Massachusetts AG Maura Healey To Be Honored

In this exclusive audio interview Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson host of OUTTAKE VOICES™ talks with Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey who is this year’s recipient of the Dr. Susan M. Love Award presented by Fenway Health at their annual Women’s Dinner Party fundraising event on April 9th at the Boston Marriott Copley Place. Attorney General Healey is being honored for her crucial contributions to our LGBT community’s civil rights and for being an openly LGBT politician. Each year the Dr. Susan M. Love Award is given to honor and celebrate a woman or organization that has made a significant contribution to the field of women’s health. The Love Award is given in honor of its founding recipient Dr. Susan M. Love a pioneer in the fields of women’s health and breast cancer. Love helped found the Revlon/UCLA Breast Center in 1992 and currently heads up the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation which is dedicated to eradicating breast cancer. Since taking office Maura Healey has championed issues that affect the lives and health of some of Massachusetts most vulnerable residents, including LGBT rights, the heroin and prescription drug abuse epidemic, escalating health care costs, workers rights, criminal justice system reforms and college debt. We talked to Maura about her groundbreaking work, being honored by Fenway Health with the Dr. Susan M. Love Award and her spin on our LGBT issues.

When asked what her personal commitment is to LGBT civil rights Healey stated, “It’s deeply personal for me not just because I happen to be a lesbian but because I think that civil rights should be on everyone’s agenda. I think it’s so important that we respect one another, that we respect and celebrate difference and that we treat others as we would want to be treated ourselves. It’s as simple as that. Obviously my office continues to be involved in the fight for marriage equality. I was so happy that it turned out that the first brief with my name on it as a newly-elected attorney general was the brief that we filed with the Supreme Court in the marriage equality case and continues to be the work that we need to do. I’m working really hard and strongly supporting the Transgender Accommodations Bill pending right now in the Massachusetts legislation. We got a bill that would ban discrimination against transgender folks in places of public accommodation. Sadly there’s still a gap in our law and while the legislature in Massachusetts took important steps a few years ago to ban discrimination against transgender folks in the workplace, housing and in schools, they did not address places of public accommodation and that’s just not right. We need to fix that so the bill is pending now in the legislature. I’d love to see it get a vote as soon as possible and see it signed into law so that transgender people in Massachusetts and those visiting Massachusetts will have protections under the law.”

Maura Healey graduated from Harvard in 1992 and made history when she was sworn in as the nation’s first openly gay Attorney General on January 21st 2015. Prior to that Healey was the architect of the state’s successful challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) which she argued and won twice in federal court before the Supreme Court finally struck DOMA down. Healey will be honored at the Women’s Dinner Party, an elegant attire fundraiser for Fenway Health that brings together more than 1,100 lesbian, transgender and bisexual women and their friends and allies for a night of dinner and dancing on April 9th. This year’s event is made possible thanks to the hard work of event co-chairs Lauren K. Matysiak, Kendra E. Moore, PhD, and Carol A. Roby as well as the support of their generous corporate sponsors.
For Info & Tix: womensdinnerparty.org

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NCLR Palm Springs LGBT Fundraising Event

In this exclusive audio interview Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson host of OUTTAKE VOICES™ talks with Kate Kendell, Executive Director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights about their fabulous Palm Springs Garden Party on April 2nd during The Dinah Shore Weekend. NCLR continues to be one of the nation’s leading lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender legal organizations that has been at the forefront of the fight to achieve LGBT equality for nearly four decades and was instrumental in achieving marriage equality nationally. The National Center for Lesbian Rights’ Garden Party attracts more than 300 people each year and celebrates the progress that’s been made so far to secure LGBT equality. This year NCLR is honoring two political pioneers who have played significant roles in our LGBT community’s advancements. First is California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom a fierce LGBT equality ally who made history as San Francisco’s mayor in 2004 by issuing marriage licenses to same gender couples and is being honored with the Champion Award for his long-time LGBT support. Secondly is Salt Lake City’s Mayor Jackie Biskupski who made history as Salt Lake City’s first openly LGBT mayor and is being honored with the Trailblazer Award for paving the way for more LGBT people to pursue elected office. We talked to Kate about NCLR’s important work, their Palm Springs Garden Party on April 2nd and her spin on our LGBT issues.

When asked what her personal commitment is to LGBT civil rights Kendell stated, “I feel like it’s been such an enormous privilege to really interweave the personal and the political. I mean I am a lesbian; I identify as a queer woman in a longtime relationship, married to my wife and raising two kids. So I feel everyday I have to walk the talk of what it means to do this work at the highest level, at the most effective level. I am part of the very community that I am serving so I feel particularly accountable. I feel accountable to my soul at the same time I feel accountable to my community to really always be a very fierce advocate and even though I live in a relative privilege as a white woman with a decent job with a good income and a good education I know a lot of people in our community don’t have that and I feel like our charge doing these jobs is to be there for the vulnerable in our community. So it feels every day very personal to get it right.”

