Laura Kiritsy on Local Gay Politics

Whether they're masterminded by Karl Rove or MassResistance, dirty tricks are nothing new in politics. Openly gay or gay-friendly candidates especially are vulnerable to homophobic whisper campaigns, push polls and mailings. What's worse is that the politicians and campaigns responsible for the shadowy attacks are rarely held accountable for their smears. But that hasn't been the case in Brockton, where Mayor James Harrington recently suspended his director of community services, Moises Rodrigues, after reports surfaced that Rodrigues was brandishing the wedding photo of Harrington's openly gay challenger Jass Stewart to potential voters and making disparaging remarks about Stewart's sexual orientation. The Brockton Enterprise, which has been all over this story, reports that Harrington has also called Stewart to apologize for his aide's behavior. Rodrigues, meanwhile, has denied to the Enterprise that he engaged in any gay-baiting campaign tactics. What's most interesting about all of this though, is how Brocktonians are reacting to the news. Julie Farrington, a 67-year-old local, seemed to best sum up the anger among city voters, telling the Enterprise: "It's dirty politics. I mean, if you can't run a fair campaign and run it on the issues, I don't think it's fair." With buzz like that so close to Election Day, it could well be that Rodrigues will soon be off the job permanently.

The gays are giving to Niki
With the Fifth Congressional District special election just around the corner on Oct. 16, there's one last chance to jump on Niki Tsongas' big gay bandwagon. A bunch of gay movers and shakers (and a few not-so-gay folks like state Rep. Cory Atkins and Tsongas's former primary opponent state Rep. Jamie Eldridge) are throwing a final fundraiser for the Lowell Democrat at the Westin Copley Place hotel in Boston Oct. 11. Tsongas has received an outpouring of support from the LGBT community in her bid to succeed Marty Meehan, a tireless champion of repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell, including endorsements from the Human Rights Campaign, the Bay State Stonewall Democrats and openly gay Congressman Barney Frank. She's also been the beneficiary of several LGBT community fundraisers held in the spring and summer months. Now, as she heads into a tightening home stretch with Republican Jim Ogonowski of Dracut, everyone from openly gay New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Ray Buckley to legal titan Mary Bonauto is stuffing some cabbage in the campaign coffer. The gays really like Niki. Let's hope the anti-gay smear machine doesn't catch on (see above).

Salem gets openly gay city council candidate
Wringing one last chance for political discourse before his city's attentions turn for the entire month of October to burning witches and costume parties - at which point door-knocking is more likely to yield Kit Kats and Necco Wafers instead of votes - Salem City Council candidate Mickey Northcutt greeted a crowd of about 30 people who turned up for a fundraiser the local eatery Strega on Sept. 30. "I think it's a great turnout," said the openly gay political newcomer, as he surveyed the crowd that amassed on his behalf in a corner of the restaurant. "This is a great mix of people in the ward, friends and family and it's going to put us in a position for the final push" on Nov. 6.

Among those who turned out for Northcutt, who sits on the planning committee for Haunted Happenings, the month-long series of Halloween events that now threatens to distract from his campaign, was incumbent Ward 1 Councilor Lucy Corchado, who has endorsed Northcutt as her replacement over his opponent, Robert McCarthy. Indeed Corchado, a longtime Neighbor to Neighbor activist, gave Northcutt a ringing endorsement at the event, telling the crowd that she was ambivalent about giving up her seat after two terms until she heard Northcutt was getting into the race. "This is a person I know will represent everyone in the ward," said Corchado said of Northcutt.

Salem's Ward 1 is a diverse section of the city that includes large immigrant and Latino populations. So why does a Latina single mom (and only the second Latina councilor) believe a white gay man is the best person to fill her shoes? "I think it's not so much who you are but what you can do," Corchado replied, citing Northcutt's jumpstarting of the dormant Downtown Neighborhood Association shortly after he moved to the city two years ago and his willingness to work with the Point Neighborhood Association, which represents most of the Ward's Latino residents. "So I don't care that he's gay, that has nothing to do with anything," said Corchado. "But I can see that he's a person that will represent everyone."

Martha loves Patricia
It's nice to know that legal briefs aren't the only reading that Attorney General Martha Coakley enjoys. During a Sept. 27 LGBT fundraiser at the home of Lisa Cukier and Trish Faass in Waban, Coakley came out as an avid reader of Patricia Cornwell's bestselling crime novels. And Cornwell, who was on hand for the event, came out as a fan of Coakley's - she even doled out autographed review copies of the next Kay Scarpetta mystery, Book of the Dead to folks willing to pony up for Coakley's far-off 2010 re-election campaign, even though the book doesn't hit shelves until later this month. "The first chapter gets you gripped," Coakley said, offering a capsule review of the new book during remarks to attendees. "And I don't want to give away any secrets but ... it's as scary and as spooky a beginning to a murder mystery that I have read in a long time." The state's first female attorney general went on to say that although she's often credited as a role model for others, one of her own role models is Cornwell. "Because I want to retire someday and write murder mysteries on Martha's Vineyard," Coakley explained. "And so I am secretly very jealous - not so secretly now - I am very jealous of Patricia's career."

Turning back to her current career in a brief interview after her remarks to the crowd, Coakley expressed gratitude at the support she said she's received from the LGBT community as attorney general. "I feel even better about the support I've been able to give to the gay community," added the AG, who was a vocal and visible supporter of marriage equality during the battle of the last several years. Though the prospect of an anti-gay marriage amendment is no longer an issue, Coakley said, "there are still issues that remain and that will remain. And now it's Massachusetts [that has marriage equality], but there's the rest of the country and I think we can and should be a leader in paving the way for everybody else in the country to see how normal this has been." To that end, Coakley mentioned the need to repeal the 1913 law that prevents most non-resident same-sex couples from marrying here, and suggested that maybe it's time to get organized around that issue, now that the courts have said it's a matter for the legislature to deal with. "I think the mobilization of MassEquality and all the other organizations that worked on that should start to look at, can we bring this issue forward and make sure that the legislature knows the issues and if appropriate, repeal it," said Coakley, who noted that the law was unenforced for a long time in Masachusetts. Indeed it was unenforced from the 1970s up until same-sex couples were given the right to marry in 2004. "There's no reason why the legislature shouldn't look at it," said Coakley.