No 2024 Olympics For Boston

Back in January the USOC selected Boston as the official bid city for the United States, rejecting the other shortlisted cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington DC. Atlanta was the most recent US host city for the Summer Games in 1996. Unless the USOC digs back into their shortlist, the next shot for the US to host will be 32 years after the Atlanta games. Next year's Summer Games will be hosted by Rio De Janeiro.

BOSTON: Police Academy Cadets Graduate As First Openly Gay Couple

Via the Boston Herald:

Jimmy Moccia and Shawn MacIver will make a small but significant piece of local history tomorrow. They will become the first openly gay couple to graduate from the Boston Police Academy. Both men scored 100 on their civil service tests. They have been together for five years, and yesterday, in a steady rain, they completed the traditional eight-mile run along with their recruit class 5414, from the police academy in Hyde Park to Schroeder Plaza. Moccia, who grew up in Hyde Park, has a father and brother who are also Boston cops. “I think it’s important to note that throughout the entire academy experience we were never afraid to be ourselves,” he said after yesterday’s run. “I’m not going to lie. I was pretty nervous on the first day back in December,” he said, “I sort of didn’t want people to find out because I didn’t want people to look at me differently. I wanted people to get to know us. We didn’t want to be known as ‘the gay cops.’ We’re cops who just happen to be gay. There’s so many other things we are. Yeah, gay’s on the list, but it doesn’t define us.

The couple met while working as bouncers at a Boston gay club. (Tipped by JMG reader Tristam)

Aaron Hernandez Found Guilty

Details.

Boston Marathon Bomber Found Guilty

Via the Boston Globe:

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was convicted Wednesday of carrying out the April 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, which devastated a festive crowd near the world-renowned race’s finish line, killing three people and wounding more than 260 others. Tsarnaev, 21, who prosecutors said was a self-radicalized Muslim bent on striking a blow against America, now faces a second phase of his trial in which a jury will decide whether to sentence him to death. The second phase could begin within days. Tsarnaev and his late older brother, Tamerlan, planted twin bombs at the race on the afternoon of April 15, 2013. Prosecutors have said that Tsarnaev carried out the crimes in a “heinous, cruel and depraved manner” and that he deserves the death penalty. He was charged with 30 crimes, including 17 that carried the possibility of a death sentence. The jury of seven women and five men deliberated for just over 11 hours before rendering its verdict, after hearing the lawyers’ closing arguments early Monday.

Many death penalty opponents find themselves questioning their position in cases like this. Myself included.

Matt Baume On St. Patrick's Day Parades

Clip recap: "Why does it matter whether or not gays are allowed to march in the St. Patrick's Day Parade? Don't they have enough parades of their own? Let's talk about why gays and parades are such a big deal -- and why this year's parade is such an important change of pace from the 110 years that came before."

Bill Donohue Has The St. Patrick's Day Parade Sadz: My Own People Did Me In

Start at the 3:00 mark.

Boston's Mayor Is Over The Snow

Via USA Today:

More snow fell on Boston on Sunday, enough to make this the snowiest season ever on record there. The National Weather Service said 2.9 inches fell by 7 p.m., pushing total snowfall for the winter of 2014-2015 to 108.6 inches. That is a full inch over the previous record set during the winter of 1995-1996, the service's Boston office tweeted, and the most since record books started in 1872. The achievement brought cheerful, tongue-in-cheek celebration from many of the snow-weary survivors of winter in Boston. "Putting the win in winter!" tweeted Christina Pazzanese. "We got the GOLD!" tweeted WBZ weatherman Barry Burbank.

BOSTON: LGBT Groups March For First Time In St. Patrick's Day Parade

Via the Boston Globe:

History marched through South Boston on Sunday as gay organizations took their place for the first time in the annual St. Patrick’s Day parade. Joining them in front of hundreds of thousands of green-clad revelers was Mayor Martin J. Walsh, the first Boston chief executive to walk the route in two decades. “I’m very excited,” Walsh said just before stepping off under a light, cold rain. “We can finally move beyond the issue of inclusiveness.”

Walsh, who tried unsuccessfully in 2014 to negotiate the inclusion of a gay rights group, announced last week that he would walk the snow-shortened route from the Broadway MBTA station to Pleasure Bay because organizers had invited OUTVETS, which includes lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender veterans.

