Tom Menino on Civil Rights

You know what we call "same sex couples"? Our friends

Co-chaired "Mayors for the Freedom to Marry" effort

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings is still refusing to sign onto the pledge, despite a petition with 253 signatures and promises of protests at his upcoming public events.

The group has also added two new co-chairs, San Diego's Jerry Sanders and Boston's Thomas Menino; with New York's Michael Bloomberg, L.A.'s Antonio Villaraigosa and Houston's own Annise Parker. The five-co-chairs issued the following statement: Source: Dallas Voice, "Mayors for the Freedom to Marry" , Jan 20, 2012

Ordered domestic partners benefits for municipal staff

• From 1996 to 1998, Mayor Menino lobbied the Massachusetts Legislature to pass a home rule petition which would allow the Boston City Council to enact a domestic partners ordinance.
• In August, 1998, when Acting Governor A. Paul Cellucci vetoed the measure, Mayor Menino, against the advice of his own corporation counsel, arbitrarily and unlawfully instituted a domestic partners benefits program for municipal employees by executive order. This order was challenged in Suffolk County Superior Court by the American Center for Law and Justice and the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts.
• On July 8, 1999, the Supreme Judicial Court of the Commonwealth, in a unanimous decision written by then-Associate Justice Margaret Marshall, overturned the executive order in Connors vs. the City of Boston.

Supports same-sex marriage & teaching affirmation in schools

• On May 17, 2004, the first day that same-gender marriage ceremonies could be legally performed in the Commonwealth, Mayor Menino, a supporter of same-sex marriage, personally welcomed homosexual and lesbian couples to Boston City Hall amid much fanfare and media attention.
• Since 1994, Mayor Menino has boycotted Boston's Saint Patrick's Day Parade because the organizers have refused to allow a homosexual group to march in the parade. Mayor Menino has also in the past forbidden Boston Police officers, firefighters, and emergency medical technicians from marching in the parade, describing it as "a discriminatory event."
• Under Mayor Menino's appointed School Committee, the Boston School Department has embraced such homosexual programs as the Safe School Initiative and Gay/Straight Alliances, which teach that homosexual relationships ought to be affirmed.

Leads Boston's annual Gay Pride parade

• In June of each year, Mayor Menino leads Boston's Gay Pride Parade, welcomes marchers to Boston, and allows Boston Police officers, in uniform, to march in the parade.
• Each year in June, Mayor Menino allows the pink triangle homosexual flag to be flown over Boston City Hall Plaza as part of Gay Pride celebrations, often personally participating in the flag raising ceremony.
• Each year during Gay Pride Week, Mayor Menino sponsors a gay prom for teenagers at Boston City Hall, where condoms have been distributed.
• Mayor Menino declared June 3, 2005 to be Queer Eye Day in the City of Boston.
• Mayor Menino is a supporter of both gay rights and transgendered rights, whereby sexual orientation and identity are included in the protected categories of civil rights legislation.
• Mayor Menino has maintained at public expense a gay and lesbian liaison office at Boston City Hall.

Celebrated first gay marriage; "We've broken down a barrier"