OUTTAKE VOICES™ (Interviews)

Attorney Scott Squillace talks about his new book “Whether to Wed: A Legal & Tax Guide For Gay & Lesbian Couples” Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson host of OUTTAKE VOICES™. Since the Supreme Court’s decision last June that struck down Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the floodgates opened for federal rights and benefits to flow to legally married gay and lesbian couples across the country. As our LGBT community deals with our income taxes this year there’s a brand new book that’s a must-read for legally married gay and lesbian couples and those that are thinking about tying the knot. “Whether To Wed” delves into the complex details that gay and lesbian couples as well as their tax and estate planners need to know. We talked to Scott about why he decided it was time to write and publish a book that answers many if not all questions that gay and lesbian couples need to know before or after getting married and get his spin on our LGBT issues.

When asked what his personal commitment is to LGBT civil rights Squillace stated, “I’ve increasingly gotten involved in the marriage equality movement. I lived and worked in Europe for the decade of the nineties and wasn’t too terribly involved other than to write out a few checks. When I returned to the States around 2000 shortly thereafter I got introduced to GLAD (Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders) in Boston and the case they had filed here in Massachusetts and it was at an event for the Massachusetts LGBTQ Bar Association that they honored the plaintive couples and they were introduced as ‘These are the Rosa Parks of our generation and are the people first standing up and saying it’s not ok to discriminate against us’. It really resonated with me because I thought if people like me who are moderately well-educated and may have a voice in our community don’t stand up and support this effort we’ll have nobody to blame but ourselves for being discriminated against. So that led me down the path to joining the initial board of MassEquality that was supporting the marriage equality movement in Massachusetts and I’ve done a variety of other things. I’m very passionate about these issues. I’m a member of the Supreme Court Bar and attended the oral arguments on the big cases that were decided last year and I follow it all very closely.”

Scott Squillace is a Certified Legacy Advisor of The Sunbridge Legacy Institute, a member of The Boston Foundation’s Professional Advisors Committee and Co-Chair of its Equality Fund an Endowment for the LGBT Community. He also serves as a member of the Board of Directors for the Boston Estate Planning Council and is a member of the Massachusetts LGBTQ Bar Association, Pride Planners, the Massachusetts Bar Association and Boston Bar Association where he currently co-chairs its Estate Planning Fundamentals Committee. Squillace lives in Boston with his husband.
For More Info: whether-to-wed.com

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Gay champion attorney Maura Healey who is running for Attorney General in Massachusetts talks with Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson host of OUTTAKE VOICES™. Maura has been Attorney General Martha Coakley's right hand for the last seven years achieving monumental victories to protect consumers, homeowners and is a champion of LGBT equality. As Chief of the Attorney General’s Civil Rights division Healey spearheaded the efforts of an extraordinary team to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act winning the first federal court decision striking down DOMA, which discriminated against gay and lesbian legally married couples. We talked to Maura about her campaign to become Massachusetts’ next Attorney General and her spin on our LGBT issues.

When asked what her personal commitment is to LGBT civil rights Healey stated, “My commitment is deeply personal. I’m a gay person myself so of course it’s personal. I do feel and hope that equality is everyone’s agenda and everyone’s interest and something that everyone should be behind but I certainly have a personal commitment to issues of equality. I also have a lot of resolve. I mean I know how hard it is; I know the barriers created by discrimination. I’ve seen that in my own lifetime both as a young woman growing up and as a young gay woman growing up and I’ve seen that discrimination play out in the lives of friends and colleagues. So my commitment here is real and it’s deep and I want to make sure that we’re making it easier and better for people to be able to live the way they want to live. I go back to my youth and I’m a product of Title IX and a beneficiary of Title IX which was a federal law that made possible great gains for girls and women in athletics and I’m a beneficiary because of that law I was ultimately able to play college basketball Division One and ultimately have a professional basketball career. So I think that the kind of laws we have are terrifically important and as Attorney General you have the opportunity to enforce laws and enforce laws that protect civil rights. So I look forward to doing that but I know it takes a lot of resolve and it takes a lot of hard work. When we put together the state’s case challenging DOMA a lot of people tried to talk us out of it and I know at the time I argued that case, the majority of Americans were not supportive of marriage equality and even the President and the Justice Department were standing behind DOMA. But I also know that eventually that changed and we did prevail and things can change but it requires perseverance, resolve and that’s certainly a commitment I’m going to continue. So for whatever the fights are that we have ahead I’m prepared to stand in and make sure that we’re advancing equality and not moving backwards.”

