Laura Kiritsy on Local Gay Politics

District 9 voters say, 'No gay city councilor for you!'
Tim Schofield didn't stick around his Sept. 25 election night party at The Kells, an Allston nightclub, for too long. With his surprising third place finish in the preliminary election for the District 9 Boston City Council Seat, there wasn't much to celebrate. After delivering a gracious concession speech and personally thanking his stunned supporters, Schofield, who was largely expected to move on to the Nov. 6 general election, was off to congratulate the two candidates who ultimately did - Mark Ciommo, the executive director of a local senior center and Greg Glennon, an assistant district attorney. Glennon's second-place finish was something of a surprise, though word around the Schofield camp was that the all-important bloc of Russian voters in the district ultimately broke for Glennon, a social conservative who opposes marriage equality, giving him the edge over their candidate. As he headed out the door, Schofield, an openly gay man, lamented the continued absence of an openly gay Boston city councilor. Though the fact that he is gay was not a focal point of his campaign, "[I]t is important to have voices on the City Council and at all levels of government that represent all kinds of people," said Schofield before heading out the door. "And I do think it would be beneficial for Boston to elect an openly gay city councilor. I think there is value in having voices from all parts of the community and I hope if not me then sometime soon we're going to elect an openly gay city councilor."

Will Schofield be endorsing either of his former opponents in the final election? He's not ready to say. "I'm just going to have a beer tonight and get some sleep and talk to my friends and family and decide as the days go on," he said.

The gay behind Romney's 2002 Pride flier
Thanks to a flurry of recent stories highlighting Mitt Romney's shifting stances on a host of issues, that thorny old Boston Pride flier from Romney's 2002 gubernatorial campaign - the one on pink paper that proclaims, "Mitt and Kerry Wish You A Great Pride Weekend! All citizens deserve equal rights, regardless of their sexual preference"- has resurfaced once again. (Sadly, only the anti-gay MassResistance has properly credited Bay Windows with bringing the flyer to the public's attention; progressive bloggers and mainstream news organizations have been alternately crediting MassResistance, which took it from our websiste, other blogs and even, in one instance, ABC News. But we digress...) Even better, this time around, a former volunteer on Romney's 2002 campaign is claiming credit for authoring the flier, and it's none other than Aaron Maloy. Maloy, you'll recall, is the openly gay, anti-gay-marriage Republican who freaked out half the lower Cape when he narrowly won the 2006 GOP primary for the open 4th Barnstable District House seat (he lost the general election to openly gay Democrat Sarah Peake). Under a recent post about the flier on Massachusetts Democrat, one of the many political blogs at CapeCodToday.com, Maloy left this little nugget: "OMG!!! I didn't realize this got attention. I was actually responsible for this flyer when I was an intern on Mitt's campaign."

Given Maloy's outspoken opposition to marriage equality during his campaign, the defense of Romney that followed his revelation wasn't surprising: "Let's make one thing clear," Maloy wrote. "Equality does not necessarily mean gay marriage. Mitt Romney believes everyone should be equal. That can be achieved without altering the definition of marriage. Geesh!!" Also not surprising was one of the response's to Maloy's post: "Another reason it's a good thing Aaron did not get elected!" - but we digress.

We were unable to speak directly with Maloy before press time to request proof that he's the guy behind the flier, but it's not a stretch to believe that Maloy, who's as out about being gay as he is true to the GOP's anti-gay-marriage agenda, is telling the truth. In an email to Bay Windows, he elaborated a bit on his mindset at the time: "I had just turned 19 when I was interning for Mitt. He had a ton of gay people on his campaign in senior positions so I figured it would be an acceptable thing to do." And though you may disagree with Maloy's politics, give him some credit: At least he's not toe-tapping in some highway rest stop on Route 3.

Phobes back Brockton mayor
Just last week, Bay Windows reported on the anti-gay-marriage organization VoteOnMarriage.org's transition back to its previous incarnation, the Coalition for Marriage and Family (See "Coalition for Marriage Regroups, Sept. 20). Now, it looks like one of the grassroots Coalition's affiliates is making one of its first forays into electoral politics. Just three days before the Sept. 18 Brockton preliminary mayoral election, a group called the Greater Brockton Marriage and Family Chapter sent out a letter endorsing incumbent Mayor James Harrington, who is fending off a strong challenge from Jass Stewart, who aims to be both the city's first openly gay and African American mayor. Topping the list of the one-term incumbent's achievements, according to the Greater Brockton Marriage and Family chapter, is Harrington's stand for "family values, including defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman, while maintaining a reputation for treating all with fairness and dignity." The letter, which is stamped with the Coalition for Marriage logo, is signed by Tyler and Jennifer Dawbin, the Greater Brockton chapter leaders. Tyler Dawbin is a self-described conservative Christian and anti-gay blogger (massconservativechristian.blogspot.com) known to troll gay Pride Parades with a camera, snapping photos of unsuspecting folks with rainbow stickers affixed to rear-end pockets of their shorts, a la Brian Camenker of MassResistance. Some seal of approval.

