Homosexual Senior Partner at Law Firm Threatens Boston With ‘Biggest Demonstration Ever’

Boston Globe Attempts to Frighten Legislature

January 2002

A senior partner at Hale and Dorr, one of the largest and most prestigious law firms in the state, has threatened the city of Boston with the “biggest demonstration ever” if the Massachusetts Bar Association does not bow to his wishes.

The lawyer, Joseph P. Barri of Milton, a homosexual who graduated from Harvard Law School in 1972, is upset because the MBA will be honoring Rep. John Rogers as “Legislator of the Year” next month.

The Boston Globe reports that Barri is “furious” because Rep. Rogers supports the Protection of Marriage amendment.

The Globe used the threat to mount yet another attack of its own on the amendment yesterday, thus revealing that it is now desperate to defeat the measure which has received the endorsement of the voters.

The Globe turned Barri’s statements into its major story on the front page of Section B.

“If they go ahead with this award,” Barri told the paper, “unless there’s some sort of compensation to the homosexual community for this psychic injury, we’re going to have the biggest demonstration that the city of Boston has ever seen outside that dinner that night.”

The threat startled many observers who were surprised that a prominent law firm which is supposedly behind our legal system would allow the use of its name to threaten the use of force in this manner.

The Globe headline was, “Gays Furious over Lawmaker Award.”

Globe Is Threatening Legislature

Obviously the paper was warning all the other legislators what the Globe will do to them if they support the amendment. Now that the measure has received the support of the voters with over 110,000 signatures being gathered and almost 80,000 being certified, it must be approved by 25% of the legislature in 2002 and 2004 before going on the ballot in November 2004.

Many observers note that the Globe does not have the power it used to have, but it is still a serious concern for any politician. It suffered a serious defeat last fall when it was unable to hurt Stephen Lynch in any way during his run for Congress even though it unleashed a tremendous barrage against him.

The main reason it failed in its attacks on Lynch was because he did not waffle on his beliefs despite the fusillade from the paper.

Bar Is Threatened

The Globe reported that out of the approximate 40,000 lawyers in the state, representatives of the 300-member Lesbian and Gay Bar Association are “expressing outrage over Rogers’ selection.”

Atty. Barri told the Globe further down in the story that he has “organized a group of 39 openly gay and lesbian attorneys who are considering staging a demonstration outside next month’s reception.” That would mean that a group of 39 protesters would be the “biggest demonstration that the city of Boston has ever seen.”

The threats were also aimed at the Massachusetts Bar Association itself. The Globe reported that “angry partners at some of Boston’s biggest law firms are seeking to hit the state association where it hurts – in its membership and its bank account.”

It also reported, “Some gay attorneys have already contacted leaders of their firms about halting policies that provide automatic bar association membership for all partners.” But the Globe did not say that homosexual employees of the law firms will be able to coerce the firms because if their demands are not met, the activists will be able to have homosexual employees harass them with baseless charges of employment discrimination under Massachusetts law.

Barri’s Homosexuality Not Revealed

The Globe told its readers that Barri is “a senior partner at Hale and Dorr” but it did not reveal that he is a homosexual himself. He is a director of the Massachusetts Lesbian & Gay Bar Association. His biography at the law firm’s website says, “Among his pro bono activities, Mr. Barri is the responsible partner for AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts, Inc. for which Hale and Dorr serves as general counsel. Mr. Barri is the founder and chair of The Partner Group, which includes more than thirty-five openly gay or lesbian lawyers who are partners of law firms or senior executives in business or government.”

After the Globe reported that Rogers was a terrible person, it tried to give the appearance of neutrality by giving him the impossible task, at the very end of the story, to rebut all of the charges. All they reported from him was, “In an interview with the Globe, Rogers called the criticism ‘unfortunate.’ He said his support for a defense-of-marriage style bill stems from a desire to define marriage and clear up legal ambiguities. And he maintains that the budget he prepared this year was more than fair to areas important to the gay community. ‘It’s easy to call me antigay, which I’m not. I’m promarriage, if anything,’ he said. ‘I’m not bigoted; I’m not antigay.’”

The Executive Director of the MBA, Abigail Shaine, was given two paragraphs to defend her organization. She told the paper that Rogers was chosen for his years of dedication to issues important to the legal community. She noted he was chairman of the Joint Committee on the Judiciary in the late 1990s, where he supported a courthouse construction bill and pay raises for judges. Shaine would not discuss the homosexual complaint beside noting that the MBA “has a long history of supporting issues that are close to the gay community. That will continue.”

The Globe also reported, “Attorneys who are active on issues affecting gays and lesbians know [Rogers’] record well - and they have few good things to say about him.” What they really were saying was, “Attorneys who are active on issues affecting gays and lesbians and are homosexual themselves ...” Which makes many wonder why the Globe did not report the comments of any of the many attorneys who do have good things to say about Rogers.

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