Maura Healey attended Harvard where she majored in government and captained the Harvard basketball team. After two years as a starting point guard for the UBBC Wustenrot Salzburg professional basketball team in Austria, Maura returned to Massachusetts to attend law school at Northeastern University. She then served as a litigator in one of Boston’s most prominent law firms, Wilmer Hale and as a Special Assistant District Attorney in Middlesex County. In 2007 Healey joined the Attorney General’s Office where she headed two prominent divisions in the state’s chief law enforcement office – both the Public Protection & Advocacy Bureau and the Business & Labor Bureau. Maura lives in Charlestown with her partner.
For More Info: maurahealey.com

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Pam Grier legendary actor for her roles as “Foxy Brown”, “Jackie Brown” and Kit Porter in “The L Word” talks about Dining Out For Life, the HIV/AIDS fundraiser with Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson host of OUTTAKE VOICES™. Dining Out For Life hosted by Subaru® takes place in 60 cities across North America on Thursday, April 24th. The idea for this simple concept was conceived 23 years ago in Philadelphia. More than 3,000 participating restaurants donate a generous percentage of that day’s proceeds to support service providers in their region to fund care, prevention, education, testing, counseling and other essential HIV/AIDS services. An estimated $4 million will be raised in just one day of dining. We talked to Pam about being a spokesperson for this fabulous event and her spin on our LGBT issues.

When asked what her personal commitment is to LGBT civil rights Grier stated, “As much as I can be a part to establish the fact that everyone has a right as a human being to live like one. I made such great friends for life whom I met during “The L Word” and doing “The L Word” for six seasons, it’s in 23 countries, and to have people from all over the world come over and embrace me and say ‘thank you’, and you can never do enough. I can’t beat down people’s doors; I can’t take their religious dogmas and make them listen to me; I would not be presumptuous to say I can change people’s minds about community and life but you know I’m out there and I’m working for it. I’m fighting for it.”

When asked about a possible L Word reunion Pam added, “I don’t really know but you know what’s timely right now is not a reunion but to re-air all six seasons of “The L Word” because we covered so many broad social and political areas that’s it’s timely now. We finished our last show in 2008, the sixth season and I’m sure we’re part of the conscious and subconscious of viewership and made a difference in the political arenas. It would be great to see it air again now and cast that wide net of comprehension to a lot of people who didn’t watch it because it started in 2002 and here we’re talking eleven years later, that’s over a decade of serious battlement, comprehension, people making a difference in the equality of the LGBT community. I think it would just be so appropriate now so as far as a reunion, don’t know, as far as a movie, don’t know but here again I would love to see it re-aired.”

Pam Grier’s memoir, “Foxy: My Life in Three Acts” became a New York Times Bestseller, won “Best Memoir of 2010” Award from the African American Literary organization and received the Golda Meir Center for Political Leadership Award. In 2012 Pam received the Legend Award at the Essence Black Women In Hollywood Awards. 2014 marks her fourth year serving as a spokesperson for Dining Out for Life International hosted by Subaru® and is joined by three other celebrity spokespeople for this fabulous fundraiser including Ted Allen, host of Food Network’s “Chopped”, designer Mondo Guerra, winner of “Project Runway All-Stars” and chef Daisy Martinez from Food Network’s “¡Viva Daisy!”.
For More Info: diningoutforlife.com

Hear 200+ LGBT Interviews @OUTTAKE VOICES™

Kristen Ellis-Henderson and Cathy Henderson cofounders of the all-female alternative country rock band Antigone Rising talk to Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson host of OUTTAKE VOICES™. After touring with acts such as The Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, The Allman Brothers Band, The Bangles and traveling to Israel and the West Bank as cultural ambassadors for the United States Embassy, the band has introduced their latest single "That Was The Whiskey". It’s featured on the first of their two five-song CDs entitled "Whiskey & Wine - Volume 1" set for release on March 25th. ("Whiskey & Wine - Volume 2" will be out October 28th 2014.) Earlier this month Antigone Rising appeared on Olivia Travel’s Caribbean Equality & Leadership Cruise with Edie Windsor, Maya Angelou, Suzanne Westenhoefer, Meredith Baxter and Judy Gold among others. We talked to Kristen and Cathy about their music and their spin on our LGBT issues.

