The Equality Coalition of the SouthCoast
"Promoting respect and equality for all families regardless of sexual orientation through education and advocacy."
On November 17th 2007 The Marriage Equality Coalition of the SouthCoast ceased to be, and The Equality Coalition of the SouthCoast was born. Since The Marriage Equality Coalition was formed to respond to a ballot initiative we had to disband once the initiative was resolved. However the Equality Coalition of the SouthCoast will continue to work to protect the civil rights of the LGBT community.
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The History of Our Coalition :
In the latter half of 2004 a group of concerned citizens here on the SouthCoast was carefully watching our Massachusetts legislature as it debated same-gender civil marriage, same-gender civil unions and the action they should take in light of the decision of the Supreme Judicial Court.
This group formed an organization to discuss what was happening and what we might do to ensure that same-gender civil marriage remained in Massachusetts.
In May of 2005 the vote of our legislature made clear that they would not amend our constitution. At that time opponents of civil marriage for same-gender couples announced that they would hire a corporation from California to gather signatures on a petition banning civil marriage and making no provision for civil unions. If the petition was approved by 50 legislators two years in a row it would appear on the 2008 ballot.
We now knew what our mission was and set out to protect our civil rights. Our work began in earnest in the fall of 2005 as we started to gather friends to expand our steering committee and form a database for members.
We have a dedicated and gifted core of gay, lesbian and straight individuals from virtually every walk of life and demographic guiding this coalition. All of us are focused on the goal that the gay and lesbian citizens of Massachusetts and indeed the rest of the United States have the same level of fairness and benefits for the taxes that they pay as straight people do.
We knew that our personal relationships with others in our community including our local legislators would be important in achieving our goal. We knew that if we could find ways to reach out and educate our friends and neighbors that would help to shine a light on misunderstanding.
That light was bright enough to illuminate the way to victory in the summer of 2007, and our group which was formed to respond to a ballot initiative was dissolved and transitioned into the Equality Coaltion of the SouthCoast under the umbrella of The Community Foundation of Southeastern Massachusetts.
Co-Chairs - Andy Pollock and Liz DiCarlo
Secretary - Bev Bacelli Treasurer - John Vasconcellos
Coordinating Committee of The Equality Coalition of the SouthCoast:
Heather Bonnett
George Charbonneau
Liz DiCarlo
Ann Hebert
Armand Marchand
John Masson
Andrew Pollock
Linda Rodriguez
Jeffrey Schmalz
Equality Coalition of the SouthCoast Phone: 508-536-5991
227 Union Street, Suite 609
New Bedford, MA 02740 E-mail: MECMass@Juno.com
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