"Mayor Harrington is the best choice for strengthening Brockton and is the candidate supported by Brockton citizens who care about family," the Dawbins proclaim at the end of their missive. Yes, because a gay man parenting a teenage son with his legal spouse doesn't care about family. Will trying to fire up anti-gay sentiment in Brockton swing votes for the incumbent mayor or backfire in his face, as it usually does in Massachusetts elections? We'll find out on Nov. 6. But it looks like Harrington, who beat Stewart by just 107 votes to top the ticket in the three-way preliminary contest, is getting desperate.

The gays thank Rep. Alicea
Not long after he cast his surprise vote against an anti-gay marriage amendment at the June 14 constitutional convention, state Rep. Geraldo Alicea left a phone message for Dave Breen, a friend of his who's long been active in LGBT politics. "The message was, 'Thanks for not giving up on me,'" Alicea recalled to a group of about 35 people who gathered at Breen's Dorchester home for a Sept. 23 fundraiser for the freshman legislator. "You may wonder why I left that message," Alicea continued. "But besides the lunch that he bought me - which was under $25," said Alicea, causing the crowd to burst out laughing (and prompting someone familiar with Breen's apparent stinginess to loudly comment, "No surprise!") - "[It was] the emails, the letters, the pictures," said Alicea. "You know, they made it real and gave me a better understanding of how important this was." And it wasn't just Breen, who is raising a son with his partner Mike Harrington, who helped sway Alicea, who campaigned for his Sixth Worcester District seat last year in favor of the amendment. It was the many families across his conservative southern Worcester County district that he says convinced him that allowing the amendment to go forward was the wrong thing to do. From the time he took office in January up until the night before the vote - when he met with a large group of pro-equality constituents at a Worcester church - the Charlton Democrat said he heard from plenty of them.

In the aftermath of his vote, Alicea told Bay Windows during an interview in Breen's kitchen, he's heard from plenty of people, many of whom worked on his campaign, who have expressed disappointment with his vote. For instance, there was the angry supporter, a local business owner, who called Alicea's cell phone swearing up a storm. Alicea said he immediately paid a visit to the man at his company to explain his vote. "We sat and talked and he said okay, he felt good and [understood] why I did what I did," said Alicea, who added that such one-on-one discussions have helped lessen the backlash.

Nonetheless, Alicea said that one of his GOP opponents from last year's election is making noises about challenging him next year because of his vote. Though he realizes that, as a freshman legislator in a conservative district, his controversial change of heart leaves him vulnerable, Alicea also sounded a note of confidence in his re-election. "If you're going to run against [me] on that one issue go ahead," he said. "Because I really feel that it's the other things that I've done, because I've been very successful my first year." He's also confident that the more he explains his vote, the less it will be held against him. "I know there's some people who are just disappointed because they worked so hard on my campaign," said Alicea. "But I'm slowly getting them on board again."

The gays host party for Salem city council candidate
During a recent interview, Mickey Northcutt, a candidate for the Salem City Council, confesses that he hasn't settled on a costume to wear to any of the Witch City's umpteen upcoming Halloween balls. But when we suggest the obvious - that he go as a Salem City Councilor - he's pretty quick on the uptake: "That is actually perfect. That's funny," Northcutt laughs, as the revelation dawns on him. "I've got my costume."

This isn't to imply that Northcutt would be merely masquerading as a city councilor should he prevail over his opponent, Robert McCarthy, in the race for the Council's open Ward 1 seat on Nov. 6. Though he's lived in the city for just two years, Northcutt has already made his presence felt, beginning with his revival of his dormant downtown neighborhood association shortly after he relocated to the city from Boston. He's also a member of Salem's No Place for Hate Committee, which successfully steered the city toward its No Place for Hate certification in June, was appointed by Mayor Kimberly Driscoll to a term on the city's Affordable Housing Trust Fund and sits on the Haunted Happenings Task Force, the group responsible for the city's month-long celebration of Halloween - including all of those costume balls - in October.

"In my short time in Salem I feel like I've made a real difference," Northcutt says of his civic involvement. "So I think the transition to being a city councilor will be an easy transition." Northcutt, the executive director of the Beverly Affordable Housing Coalition, won the support of current Ward 1 Councilor Lucy Corchado, who is vacating the seat after two terms, early in his campaign.

Northcutt, a gay man who married his partner Jason Burke on the historic date of May 17, 2004, has also been endorsed by the Victory Fund, an organization devoted to electing openly gay candidates to public office. He's also been endorsed by Neighbor to Neighbor, a politically potent group in Ward 1's immigrant-rich Point neighborhood. Additionally, Northcutt has won the support of Ward 1 residents Pat Gozemba and Karen Kahn, the authors of Courting Equality, a chronicle of the state's struggle for marriage equality. The couple, along with several other gay supporters, is on the host committee for Northcutt's Sept. 30 fundraiser at the Salem eatery Strega. Openly gay state Rep. Carl Sciortino and openly gay former state senator Jarrett Barrios are on the list of special guests. "We're actually expecting it to be a really great event," says Northcutt.

Lesbian mayor in Somerville?
After a lopsided Sept. 25 preliminary vote tally, Suzanne Bremer, who aims to be the first openly gay mayor of Somerville, advanced to the Nov. 6 general election, where she'll face incumbent Mayor Joe Curtatone. Bremer finished a very distant second in the three-way race, according to unofficial results, earning 825 votes to Curtatone's 4,717 votes. Clearly, Bremer, a librarian and a married mother of two, has her work cut out for her.