Category: Gender and Sexuality
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Transgender Equal Rights Law Shows Promising Start: New laws, while flawed, pave new ways for transgender rights
Noelle Swan Spare Change News Kim McMurray began her medical transition from male to female at 49 years old. “If I had done this in my early teens, there’s a good chance I’d have ended up in a psychiatric ward and shock therapy wasn’t uncommon then.” She waited half a century to live as her…
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Mass. GLBT Teens Still Face Disproportionate Risks in Public Schools
Noelle Swan Spare Change News Through tears, Roger Bourgeois described an evening when his high school-age son sat him and his wife down at the kitchen table to tell them why their life would be better if he were dead because he was broken. As they tried to assure him that things would get better…
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Women's Commission Presses for Equal Pay/ Sick Day Bills
By Colleen Quinn STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, JUNE 13, 2012….Women across the state face an frightening rate of poverty as they age because many work lower-paying or part-time jobs that leave them without pensions and retirement savings, according to the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women. Commission members gathered for their…
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Why Are Gay Rights Still Disputed?
James Shearer Spare Change news Over the past few weeks, discussion has once again come up about gay marriage. It all began with conversations about North Carolina’s proposal to ban not only gay marriage but also civil unions. Somehow, this absurd proposal became state law. (Hey, can we just annex the South and move on?…
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Back in the Closet: “Gen Silent” Explores Challenges Facing Gay Seniors
Noelle Swan Spare Change News “Long ago we decided, to hell with hiding,” Sheri Barden told a small group gathered at the Fenway Community Health Center last month for a screening of the documentary film Gen Silent directed and produced by Stu Maddox. The 78 year-old South End framer and her partner, Lois Johnson, have…