SpeakOUT is proud to introduce the Board of Directors for 2016. We welcome four new board members who have joined us over the last six months and will be helping to guide our work in the coming year. If you are interested in learning more about SpeakOUT and how you can become involved with the organization, please email Executive Director Ellyn Ruthstrom at ellyn@speakoutboston.org.
Brian Balduzzi is a new Board Member and Treasurer for SpeakOUT, and he is ecstatic to promote and support its mission. Brian is a former teacher, certified in English Grades 7-12, who followed his passion for advocacy to Boston University School of Law where he earned his JD and Tax LLM. There, he was active in both OutLaw, serving as Treasurer, and the Public Interest Project, serving as Co-President, among other LGBTQ advocacy and public interest organizations. Now, he works as a Tax and Estate Planning Attorney at a mid-sized law firm in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and serves as a Board Member for the Mass. LGBTQ Bar Association and Weston Friendly Society, the second oldest community theatre in the country. In addition to directing and producing LGBTQ theatre, Brian is a reviewer with the Independent Reviewers of New England (IRNE) and American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA), and Managing Editor for ArtsImpulse, a Greater Boston theatre reviewing site. In his spare time, he enjoys taking walks with his partner and King Charles Cavalier-Poodle, belting showtunes, and singing with the Boston Gay Men’s Chorus.
Bill Barnert is the most tenured member of the Board of Directors, having been speaking for SpeakOUT since 1980. He was a co-host of SpeakOUT TV (the weekly cable show produced by the organization from 1993-2007) and PrideTime for Boston cable. Bill is proud of the organizations he has helped to co-found, including the AIDS Action Committee, Brown University TBGALA, and the Cambridge Men's Group. Bill has sung with the Boston Gay Men's Chorus, danced with the ReneGAYdes, drummed with the Freedom Trail Marching Band, and has volunteered at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School’s GSA, "Project-10 East." Currently, he sits on the City of Cambridge GLBT Commission, and he helps run the Cambridge Men’s Group. Professionally, Bill is a User Experience Designer, and is active in BostonCHI. In what's left of his spare time, he is an amateur actor, comedian, and playwright.
Michael Bookman’s attendance at SpeakOUT’s Speaker Training in 2012 inspired him to learn more about the organization and he has been volunteering and speaking for SpeakOUT ever since, joining the Board of Directors in 2014. Michael has served on the Volunteer Recognition Committee and as a disaster services instructor for the American Red Cross of Massachusetts, and as the co-chair of Boston Pride’s Human Rights and Education Committee. Currently in graduate school at Emmanuel College, Michael holds a bachelor’s degree of science in psychology. He is a human resources professional and belongs to the Society of Human Resources Management. For over six years, Michael has been a proud member and executive club committee member of Toastmasters International, a non-profit educational organization that helps its members develop their public speaking and leadership skills.
Michele Canero-Conklin has been on the SpeakOUT board since 2012. Her passion is community service, and she is especially dedicated to life preservation and meeting and connecting with people one-on-one, wherever they may be on this journey we call life. Michele is a seasoned, dedicated, compassionate, and service-oriented campus law enforcement/communications professional with a true passion for mentoring youth to become successful leaders and mentors. She’s also a mother of two adult children, coaches little league softball, and teaches self-defense and CPR/first aid classes.
Jenna Connolly is a Certified Nonprofit Professional with a strong background in volunteer management and a proud new member of the SpeakOUT board as of 2015. She has been an employee with Planned Parenthood since 2014 and is committed to reproductive & sexual justice and education in addition to LGBTQ rights. She considers herself an intersectional feminist and will receive a graduate certificate in Gender, Leadership, and Public Policy from UMass Boston in May 2016, which she hopes to use to break into the advocacy and policy sector. She is an amateur musician and writer in her spare time and currently resides in Brighton with her feline roommate, Peebee.
Jessica Fick joined the SpeakOut board in September 2015. Jessica has served in a variety of talent/organizational development focused roles throughout her career in the nonprofit sector. She is passionate about helping organizations run well and become better places to work/volunteer, so that they can make even more of an impact. Her day job involves leading the talent function at an education consulting firm, for which she has recently taken on the role of integrating diversity and inclusion efforts into the overall recruitment and employee engagement efforts. She joined SpeakOut to learn and extend her impact beyond work. As an LGBTQ ally, Jessica is a true believer in building stronger and more inclusive communities and cultures through listening and understanding the unique perspectives and experiences of others. In her spare time, Jessica enjoys spending time outdoors (walking, hiking, biking) with her husband and dog.
