2015 Sylvia Rivera Community Award.
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SCENE Social PHOTOS Eduardo Jimenez
OutRyders Opening Party Club Café | Boston | November 12, 2015
New England’s 250-member strong gay ski and snowboard club held its season opening party at Club Cafe in November, an opportunity to kick off the slopes season and encourage new members to sign up. OutRyders organizes day trips to New England mountains all winter long, plus longer overnights to both near (Sugarloaf in Maine) and far (Telluride, Colorado). But in addition to ski outings, OutRyders offers social opportunities that range from theater nights to brewery trips. For more info, visit outryders.org.
JAN|FEB 2016 | 83
SCENE Awards PHOTOS Victory Program
Victory Programs’ Home for the Holidays Celebration and 21st Annual Peter Medoff Awards Club Café | Boston | December 10, 2015
This year’s Home for the Holidays Celebration raised more than $34,000 for Victory Programs’ Victory Housing, which serves individuals and families in need. The annual Peter Medoff Awards presented at the event honored community members and professionals who have provided exemplary service to Boston’s HIV/AIDS and homeless communities. This year’s Medoff awardee was Julie Marston, executive director of Community Research Initiative of New England. Marie Herb, managing director of Technical Assistance Collaborative, garnered the 2015 AIDS Housing Award. And last but not least, the 2015 Special Recognition Award went to Frank Ribaudo and Jim Morgrage, owners of Club Café.
84 | BOSTON SPIRIT
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Osorio Dental Group
We offer exceptional dentistry in a caring, non-judgmental environment. Our LGBTQ supportive dentists and staff will ensure your comfort. www.osoriodentalboston.com
Seligman Dental Designs
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Personalized dental care; healthy, beautiful smiles; comfortable, caring service in our state-of-the-art dental facility in the heart of the South End. It’s no secret that healthy teeth and a radiant smile can improve your appearance, your self-esteem and your overall health. Whether your goal is to restore your smile or maintain good oral health, you can benefit from Dr. James R. Seligman’s comprehensive approach to dental care. 617-451-0011 SouthEndDental.com
Friendly, personalized dental care
State of the Art Technology
James R. Seligman, DMD
“Best of the South End” — SOUTH END NEWS
SouthEndDental.com
1180 Washington Street Boston, MA 02118 617.451.0011
Wellspring Weight Loss
Your Weight. Your Life. Take Control. The country’s largest and most respected network of weight loss programs, includes an adults-only residential facility with upscale amenities, state-of-the art facilities, and chef prepared meals. or call us at 1-866-364-0808 wellspringweightloss.com
COMMUNITY | NONPROFIT Planned Giving at DanaFarber Cancer Institute
Invest in a future without cancer Include Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Jimmy Fund in your estate plans to reach your financial goals and help fight cancer. 800-535-5577 Dana-Farber.org/spirit
HOME | GARDEN Circle Furniture
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Furniture ... Made for Real Life Circle Furniture offers an eclectic selection of furniture for traditional and contemporary homes, fast delivery times for made-to-order items, corporate philanthropy, support of the regional economy, and most of all, fun. 31 St. James Ave. Boston, MA 617-778-0887 www.circlefurniture.com
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Portside at East Pier
Looking for a beautiful apartment with stunning views of the Boston Harbor, a building full of first-class amenities and a vibrant community to live in? Get it all at Portside at East Pier. Whether you want to relax in comfort at home, walk the waterfront, explore the outdoors or find some of the best food in Boston, there’s plenty of action to be had here. Plus, with convenient access to the T at Maverick Station, the rest of the city is just a short train ride away. Come experience a place where discovery lies around every corner. It’s East Boston. But when you live at Portside at East Pier, you’ll just call it home. GoEastPier.com
Dover Rug
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New Showroom Now Open Dover Rug & Home Dover Rug & Home offers the largest selection of fine floor coverings and window treatments in New England. Visit their BRAND NEW location at 721 Worcester Street in Natick (RT-9) As the “Best of Boston Home 2011” recipient, their larger showroom has something for every budget. Dover Rug & Home is headquartered at 721 Worcester Road (Route 9), Natick, MA 508-651-3500. Dover-Boston is located at 390 Stuart Street in the Back Bay, Boston 617-266-3600. 721 Worcester Street (Route 9) Natick, MA 508-651-3500 www.doverrug.com
Gardner Mattress
Gardner Mattress Corporation A New England favorite for generations, Gardner Mattress has been manufacturing quality custom-sized, odd-sized and handmade mattresses in their Salem factory for over 70 years! Though their landmark location is North of Boston in Salem, they also service satisfied customers throughout New England. At Gardner Mattress, you’ll find mattresses including lace-tufted, layered latex, pocketed coil, quilted cotton and ivory plush, all handmade with natural materials. Located in Salem, Woburn and Newton, MA and Rye, NH. www.GardnerMattress.com
Lucia Lighting
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bright ideas begin at lucia Lucia Lighting & Design Our unique lighting store features 12 showrooms in 8,000 square feet of a lovingly restored mansion staffed with certified lighting specialists who are both educated and customer focused. Whether you want to visit our showroom or have one of our team visit you at your location in the Boston area, lucÃa lighting & design is the answer.