 When asked what her personal commitment is to LGBT civil rights Kristen stated, “For me you know I’ve got family and I’ve got kids and I think it’s really important to set the best example possible for them, obviously. It’s also something that Sara my wife and I have naturally moved towards. Sara was Chairman of Out At Time Inc. when she was working at a magazine called Real Simple and so we often went out to events hosted by HRC or GLAAD, things like that so we became part of the movement. Then we ended up writing a book Sara and I because we got pregnant on the exact same day but that’s a whole story to itself. With that we realized we’ve got a voice here and we can be part of this movement and we want to be. So we ended up working with GLAAD quite a bit and going out and being spokespeople during the marriage equality movement here in New York, which is the state we live in. We’ve become involved in the movement and very passionate about it. My wife and I want to be sure that our kids see that you can be whoever you want to be. You can do whatever you want to do and you should be proud of who you are and so that’s kind of our mission.”

Antigone Rising consists of Kristen Ellis-Henderson on bass guitar/vocals, Cathy Henderson on lead guitar/vocals, Dena Tauriello on drums and Nini Camps on rhythm guitar and lead vocals. Last spring Kristen Ellis-Henderson and her wife Sarah Kate Ellis who was recently appointed President and CEO of GLAAD were featured on the cover of TIME Magazine's groundbreaking marriage equality issue. Antigone Rising has also launched a fundraising campaign at pledgemusic.com to support their music and touring, with 5% of the proceeds to be donated to GLAAD. Next month they’ll be appearing at Church of Boston 69 Kilmarnock Street in Boston, MA on Friday March 7th at 8P and on Saturday March 8th at Iron Horse 20 Center St. Northampton, MA at 7P.
For More Dates & Info: antigonerising.com

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Anna Aagenes, Executive Director of GO! Athletes, which is the first national educational organization dedicated to LGBTQ student athletes talks with Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson host of OUTTAKE VOICES™. GO! (Generation Out) Athletes connects current and former LGBT student athletes and allies at high school, collegiate and post-graduate levels to educate and empower future generations of LGBT athletes. They also serve as a united voice to encourage schools to create safer spaces for LGBT athletes. GO! Athletes is also dedicated to educating coaches, administrators and fans to foster athletic communities that are accepting of all athletes regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. GO! Athletes has created the #Out4Olympics campaign in response to the public outcry over Russia's anti-LGBT policies. We talked to Aagenes about the importance of this campaign and her spin on our LGBT issues.

When asked what her spin is on the Sochi Olympics with Russia’s anti gay laws Aagenes stated, “You know it’s been very disheartening to see the stories of brutal harassment attacks and the laws that are obviously really discriminatory against the LGBT community and those who have traveled there for the Olympic Games. We began a campaign last year which we call Out 4 Olympics. So we hash tag Out the number Four and Olympics. (#Out4Olympics) We’ve done grassroots campaigns before but this is really LGBTQ athletes supporting fellow athletes. You know some of us have the privilege of being able to come out and those who do we hope can show support and solidarity to those in Russia, those traveling to Russia and those who can’t come out yet or don’t feel comfortable coming out yet. It’s really been exciting to see high school students, college students, coaches, even professional players some of them, utilizing the campaign. We have a Twitim which means you can change you profile picture on Twitter and Facebook and what we’re going to do with that is compile that into a culmination at the end of the games.”