The former mayor, Thomas M. Menino, had consistently boycotted the parade because its organizers from the South Boston Allied War Veterans, backed by a US Supreme Court ruling, refused to allow gay groups to participate. But on Sunday, politicians were a major, can’t-miss part of the festivities. Governor Charlie Baker and Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito were among them.

RELATED: Irish Queers will be staging their annual protest in New York City tomorrow despite the first time ever inclusion of a single LGBT group. Visit their Facebook event page.

Paging Bill Donohue

Via the Associated Press:

For the first time in its history, the sponsors of Boston's St. Patrick's Day parade will allow a group representing the gay community to participate, drawing cheers from Mayor Martin Walsh, who boycotted the event last year over the exclusion.

The South Boston Allied War Veterans Council, which has long resisted the inclusion of gay groups and won a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 1995 upholding their right to ban them from the annual parade that draws hundreds of thousands of spectators, voted 5-4 on Monday night to allow the group OutVets to march in the parade scheduled for March 15.

They will be allowed to carry a blue banner with five white stars representing the branches of the military and six vertical rainbow stripes. The group represents lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender veterans and participated in the city's Veterans Day parade last month.

Ooh, somebody's gonna have a turrrrible case of the sadz.

At Boston's Santa Speedo Run 2014

Video by JMG reader Rob.

BOSTON: Former Mayor And Longtime LGBT Ally Tom Menino Dies At 71

Longtime LGBT ally and former Boston Mayor Tom Menino died yesterday at the age of 71.

Thomas Michael Menino, who insisted a mayor doesn’t need a grand vision to lead, then went on to shepherd Boston’s economy and shape the skyline and the very identity of the city he loved through an unprecedented five consecutive terms in City Hall, died Thursday. He was 71 and was diagnosed with advanced cancer not long after leaving office at the beginning of this year. “Visionaries don’t get things done,” he once said, crisply separating himself from politicians who gaze at distant horizons and imagine what might be. Leaving to others the lofty rhetoric of Boston as the Athens of America, he took a decidedly ground-level view of the city on a hill, earning himself a nickname for his intense focus on the nuts and bolts of everyday life: the urban mechanic.

BOSTON: Arthur Pushes Fourth To Third

Via the Boston Globe:

The Fourth of July will come on the Third this year in Boston. The annual Boston Pops concert and fireworks extravaganza on the Esplanade in Boston will be held Thursday instead of Friday because of the bad weather expected from Tropical Storm Arthur, officials said this afternoon. “It’s not optimal. We wish it were, but we’ve got to deal with this,” State Police Colonel Timothy Alben said at a news conference this afternoon. Alben and other officials gathered at a news conference on the Esplanade this afternoon and said that after studying weather reports and consulting with experts from the National Weather Service, they had decided that Thursday, even though there were predictions of rain, would be a better day than Friday to hold the concert and fireworks. While the Fourth of July concert traditionally draws 600,000 to 1 million people, Alben acknowledged that the numbers would likely be lower with the abrupt change in schedule and the concert falling on a workday.

Earlier today it was announced that the Macy's fireworks show over New York City's East River will take place rain or shine.

LOS ANGELES: Grammy Museum To Open Exhibit Honoring Donna Summer

Via the Randy Report:

Fans of classic 70s and 80s pop/rock/dance music - mark your calendars! On July 2, 2014, The GRAMMY Museum will unveil its latest temporary exhibition, Donna Summer: Four Seasons of Love. Located on the Museum’s fourth floor, the exhibition will offer visitors a behind-the-scenes look at the iconic career of 5-time Grammy Award-winner Donna Summer. This will be the first exhibition highlighting the career of the legendary “Queen of Disco.” “Donna Summer galvanized a diverse group of music fans and she was able to give credibility to a genre of music that had many skeptics,” said GRAMMY Museum executive director Bob Santelli. “We are honored to tell her story and help demonstrate why Donna Summer is not only the undisputed ‘Queen of Disco,’” but also one of the most successful female artists of all time.”

The show runs through the spring of 2015. More details.

RELATED: In other Donna Summer news, there's a Facebook group advocating that a memorial to Summer be built in her birthplace of Boston. On July 18th the city of Boston will present "The Donna Summer Memorial Roller Disco Party" on City Hall Plaza. Bring your own skates or rent them at City Hall.

Paging Bill Donohue

Details.

Use Yah Blinkah

Via Boston televison:

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation no doubt got the attention of thousands of motorists Friday morning when their electronic highway message boards suddenly had a wicked strong Boston accent. In an effort to get attention to the Massachusetts law that requires all drivers to signal when changing lanes, the signs read "Use Yah Blinkah." The law, which clearly requires the use of a signal when changing lanes, is widely ignored by some Massachusetts drivers.