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The Outdoor Living Store For over 40 years, Seasons Four has been a destination for everyone in New England that values outdoor spaces. We are a trusted source for quality, heirloom furniture for your sunroom, porch, patio, deck, and garden. We also provide unique plant material, statuary, fountains and garden accessories to complete your outdoor room. 1265 Massachusetts Avenue Lexington, MA 781-861-1200 seasonsfour.com
PROFESSIONAL | SERVICES Burns & Levinson, LLP
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Harvard University Careers If you can work, you can work at Harvard! We are so much more than just students and professors. We are the 5th largest private employer in Massachusetts, with over 16,000 employees. Almost any job you can think of exists at the University. employment.harvard.edu
UBS Financial Services, Inc.
Peter Hamilton Nee and Robert S. Edmunds UBS is proud to support Boston Spirit magazine, and salutes Fenway Health for their faithful service to our community. Please contact us any time. Peter Hamilton Nee, AIF, CRPC, VP, Investments and Robert S. Edmunds, CFP, CRPC ubs.com/team/neeedmunds. Wellesley, MA 781-446-8918 or 800-828-0717 ubs.com/team/neeedmunds
TRAVEL | ADVENTURE Marriott Copley Place
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Great Location. Great Amenities. Boston Marriott Copley Place Located in the Back Bay and a few blocks from the South End, the Boston Marriott Copley Place is perfect for business or leisure travel. The hotel features deluxe rooms, Champions, Connexion Lounge, Starbucks, indoor pool, fitness center, 70,000 sq. ft. of meeting space and is minutes from top attractions. 110 Huntington Avenue (Boston) , MA 617-236-5800 goo.gl/soiy38
Royal Sonesta Hotel Boston
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Spectacular city views, luxury accommodations, regional cuisine, and contemporary art All of our 400 well-appointed guest rooms and suites offer guests the comforts of home with first-class amenities and overlook the Charles River, Cambridge or Boston's stunning skyline. The Royal Sonesta Hotel Boston features both casual and elegant dining and delicious inspired cuisine in two highly acclaimed riverfront restaurants with seasonal patios, ArtBar and Restaurant Dante. 40 Edwin H. Land Boulevard Cambridge, MA 617-806-4200 www.sonesta.com/Boston/
WEDDING | EVENTS LGBT Owned & Operated Accent Limousine & Car Service We provide professional transportation services throughout Greater Boston and the Metro-West. We grow our client base every year because we care for our clients as only a ‘Family’ business can. Our chauffeurs are professionally attired, knowledgeable, reliable, and friendly, and their professionalism and driving abilities will immediately earn your trust and confidence. We look forward to driving you on your next special occasion. www.accentlimo.com/spirit
DJ Mocha 44
Burns & Levinson LLP, a leading mid-size law firm with a client-centric culture, has over 125 attorneys in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and the District of Columbia. We work with entrepreneurs, emerging businesses, private and public companies and individuals in sophisticated business transactions, litigation and private client services—family law, trusts & estates, marriage and divorce law. 617-345-3000 www.burnslev.com
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Accent Limousine
311 Western Ave. (RT-107 Lynn, MA 781-595-0026 www.lucialighting.com
Seasons Four
Harvard University
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Affordable great music for your party! Boston Spirit’s official Cruise DJ for four years. Bringing, Great Music and Fun to your Events! All genres: pop, jazz, techno, world beat, swing, disco & more! 617-784-1663 MochaDJ.com
Gourmet Caterers
Peace of mind. Now that’s a wedding vow. This is a day when only perfection will do. GourmetCaterers’ attention to detail means peace of mind, so you can enjoy your wedding along with your guests. Whether your dream wedding is a large event or intimate affair, Gourmet’s team of innovative planners, chefs, stylists and servers will be by your side to ensure that everything is perfectly, uniquely, your own.
ha c o M DJ
GourmetCaterers.com
Konditor Meister
Konditor Meister—Voted #1 Wedding Cakes in Boston Extraordinarily Beautiful & Elaborate Wedding Cakes & fine European pastries. Delicious Custom Holiday & Party Cakes for all occasions. 32 Wood Road (Just South of Boston) Braintree, MA 781-849-1970 KonditorMeister.com
Lombardo’s
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Lombardo’s has been providing the highest quality of hospitality and cuisine for over 50 years. From innovative menus to an upscale atmosphere, Lombardo’s ensures every wedding will exceed their client’s expectations. 781-986-5000 www.lombardos.com
Long's Jewelers
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Your Source for Diamonds, Wedding Rings, Fine Jewelry & Watches Long's Jewelers has been in the business of happy moments since 1878. We're honored to help our customers celebrate milestones like engagements, weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, and retirements and not to mention "just because" moments! Whether you're looking for diamonds, wedding rings, fine jewelry, Swiss watches, awards, or corporate gifts, Long's has you covered.
