BIDMC Honors Simmons, Frank
Kickoff ceremony to Pride Week events
Date: 6/12/2009
BIDMC Contact: Jerry Berger
Phone: 617-667-7308
Email: jberger@bidmc.harvard.edu
BOSTON -- Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center kicked off Pride week by honoring Cambridge Mayor E. Denise Simmons and Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., at its 16th annual LGBT Achievement Awards.
Simmons is the first openly lesbian African American mayor in the United States. As a city councilor, she organized the first LGBT town meeting and established an LGBT city commission. She also created a liaison position within the Cambridge Public Schools to help LGBT parents find LGBT-friendly schools for their children.
“It’s great to be in a progressive state and a progressive city,” Simmons, a Cambridge native, said. “But BIDMC and Cambridge are still the exception, not the rule. When you leave the protective bubble of New England, you realize that there is still so much we need to do.”
Frank echoed Simmons’ sentiment. “It’s one thing to not be prejudiced, but that’s not enough. Those who are not prejudiced need to take some extra steps for those who are,” he said.
Since 1981, Frank has served as the U.S. House of Representative for Massachusetts’ 4th congressional district. He became the second openly gay member of Congress in 1987, joining the late Gerry Studds. Through the 1990 Immigration Act, Frank argued for the removal of restrictions based on the “sexual preference exclusion.” He founded the National Stonewall Democrats, the national LGBT Democratic organization, in 1998.
“I’ve seen anti-Semitism collapse in my lifetime and we’re seeing that happen now with the LGBT movement,” Frank said. “There is still resistance, but the way we are defeating it is by being honest about who we are.”
This year marks a renewed partnership between BIDMC and the Sidney Borum Jr. Health Center, which provides medical and mental health services to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth. Since many of these young people are homeless, proper hygiene can become a problem.
