Why Mass. Politicians, Such as Sen. Birmingham, Yield To Homosexual Money and Power

February 2003 Print Edition
By MassNews Staff

National Scene
There are few groups in the U.S. with the money and power of homosexual activists. In 2002, just one organization, the Human Rights Campaign, gave over $22 million to homosexual causes.

Another, the Gill Foundation, claims that it is "the country's largest funder" of homosexuality organizations across the U.S., with an endowment of $260 million.

No group on the family side has anything even near that money. And there are many other sources for homosexual activists.

1973 - The political power started immediately after the American Psychiatric Association yielded to violent protests at their meetings and removed homosexuality from its list of "disorders."

(The psychiatrist who led the fight to remove them from the "disordered list", Dr. Robert Spitzer, still says he does not believe it is a "disorder," but, "We were not saying that it was necessarily a normal variant." He says, "I agree that a homosexual who is not able to be aroused heterosexually - well, I think, implicitly, there is something not working." He also believes, after studying 200 men and women in the last few years, that they can change. He says, "Like most psychiatrists, I thought that homosexual behavior could only be resisted, and that no one could really change their sexual orientation. I now believe that to be false. Some people can and do change." Dr. Spitzer is Prof. of Psychiatry at Columbia University in New York City and Chief of Biometrics Research.)

1973 - The powerful National Gay and Lesbian Task Force was established in 1973. Although most of its 33 person staff is located in Washington, D.C. and New York City, it has an office in Cambridge, with a fulltime organizer, Sue Hyde. It is credited with the training of homosexuals to battle the Marriage Amendment. One activist told Bay Windows that this group was "doing amazing work already."¸

1980 - The real power began in 1980 when the Human Rights Campaign was organized and gave its first contribution to a Congressional candidate who won in Oregon. In 1982, it gave $140,000 to 118 Congressional candidates, thus becoming the 17th largest PAC in the country and getting Walter Mondale to address a fundraiser at the Waldorf-Astoria. Today, it gives over $22 million/year to homosexual causes. It has a Federal Club in Boston which meets regularly throughout the year.

1994 - The largest group, the Gill Foundation, was founded in 1994 when Tim Gill sold his Quark software giant for $200 million. His foundation has a $260 million endowment. He gave $18.5 million to homosexual causes in 2001.

There are others. For example, high tech moguls Kathy Levinson donates about $500,000/year and David Bohnett gave about $2 million in 2001.

Power in Mass. is Daunting
A large portion of the national millions end up in Massachusetts every year. There is a bewildering array of fulltime groups working the Commonwealth to promote political causes. There are probably more that are not listed here.

GLAD - This organization of homosexual lawyers, which covers New England and was established in 1978, has its offices on Washington Street in downtown Boston with a staff of 16, including five fulltime lawyers working only on homosexual legal issues in our state and the rest of New England. In addition, there are three paralegals, two people in fundraising, two in education about its mission, a public relations person and an events coordinator. This is the group which sued Vermont and now has a suit for gay marriage in the SJC. A conservative estimate of its budget would be $1 million/year. Its complete name is Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders.

National Gay and Lesbian Task Force - A national group with 33 staff members, which has a fulltime staff member, Sue Hyde, working from Cambridge with an office there.

The Massachusetts Lesbian and Gay Bar Association - This Massachusetts group has about 50 acknowledged lawyer/members with its own seat on the governing body of the Mass. Bar Association, known as the Board of Delegates. (Can anyone imagine Mass Citizens for Marriage even addressing the governing board of the MBA, much less having a permanent seat on it?)

Founded in 1985, the purpose of the MLGBA is to promote homosexuality in all areas of the legal community. It is a resource to anyone who is working in the courts on homosexual issues. It apparently does not have an office or employees. It was quick to jump against the Protection of Marriage Amendment with its many lawyer volunteers. For example, after Atty. Gen. Tom Reilly certified the Amendment to go on the ballot, it had an in-depth report in its monthly newsletter from a "longtime" Board member of MLGBA, Asst. Atty. General Rob Quinan.

It's proud of its efforts to have homosexual lawyers become judges. In October 2001, it was successful in having one of its Board members, David Mills, become the first open homosexual appointed to the Court of Appeals (by Jane Swift). He resigned from the MLGBA Board "just prior to taking the oath of office" and said, "I intend to continue my affiliation with MLGBA to the fullest extent permitted by the necessary restrictions of judicial office." He was not appointed because of his qualifications, but because he is homosexual.

Other judges for which they take credit include: Dermot Meagher and Linda Giles to the Boston Municipal Court. Giles was elevated to the Superior Court by Paul Cellucci in 1998. She became famous in 2000 for holding that Brockton had to allow a boy to come to school dressed in girl's clothing although the school said that he was "disruptive to the learning environment." Giles made much of the fact that the student was "diagnosed as having a gender identity disorder." When the city asked her to recuse herself because of her involvement with homosexual activist groups, she refused to do so. Another case which got no publicity, concerned a ruling in 2000 that the priests and congregation at the Episcopal Church in Brockton (which is reported on page 16 of this issue) who opposed homosexual marriage and gay priests could be thrown out of the church. Giles is also Chairwoman of the state courts Gender Equality Advisory Board. Another Judge for whom the MLGBA takes credit is Angela Ordonez at the Nantucket Probate and Family Court.

At their annual Spring Dinner, the keynote speakers have included Margaret Marshall, Chief Justice of the SJC, and Suzanne Delvecchio, Chief Justice of the Superior Court. The latter openly urged the group to work for homosexual marriage in the state even though any lawsuit would have to be filed in her court. After an invitation for her to address a group of Catholic lawyers was rescinded as a result, Delvecchio was not contrite, telling Globe columnist, Eileen McNamara, "I felt sick all right. You have to ask yourself, in this totally male-dominated church, whether a man who was chief justice of the Superior Court would have been disinvited." She was not asked whether any other judge, male or female, would have been so unethical as to publicly urge a political group to bring a political suit in his court.
Other keynote speakers have included Eileen McNamara (who defended Delvecchio in her column), Congressmen Barney Frank and Gerry Studds, and Vermont Gov. Howard Dean.
Another member in high office includes Alec Gray, who is General Counsel to DSS and was formerly General Counsel to the Massachusetts Trial Court.

Freedom to Marry Coalition of Massachusetts - This is one of two groups in Massachusetts that are working exclusively for homosexual marriage in the state. It has an office in Boston on Huntington Avenue and has "a sustained public education and lobbying campaign."

MassEquality.org - This is the other group that is exclusively concerned with gay marriage in our state. It is a coalition of the ACLU, AFL/CIO, Anti-Defamation League, NOW, the Freedom to Marry Coalition and many other homosexual organizations. It has its own offices in the South End of Boston on Columbus Avenue, for the purpose of defeating the Marriage Amendment. It gives its thanks to the Human Rights Campaign (apparently for the money for its support) and the League of Women Voters for Massachusetts.