Anna Aagenes was captain of the University of Pennsylvania Women’s Track and Field and Cross Country Team, a school record holder in three relay events and an NCAA Regional qualifier in the 800m and 1500m. Currently she is the District Office Director for openly gay Pennsylvania State Representative Brian Sims. February 28th will conclude GO! Athletes #Out4Olympics campaign and all photos will be compiled into a book to be presented to the USOC and the IOC.
For More Info: goathletes.org

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Federal Judge Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen rules that Virginia’s ban on marriage for gay & lesbian couples is unconstitutional. The court held that Virginia’s laws prohibiting gay men & lesbians from marrying including a provision in the Virginia Constitution that prohibits marriage equality in the state violate the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen wrote in her 41 page decision, “We have arrived upon another moment in history when We the People becomes more inclusive, & our freedom more perfect. The men & women, & the children too, whose voices join in noble harmony with Plaintiffs today, also ask for fairness, & fairness only. This, so far as it is in this Court’s power, they & all others shall have.” Plaintiffs’ lead co-counsel Theodore B. Olson added, “Through its decision today, the court has upheld the principles of equality upon which this nation was founded. Virginia’s prohibition on marriage for same-sex couples relegates gay & lesbian Virginians to second-class status.  Laws excluding gay men & lesbians from marriage violate personal freedom, are an unnecessary government intrusion, & cause serious harm. That type of law cannot stand. The American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER) who is the sole sponsor of Bostic v. Rainey Executive Director Adam Umhoefer concluded, “The court’s decision is clear: where you live should not determine who you can marry. Everyone—in Virginia & every other state—should have the freedom to dedicate their life to the person they love, & every state should recognize that right equally among all Americans.  Today’s victory gets us one step closer to making that a reality.”

Read Full Decision…

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Rea Carey, Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force talks with Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson host of OUTTAKE VOICES™ about the 26th National Conference on LGBT Equality: Creating Change that recently took place in Houston, Texas. Over 4,000 people from all over the country attended this five-day program that featured over 390 workshops, training sessions, meetings and events. This year’s Keynote speaker was Laverne Cox best known for her work on “Orange is the New Black”. Carey gave the State of the Movement address, looking forward to critical legislative issues specifically affecting our LGBT community, including passing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) and fair immigration reform. She also included the need for access to quality, affordable health care and racial and economic justice-related issues. We talked to Rea about this important conference and her spin on our LGBT issues.

When asked what her personal commitment is to LGBT civil rights Carey stated, “Well it started in a few places. My parents were very politically active in the progressive community and in grassroots politics going door-to-door talking about issues they cared about and I grew up with that. I also grew up in a community that cared very much about racial justice in the 1960’s and 1970’s and it’s really been my life’s work. I started my activism and advocacy working on issues that effect LGBT queer youth as well as HIV/AIDS. In fact, at the same time, I was a member of Act Up DC and I was an LGBT lobbyist. So that also has formed my commitment which is that there are many strategies that we have to engage in grassroots organizing, legal strategies, sometimes taking to the streets, talking to decision makers, in order to achieve change. So I have truly devoted my life to evolving justice for LGBT people.”

Rea Carey is one of the most prominent leaders in the U.S. LGBT rights movement. She became Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force in 2008 after serving as their deputy executive director since 2004. Through her leadership she has advanced a vision of fairness and justice for LGBT people and their families that is broad, inclusive and unabashedly progressive. The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force was founded in 1973 and works to build the grassroots political power of the LGBT community to win complete equality.

For More Info: thetaskforce.org

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In a historic milestone for marriage equality the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia heard oral argument for the first time on the constitutionality of Virginia’s marriage ban. The Plaintiffs in Bostic v. Rainey were represented by the bipartisan legal team of Theodore B. Olson & David Boies who argued that the provision in the Virginia Constitution that prohibits marriage equality in the commonwealth violates the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. We caught up with the legal team minutes after they left the court in this exclusive audio press conference. The press conference was hosted by Adam Umhoefer, Executive Director, American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER) who was joined by Olson & Boies, the Plaintiffs & Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring who two weeks ago announced his decision not to defend the ban on marriage for Virginia’s gay & lesbian couples. This is a rare opportunity to listen to the legal team & the Plaintiffs Tim Bostic & Tony London who have been together for 24 years & Plaintiffs Carol Schall & Mary Townley who have been together for almost 30 years & were legally married in California in 2008. The Plaintiffs express their reactions to the case & talked about the possible outcomes. AFER successfully sponsored the constitutional challenge that eliminated California’s Proposition 8, is the sole sponsor of Bostic v. Rainey.