HAPPY PRIDE! www.mochadj.com
Boston, Braintree, Burlington, Natick, and Peabody, MA 877-845-6647 www.longsjewelers.com
Ptown Parties
Catering | Events The premier caterer on the lower cape, Ptown Parties is a full service catering and event planning company. Let them cater your next cocktail party, clambake or wedding, in your home, inn, rental condo or yacht. Let Ptown Parties take care of all the hassles, so you can enjoy a carefree day in Provincetown, and a great party that night!
RELAX | RENEW | REFLECT
World-Class Luxury Guesthouse and Spa
508-487-6450 Ptownparties.com
Your Source for Equalityminded People, Places, Services and Adventures in New England and beyond. 14 Johnson Street, Provincetown | 800.487.0132
www.carpediemguesthouse.com JAN|FEB 2016 | 87
CODA Entertainment STORY Christopher Wallenberg
Cinematic Haigh Creator of indie-hit ‘Weekend’ and HBO series ‘Looking’ delivers new award-winning film Andrew Haigh views his new film, “45 Years,” about an older British couple facing growing cracks in their nearly half-century long union, as a “sequel” or “bookend” to his acclaimed 2011 film “Weekend,” the Cassavetes-inspired, low-fi indie about two young gays whose one-night hookup transforms into something more substantial after they spend a couple of carefree days together. Considering the generational divide between the two films, that may seem odd. But dig deeper, Haigh says, and you’ll see that both quietly restrained films center on characters trying to reconcile their own identity through their relationships. “45 Years,” which opens in the Boston area on January 22, is also a continuation of the shifting relationship dynamics and quest for identity that Haigh has been exploring in the similarly low-key HBO series “Looking,” about a group of gay friends navigating romance and friendship in contemporary San Francisco. Haigh serves as a director, writer, and executive producer on the series. Haigh believes his preoccupation with identity is closely linked to his struggles with sexuality as a young man. “When you’re gay, you spend a lot more time when you’re growing up trying to understand your identity, but
also how you then fit that into the world around you,” he says. “As gay people we carry around with us the pain that we had coming to terms with our sexuality and trying to find out, okay, how can I even exist in this world? How am I going to find happiness? How am I going to meet someone who understands me?” Adapted from David Constantine’s short story “In Another Country,” “45 Years” stars British screen legends Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courteney as Kate and Geoff, a retired English couple reflecting on their lives and decades-long marriage as their 45th wedding anniversary approaches. But when Geoff receives a sudden and shattering piece of news— that the body of his deceased girlfriend Katya, from before he knew Kate, has been discovered in a melting glacier in Switzerland—it threatens to upend their lives and brings old tensions and resentments to the surface. Rampling and Courtenay won the Silver Bear acting awards for “45 Years” at the Berlin film festival last year. “He starts to get more politically minded again, he gets a bit angry, and he starts smoking. He’s thinking back on and grieving the person that he thought he would become— which I think is a very common feeling as you get older and you haven’t turned out
Andrew Haigh to be the person you wanted to be,” says Haigh. “For Kate, she’s seeing that and thinking, okay, you are more concerned about that rather than thinking, ‘Look what you have achieved, which is this relationship with me. And we’ve been together 45 years in an enduring, loving relationship. Does that mean nothing to you anymore?’” “In this film, the core pain and doubts that we all have about ourselves, start to emerge,” he says, “those deep existential questions: What has my life meant? Has this relationship been enough to give my life meaning? Is it the meaning that I wanted for my life?” “45 Years” has tended to divide audiences, Haigh says. When some of his relatives saw it for the first time, he recalls them arguing about Geoff and Kate as they left the
theater. “My auntie and uncle got into this huge fight. He was like, ‘Well, I don’t know what she’s worried about!’ And she was like, ‘Really?! You don’t?!’ I was like, ‘Ooh, god. I’m stepping away from that,” he says, craning his neck back, then laughing. “I don’t want to cause divorces in my extended family.” So has all this exploration of companionship helped Haigh navigate his own personal union? Having recently gotten married at San Francisco City Hall to his longtime boyfriend, Haigh jokes that must be evidence that “45 Years” “hasn’t put me off relationships.” ”I’ve always known that they’re complicated and messy and difficult,” he says. “But exploring those kind of questions has helped me understand what relationships mean to me.” [X]
SATAURYR2D7A, 2Y016
FEBRU
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cial presentation at the Giant Ocean spe a k, Tan ch Tou y /Ra ark Sh ng lts) of all ages including an amazitouch tank. There will be food and drinks for all as well as a uniqueBT adu d (an s kid for ies ivit act e hav l We wil t in the Edge of the Sea tidepool le to all area LGBT families. This will be a truly special day for LG we ds han r you get to nce cha a availab Tank, and d Aquarium has to offer. of the organizations and services opportunity to get to know some get to know one another while enjoying all that the New Englan families to spend time together and
FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO PURCHASE TICKETS VISIT US ONLINE AT
bostonspiritmagazine.com / family