Kate Kendell joined the staff as Legal Director in 1994 and became Executive Director in 1996. In this capacity she assists in the development of litigation and strategy and is responsible for all aspects of organization operation. She is also responsible for executing a broad and forward thinking vision around policy and project initiatives. NCLR has been a leader in the movement furthering the civil and human rights of our LGBT community since its start in 1977. It was the first organization in the country to launch projects advancing parent, youth, immigrant, transgender rights and many others. The Garden Party will be held on April 2nd in Palm Springs with a VIP champagne reception beginning at 5P and the party starting at 5:30P. Individual tickets are $75 and sponsorship packages start at $250. All 100% of proceeds will go to support NCLR’s crucial work.
For Info & Tix: nclrights.org

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Christine Beebe New Transgender Documentary Series

In this exclusive audio interview Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson host of OUTTAKE VOICES™ talks with producer Christine Beebe about her new digital documentary series “We've Been Around” that shares five previously untold stories of transgender pioneers. The series is directed by Rhys Ernst, co-producer of “Transparent” and is presented in partnership with Focus Features, Time Inc. and The Advocate. Beebe teamed up with Ernst and a number of creative collaborators from the transgender community to research, produce and create these important films. From the narrators to the composer to the animator, the series was made with a range of talent from the transgender community. The team includes “Transparent” actress Alexandra Billings, writer and filmmaker Susan Stryker and trans historian Monica Roberts. The episodes each run under six minutes and include “S.T.A.R.” that tracks the modern transgender rights movement from the activism of Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera who were participants in the Stonewall Riots of 1969. Then “Little Axe” profiles trans man Wilmer Broadnax a popular gospel singer and his brother Willie Broadnax as they sang their way to success from the 1940s to the 1970s. “Lou Sullivan” recounts the life of Lou Sullivan a pioneering transgender gay man and AIDS activist. “Albert Cashier” illuminates the 19th-century trailblazing of Albert Cashier a transgender man who fought in the Civil War and “Lucy Hicks Anderson” that recounts the story of Lucy Hicks Anderson a woman of color who thrived during Prohibition and stood her ground to protect her marriage rights after being exposed as a transgender woman. We talked to Christine about this groundbreaking digital documentary series and her spin on our LGBT civil rights.

When asked what her personal commitment is to LGBT civil rights Beebe stated, “I would say that my goal is to use storytelling like this series is personal storytelling, and I find that to be very compelling and I hope it resonates with people on a level that they feel like they understand the subject now that they might not have known otherwise. And with this series and other work that I want to do, I want to use the medium to share struggles of those who came before us and this will help lead the LGBT community in the future. I hope that this does that and so a project like this is really fantastic for me on a personal level and on a work level to be involved with something like this.”

Christine Beebe produces documentaries, episodic web series, branded content, multi-media spots and music videos. Christine holds her MFA in Film Directing from CalArts. A pioneer in her own right just by living her life, Beebe was one of the few to be officially married in 2007 during that small window of time in California before Prop 8 when marriage equality was legal. She is a mother of two young children. “We've Been Around” which tells previously untold histories of transgender trailblazers premiered earlier this month exclusively across three Time Inc. websites People.com, EW.com and Essence.com as well as on Advocate.com.
To Watch Series: advocate.com

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LGBT Activist Beth Shipp Speaks OUT (AUDIO)

In this exclusive audio interview Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson host of OUTTAKE VOICES™ talks with Beth Shipp, Executive Director of LPAC the Lesbian Political Action Committee Super Pac that was formed to make a true impact for lesbians in politics. Since the creation of LPAC in 2012 the Super Pac has distinguished itself by raising over $2 million from supporters in 48 states and has been involved in over 40 races and independent expenditure campaigns across the country. Lesbian and queer women have made it known through LPAC that they are a force to be reckoned with. LPAC has been instrumental in electing candidates whether they be gay or straight women or men who are pushing forward their progressive, feminist and pro-LGBTQ policies, including the fight for pay equality, LGBTQ nondiscrimination laws, reproductive justice and voting rights. LPAC has endorsed Hillary Clinton for President in the 2016 election. LPAC will be hosting an exclusive conversation about what’s next in this race to the White House on Thursday March 10th from 2P to 3P EST at LPAC’s 2016 Virtual Political Summit. They’ll be providing an insider’s view of the 2016 race for president featuring Shipp and LPAC Board Member and CNN political contributor Hilary Rosen and invited commentators Hillary For America’s Brynne Craig and Aditi Hardikar. We talked to Beth about LPAC’s strategy planned for this crucial election year and her spin on our LGBT issues.

When asked what her commitment is to LGBT civil rights Shipp stated, “I have the dream job to live the personal and make it political. I actually started out in democratic politics and worked in democratic politics for about 15 to 20 years between working for campaigns and then I joined NARAL Pro Choice America and worked as their political director for 10 years in the women’s reproductive rights movement. So when this job came up for executive director of LPAC it brought the personal to the political for me in a way that no other organization has and so I think that really is where my personal meets the political is being the executive director of LPAC because all of the things that I have worked for in my adult life whether it’s social justice, whether it’s women’s equality and reproduction rights and health or LGBT equality it’s encompassed in the mission of LPAC and I couldn’t be prouder and happier than to be executive director of this organization right now.”

Beth Shipp is the first Executive Director of LPAC, the lesbian Super PAC that builds the political power of lesbian, queer, bisexual and transgender women by electing candidates who champion LGBTQ rights, women’s equality and social justice. She is a political strategist with more than 20 years of experience working for progressive causes. LPAC has announced “Levity & Justice for All” a first-of-its-kind benefit performance featuring top lesbian and queer comics and women’s rights champions that takes place at the historic Town Hall on June 16th in NYC. The A-list celebrity line up will include Rosie O’Donnell, Billie Jean King, Lea DeLaria, Karen Williams, Cameron Esposito, Judy Gold, Marga Gomez, Jes Tom, Marsha Warfield, Rhea Butcher and hosted by Kate Clinton. Former Late Show with David Letterman Executive Producer Barbara Gaines will produce the show. Award-winning cartoonist and author Alison Bechdel will be designing an original poster for the event. “Levity & Justice for All” will celebrate the political voices, humor, and activism of LGBTQ women, inspiring and motivating those in attendance to actively participate in the 2016 election.
For More Info: teamlpac.com

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