American Man Wins Boston Marathon

For first time in 31 years, an American man has won the Boston Marathon.

American Meb Keflezighi won the Boston Marathon men's title on a day that was marked by remembrances of the bombings one year ago. He held off Wilson Chebet of Kenya at the finish to win in a time of 2:08.37. Keflezighi, who will turn 39 next month, was cheered by massive crowds from Hopkinton to Boylston Street wearing a red and white top and blue shorts. He's the first American man to win in Boston since Greg A. Meyer in 2:09:00 in 1983, four years before Keflezighi immigrated to the U.S.

Keflezighi and his family emigrated from Eritrea when he was 12 years old. He won a silver medal for the United States at the 2004 Olympics. After all of the ugly anti-immigrant sentiment that poured out after last year's attack, it's wonderful that an immigrant American won today. The announcers in the clip below are beside themselves as Keflezighi crosses the finish line.

Todd Starnes Has The St. Patrick's Sadz

Bill Donohue Has The St. Patrick's Sadz

"Diageo, the parent company of Guinness, and Heineken, have pulled their sponsorship of New York's St. Patrick's Day parade; the Boston Beer Company, maker of Sam Adams, has withdrawn its sponsorship of Boston's St. Patrick's Day parade. None of these companies believe in diversity. No gay person has ever been barred from marching in any St. Patrick's Day parade, anymore than the parade bans pro-life Catholics or vegetarian Catholics; they simply cannot march under their own banner. The parade has one cause: honoring St. Patrick. Those who disagree do not have to march--that's what diversity is all about.

"The parade is quintessentially Catholic, beginning with a Mass in St. Patrick's Cathedral. It is this Catholic element that angers those who are engaged in a bullying campaign against the St. Patrick's Day parades. The bullies also have nothing but contempt for the constitutional rights of Irish Catholics. In 1995, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a 9-0 decision that the First Amendment guarantees the right of private parade organizers to determine its own rules for marching. It is this liberty that the makers of Guinness, Heineken, and Sam Adams want to squash.  I have had my last Guinness and Sam Adams. Heineken was always slop, so there is no sacrifice there. I urge Catholics, and all those who believe in tolerance, diversity, and the First Amendment, to join with me in boycotting these brews." - Catholic League blowhard Bill Donohue, in a press release published this afternoon by Christian Newswire.

Scott Lively Marches In Boston Parade

Hate group leader Scott Lively marched in Boston's St. Patrick's Day Parade yesterday. Lively told the press that he marched in solidarity with the parade organizers who banned LGBT groups from participating.

Lively, a Shelburne Falls native who owns the Holy Grounds coffee shop in Springfield, is running as a independent candidate for governor. He said he marched with his new running mate Shelly Saunders, of Springfield, and a small contingent of supporters. Many other politicians, including Mayor Martin J. Walsh and Congressman Stephen Lynch, skipped the parade after they could not come to an agreement with organizers to allow gays and lesbians to march in the parade. The maker of Sam Adams beer also withdrew his support. “The LGBT bullies, including Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, are giving the St. Paddy’s Day Parade organizers a hard time for keeping the parade a family-friendly event, but they are standing strong for family values and not bowing to intimidation,” Lively said in a press release. “The media is predictably crying ’discrimination,’ but thank God the United States Supreme Court has ruled that the parade organizers have the constitutional right to exclude anyone they please,” he said in writing.

Lively's cheesy-looking gubernatorial campaign website is here. (Tipped by JMG reader Mike)

BOSTON: Sam Adams Yanks St. Patrick's Parade Support Over Exclusion Of Gays

MassEquality points us to a statement from Boston Beer, the makers of the Sam Adams brand:

"We have been participating in the South Boston St. Patrick’s Day Parade for nearly a decade and have also supported the St. Patrick’s Day breakfast year after year. We’ve done so because of the rich history of the event and to support veterans who have done so much for this country. We were hopeful that both sides of this issue would be able to come to an agreement that would allow everyone, regardless of orientation, to participate in the parade. But given the current status of the negotiations, we realize this may not be possible. We share these sentiments with Mayor Walsh, Congressman Lynch and others and therefore we will not participate in this year’s parade. We will continue to support Senator Linda Dorcena Forry and her St. Patrick’s Day breakfast. We wish her all the best in her historic stewardship of this tradition."