In the first installment of our exclusive two part audio montage series
Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson host of OUTTAKE VOICES™ talks with LGBT
lawyers, activists and allies at the Gay & Lesbian Advocates &
Defenders (GLAD) Prelude Party at Sage Lounge in Provincetown,
Massachusetts. It was an intimate celebration with GLAD Board members
and leaders who worked tirelessly to achieve equality for our LGBT
community including Mary Bonauto GLAD’s Civil Rights Project Director.
Bonauto
represented April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse of Michigan on April 28th
before the U.S. Supreme Court which resulted in the United States
becoming the 20th country in the world where gay and lesbian couples can
legally marry nationally.
First we talked with Janson Wu, Executive Director of GLAD about the
Supreme Court victory and all of the progress GLAD has accomplished for
our LGBT community. Janson also discussed the Equality Act, a
comprehensive federal LGBT non-discrimination bill that was recently
introduced in Congress. Then we chatted with Chuck Latovich who has
worked with GLAD for decades about what he would like to see happen for
LGBT equality in the next few years. Next we talked to Molly Girton who
previously worked for GLAD as Accounting Manager about how excited she
is to see where GLAD goes from here. Molly hopes that we become a more
inclusive LGBT community in the future representing more people of color
and our transgender community. Then we spoke with Gabby Hanna and her
wife Marcy Feller who is also a Board Member of GLAD. Gabby and Marcy
are fierce supporters of GLAD and sponsors of the GLAD Summer Party in
Provincetown. Both women would like to see more advancements for women,
lesbians and trans people in the next few years and hope that our
community realizes that there is still a lot of work to be done to
achieve full equality. Next we talked with Maralyn Wheeler and Amy
Charamba who actually married in 2004 when GLAD won the groundbreaking
Goodridge case making Massachusetts the first state in the U.S. where
gay and lesbian couples could legally marry.
Then we chatted with Jennifer Levi, GLAD’s Transgender Rights Project
Director about her work and hopes to achieve transgender rights at the
same level as our LGB community. Next we talked with GLAD Board Member
Beck Bailey who is also the Deputy Director of Employee Engagement at
the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s “Workplace Equality Program.”
Beck talked about some of GLAD’s important cases including their current
lawsuit Jacqueline Cote, et al. v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. which is the
first class action filed on behalf of gay workers since the U.S. Supreme
Court ruled in favor of marriage equality in Obergefell v. Hodges and
alleges that Walmart violated the federal Civil Rights Act by
discriminating against Jaqueline Cote based on her sex. Then we had the
honor to chat with Mary Bonauto GLAD’s Civil Rights Project Director who
is the architect of marriage equality in this country by first winning
the Goodridge case in 2004 and recently argued and proved before the
U.S. Supreme Court that the Fourteenth Amendment requires a state to
license a marriage between two people of the same sex. Mary is currently
working to ensure that LGBT youth, LGBT seniors and our transgender
community receive all the freedoms and opportunities that other people
have. Next we chatted with GLAD Board Member Jo Davis, MSW who works as a
senior vocational counselor at the Massachusetts Rehabilitation
Commission in Roxbury and will be celebrating her 10th anniversary with
GLAD in 2016. Jo tells us she was always interested in social justice
especially for our LGBT community. Then we talked to GLAD Board member
Alix Ritchie who is an independent media strategy consultant and a
longtime supporter of numerous arts, feminist, political and LGBT
organizations. Alix is concerned about the way our LGBT community is
challenged by rightwing religious groups and believes that you do not
settle for what should not be settled for. We concluded with past GLAD
Board President Rick McCarthy who believes we should enjoy where we are
now and is excited to see where our LGBT community goes from here.
Next week in the second installment of our two part series we talk with
the legendary marriage activist Edie Windsor, Massachusetts Attorney
General Maura Healey, comedian Kate Clinton and Gary Buseck GLAD’s
Executive Director among others at the GLAD Summer Party in
Provincetown, Massachusetts.
For More Info: glad.org
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