George Grattan’s career track and volunteer history has wound through the woods of academia, non-profits, marketing, writing, acting, public speaking, board service, environmental activism, and general "doing of stuff." George joined the board of SpeakOUT in the fall of 2014, and prior to that was a board member of Living Routes, an environmental study-abroad program. His day gig focuses on marketing academic and social media content for Bentley University in Waltham, where he resides with his wife Mary. He has worked in the past for Earthwatch, the Urban Ecology Institute, Boston College, and the College of the Holy Cross. He has co-authored and co-edited both editions of Writing Places, a place-based composition reader for first-year college courses, and can be found every third Tuesday of the month at a "Bi Guys Bowling Night." George is now serving as SpeakOUT's Board Chair and is also one of our active speakers.
Jenn Guneratne joined SpeakOUT’s board in July 2014, having initially signed on as a volunteer in late 2013 to assist with the organization's social media presence. Since then, she has watched the board grow with a number of highly talented and enthusiastic members. Jenn is excited to be involved with the Board during this time of growth and she is serving in the role of Board Clerk. Professionally, Jenn has worked in both arts organizations and educational institutions, and is currently working for the Undergraduate Affairs department at Boston University College of Communication. Jenn's background and interests span the gamut of drama, music and musicology, photography, deaf studies, involvement with the LGBTQ community and commuting around the city on her trusty bike.
Alley Stoughton became an LGBTQ activist in Kansas during the fight against a proposed amendment to the state's constitution restricting marriage to one man and one woman. The amendment passed, but the process of fighting it had beneficial effects for many participants, both personal and professional. In Alley's case, it gave her the courage to transition genders, restarting a process that had been stalled for decades; it also led to her becoming a social and political activist, taking on leadership roles in a new LGBTQ rights organization as well as in an established peace and justice organization. Alley and her wife moved to Boston in 2010. In her professional life, she's a research computer scientist, and currently works mostly remotely for a research institute located in Madrid. She trained as a SpeakOUT speaker in the fall of 2014, and joined the SpeakOUT board in the summer of 2015. She's also a member of WMBR, MIT's community radio station, where she hosts a modern classical music program.
By Bill BarnertGordon College has gotten a lot of negative press in recent years on LGBTQ issues. The college’s behavioral standards specifically includes a ban on “homosexual practice,” and Gordon’s President D. Michael Lindsay co-signed a letter to President Obama asking for a religious exemption from Obama’s executive order banning federal contractors from discriminating based on sexual orientation or gender identity. (That action resulted in Salem’s mayor prohibiting Gordon from using city facilities.)So when SpeakOUT was invited to speak there in December by a group of LGBTQ students and their allies, One Gordon, we jumped at the chance. After discussions with the Student Activities office, we agreed to share the stage with a Christian group called “Lead Them Home.” Looking at LTH’s website, we found phrases like “Share the Gospel within reach of LGBTQI Communities” and “Assist those in our churches seeking help with gender and sexual brokenness,” so we knew our perspectives were coming from very different places.I have to say, I was very pleasantly surprised by the Lead Them Home speakers. The evening started with a private dinner between the SpeakOUT speakers and board members, LTH, the Vice President of Student Activities, and members of the LGBTQ group. This set the tone for a mutually respectful sharing once we took the stage in the campus auditorium.Both of the LTH speakers were men who acknowledged that they were attracted to men, but did not believe they could act on this because of their views on what it meant to be Christian. In other words, very similar to any straight person who felt that they needed to refrain from pre-marital sex based on their religious beliefs. This definitely resonated with some of Gordon’s students and they came up afterwards to discuss their feelings with LTH. The big difference of course, is that a straight person is just putting off sex for now, and the men in LTH are essentially putting off same-sex expression forever. There was absolutely no “gay bashing” by their speakers and, in fact, one of LTH’s goals is to get Christians to accept gay people as people, while preaching abstinence.The two speakers from SpeakOUT were very well received. Kara, a bisexual woman, and Paul, a gay man, shared their life experiences, and talked about their husbands and their experiences within their own Christian churches. Paul shared how important it was for him to marry his husband in his local church and Kara talked about how elements of intolerance in her denomination inspired her to do more work within her local congregation. The questions from the students were thoughtful and respectful, and Kara and Paul's answers were insightful. For many of the students in the audience, it was a refreshing change to hear people talk comfortably about their sexuality and their religion in the same breath, with no seeming contradiction. Quite a few came up afterwards and thanked the speakers for their participation.The Gordon College students were very appreciative to have us there, and to have a chance to hear a pro-LGBTQ pro-Christian message. It's hard to measure how much effect we had, but both the students and the administration have asked that we return in the future. Here's hoping that little steps grow to larger strides of understanding.
