OUR BOARD
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Jeremy Comeau* and Tanya Neslusen*
Co-Chairs
David Georgantas
Treasurer
Jay Rivera*
Clerk
*Denotes Democratic State Committee Members
David Albright*
Bryan Barash*
Claudia Bowman
Rhonda Bourne*
Steve Iannaccone
Tom McGrath*
Henry Paquin
Mel Poindexter*
Tina Poindexter*
Matt Walsh*
Claire Naughton*
Dennis Naughton*
Karen Payne*
Joseph Kaplan*
Alexandra Chandler
Diego Miguel Sanchez*
Holly Ryan*
Jackie Curtis*
Carol Ann Aloisi*
Michael Lanava*
Martina Jackson*
A BIT ABOUT US
Bay State formed and received the right to use “Democratic” in its name, by vote of the Massachusetts Democratic State Committee, in 1988. After several years of inactivity, Bay State incorporated as a Massachusetts non-profit corporation in 1995, created an affiliated political action committee, elected a new board of directors and has, in the past ten years, created a powerful Democratic organization in the Massachusetts gay and lesbian communities, as well as an effective counterweight to the gay Republican Log Cabin Club and the organized supporters of the Republican Weld and Cellucci Administrations. In addition, we worked closely with other gay and lesbian Democratic clubs across the country to form the National Stonewall Democratic Federation in 1998, now National Stonewall Democrats.
WHY THE DEMOCRATS?
As a diverse group of democratic activists, we know that this party is the only one willing, committed and in a position to achieve the LGBT communities’ goals for equal rights and equal participation in our government: local, state and national.
We share the Democratic Party’s vision on a broad range of issues important to the LGBT community:
equal opportunity for all
protecting and expanding the rights of the poor, working people and minorities
promoting freedom and responsibility for all
Among our activities are:
lobbying the statehouse on issues of importance to the LGBTQ+ community
providing financial support through our Political Action Committee (BSSD-PAC) to Democratic candidates who support LGBTQ+ issues
participating on the Democratic State Committee, of which ten seats through our efforts are designated for LGBTQ+ representation
securing representation of LGBTQ+ delegates to the Democratic State and National Conventions