In the News:

Victory in Massachusetts!
Task Force changes hearts and minds in Bay State
Multimedia from Massachusetts
Task Force: Strip abstinence-only funding
      from appropriation bill
From the Long View podcast: LGBT elders of color
      face triple threat
Celebrating Pride coast to coast
Mom’s Apple Pie on WNET
Shop and support the Task Force!

Victory in Massachusetts!

“Today’s vote averts a divisive, defamatory and hugely expensive campaign that our national community would have had to wage between now and 2008 to preserve the freedom to marry in the one state where we have it. The repercussions — in terms of saved energy and millions of dollars that can now be devoted to other pressing priorities — cannot be overstated.”
— Matt Foreman, Executive Director, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force

The Massachusetts Legislature yesterday defeated a proposed state constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Inc., had invested significant staff and other resources (totaling $460,000) to protect marriage equality in the Bay State. Moreover, the Task Force played an essential role in the victory: Our organizers led the effort that convinced two conservative legislators — Sen. Gale Candaras and Rep. Angelo Puppolo — to listen to their constituents and switch their votes to support equality. These switches were critical to yesterday’s victory.

Pictured: Massachusetts resident and Task Force staffer Sue Hyde savors the sweet taste of victory as Task Force Executive Director Matt Foreman looks on. “We have shown that the issue of gay marriage is not the third rail in electoral politics,” Hyde told reporters. (Photo: Courtesy TakeMassAction)

[ Read our full statement ]
[ Read New York Times coverage, featuring Matt Foreman’s comments ]

Task Force changes hearts and minds in Bay State

Massachusetts Sen. Gale Candaras (pictured) is one of the lawmakers Task Force organizers targeted and persuaded to listen to her constituents, leading her to vote in support of equality.

Candaras spoke movingly about why she changed her position, saying in part: “I have been most impressed by the number of individuals who have called me and asked me to change my vote because they have changed their minds. One grandmother told me she had changed her mind and wanted me to change my vote in case one of her grandchildren grew up to be gay or lesbian. She did not want any of her grandchildren to be denied the right to marry the person they love. This is exactly the legacy we will leave to generations beyond us, and the example we can set for the nation and, I daresay the world, which is certainly paying attention to what we do and say here today.”

[ Read her full comments ]

Multimedia from Massachusetts

Task Force staffers blogged yesterday from outside and inside the constitutional convention. Read what they said.

You can also find extensive photo and video coverage of yesterday’s events right here.

Photo: Courtesy TakeMassAction

Task Force: Strip abstinence-only funding from appropriation bill

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Inc., urged Congress last week to remove abstinence-only funding from a Labor Health and Human Services appropriation bill. More than $1.5 billion in government funding has been given to abstinence-only programs, which have been proven ineffective and often contain religious doctrine, inaccurate medical information and harmful stereotypes about the LGBT community.

[ Read our statement ]

From the Long View podcast: LGBT elders of color face triple threat

In this week’s episode of From the Long View: LGBT Elders and Experts Speak, Robert Spellman (pictured), seniors program coordinator for Gay Men of African Descent, speaks about housing, HIV/AIDS, the triple threat facing LGBT elders of color and the trouble with forcing people into roles that they don’t want to play.

From the Long View is a five-part podcast featuring members of the first-ever National LGBT Aging Roundtable, convened earlier this year by the Task Force. For photos, transcripts and downloadable MP3s, check out www.theTaskForce.org/podcast. A new episode is posted weekly.

[ Listen to the interview or read the transcript now ]

Celebrating Pride coast to coast

Two of the country’s largest Pride celebrations (in West Hollywood, Calif., and Washington, D.C.) were held last weekend and the Task Force was there! Staff, interns and volunteers gave out information about our current work and handed out fans and stickers with our two popular Pride messages, “Action is Hot” and “Power is Sexy.” Tens of thousands came out to celebrate our community at Capital Pride in D.C. (pictured) and Christopher Street West in West Hollywood.

Look for the Task Force’s signature pink tent this weekend at Folsom Street East in New York City, and make sure to stop by and say hello!

Mom’s Apple Pie on WNET

WNET, which reaches viewers in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, will broadcast Mom’s Apple Pie: The Heart of the Lesbian Mothers’ Custody Movement next week as part of Thirteen’s 18th Annual OUT! Festival. This documentary revisits the tumultuous early years of the lesbian custody movement through the stories of five lesbian mothers and their four children. Narrated by Kate Clinton and directed by Shan Ottey, Shad Reinstein and Task Force board member Jody Laine, the film will air on June 20 at 10 p.m. with a repeat on June 26 at 1:30 a.m. Free Speech TV will also show the film near the end of June.

[ Learn more about the film ]
[ View the festival’s full schedule ]

Shop and support the Task Force!

Did you know that you can shop online and help the Task Force at the same time? Giveline.com is an online store created for the community-minded shopper, offering more than a million bestselling products including books, movies, music, electronics, housewares, gifts and more. You’ll find great discounts on Giveline.com and every purchase you make generates a donation to the Task Force, between 7 percent and 33 percent of the value of your purchase.

[ Visit Giveline.com today and support the work of the Task Force ]

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