For More Info: afer.org

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Pothik Chatterjee talks with Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson host of OUTTAKE VOICES™ about an important panel he has organized entitled “LGBT Rights in India: The Way Forward” that takes place at Harvard University on Sunday February 16th from 4:10P to 5:10P. The panel will be addressing the recent re-criminalization of homosexuality by the Supreme Court of India with Section 377. The panel will focus on how this anti gay law will affect the lives of our LGBT community in India and how to channel this setback into productive policy and effective strategy. It’s all part of the Harvard India Conference 2014: ‘Turning the Page: Prospects & Paradoxes” that takes place February 15th and 16th. We talked to Pothik about “LGBT Rights in India: The Way Forward” and his spin on our LGBT issues.

When asked what his personal commitment is to LGBT civil rights Chatterjee stated, “My personal commitment to LGBT civil rights began when I was an undergraduate at Georgetown University, which you might know is a Catholic/Jesuit university. While I was an undergraduate I was part of the student movement to establish an LGBT resource center on our campus to help undergraduate students with coming out to their family and friends, being out on campus and deal with bullying and some harassment that was taking place on campus. We faced a lot of opposition initially because of the Jesuit administration and fears about how the alumni would react but ultimately we were successful and Georgetown has an LGBTQ Student Center and so that was a great victory. Since then I have marched with the Human Rights Campaign at Washington D.C.’s Pride and before that I use to live in Toronto, Canada where I volunteered for the Alliance for South Asian AIDS Prevention and I helped facilitate a queer support group called DOSTI for South Asian gay men and many of them were recent immigrates so they were new to Canada and new to North America. It was a great experience and I continue that LGBT activism here at Harvard with my involvement with the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender student alliance and I think it’s a good time to be at Harvard Business School where people have a more open mindset and people are more willing to talk about being gay and being out and open in the context of business in the professional world. So it’s quite an exciting time.”

Pothik Chatterjee is currently finishing his MBA at Harvard Business School and will graduate in May 2014. Speakers for the “LGBT Rights in India: The Way Forward” panel will include Ashok Row Kavi, Mesma Belsare, Apphia Kumar, Amit Dixit, Ramakrishnan Kazhiyur-Mannar, Siddharth Narrain and Jonathan Ripley at the Harvard Kennedy School Sunday February 16th from 4:10 to 5:10P.
For More Info: harvardindiaconference.com

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Ted Allen, television personality and host of Food Network’s “Chopped” talks about Dining Out For Life the HIV/AIDS fundraiser with Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson host of OUTTAKE VOICES™. Dining Out For Life hosted by Subaru® takes place in 60 cities across North America on Thursday, April 24th. The event was conceived 23 years ago in Philadelphia and the concept is quite simple. More than 3,000 participating restaurants donate a generous percentage of that day’s proceeds to support service providers in their region to fund care, prevention, education, testing, counseling and other essential HIV/AIDS services. An estimated $4 million will be raised in just one day of dining. We talked to Ted about being a spokesperson for this fabulous event and his spin on our LGBT issues.

When asked what his personal commitment is to LGBT civil rights Allen stated, “Well you know I’m living this life. I’m a member of this team. I don’t profess to be any sort of hero. I think there are a lot of activists who devote their whole lives and work a lot harder than I do and I’m grateful for all of those folks. The one thing that all of us can do is just the fact of being out. That’s one thing that the “Queer Eye” boys and I were able to do. Just that even today has an impact on young people. It’s a nice first step.”

Ted Allen is host of the hit primetime Food Network series “Chopped” which received two James Beard Awards; one for the show itself, the other for Ted as host. Previously Ted was a judge on the first four seasons of Bravo’s “Top Chef” and Food Network’s “Iron Chef America”. He first appeared on the reality TV scene as the food and wine specialist on the groundbreaking Bravo series “Queer Eye,” which was nominated twice for an Emmy Award and took the prize in 2004. 2014 will mark his seventh year as spokesperson for Dining Out For Life. He’s joined by three other celebrity spokespeople for this fabulous fundraiser including actor Pam Grier (Foxy Brown, The L Word), designer Mondo Guerra, winner of Project Runway All-Stars and chef Daisy Martinez from Food Network’s “¡Viva Daisy!”
For More Info: diningoutforlife.com

Hear 200+ LGBT Interviews @OUTTAKE VOICES™