Gay Salem! Your Gay Guide to the Witch City!

By wielding knowledge as a weapon, gays and lesbians can fight discrimination and ignorance and educate our neighbors. Often taking part in their community knowing what is going on is a must. With everything gay appearing as the lead news stories, you might just find an issue close to your heart here.

News Outlets for Gay People in the Salem Area
What's happening out there? Here you will find local, regional, and national links to news papers, magazines, and television stations.

Bob's Items of Interest
Bob Murch has gathered the following news items that he feels are of particular interest to the gay community in Salem!

May 12, 2006
Boston Globe
Romney to limit gay panel activities
Angered that his name appeared on a press release touting a gay pride parade, Governor Mitt Romney moved yesterday to curtail the activities of a 14-year-old advisory commission on gay and lesbian youth.

May 11, 2006
Associated Press
Dean misstates Democratic platform on gays
Democratic Party chairman Howard Dean mischaracterized his party's platform on gay rights in an interview courting evangelicals, then set the record straight Thursday when an advocacy group called him on it.

May 11, 2006
Associated Press
Romney takes action against commission on gay and lesbian youth
Gov. Mitt Romney briefly moved to abolish the Gov.'s Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth on Thursday but quickly reversed himself, the chairwoman of the commission said.

May 10, 2006
Boston Globe
Gay film fest explores the bounds of love
Love beyond the borders of age and war, rebels on the road, and young voices struggling to be heard dominate the latest edition of the Boston Gay and Lesbian Film/Video Festival.

May 9, 2006
Associated Press
Research finds differences in lesbian brains
Lesbians’ brains react differently to sex hormones than those of heterosexual women...An earlier study of gay men also showed their brain response was different from straight men — an even stronger difference than has now been found in lesbians.

May 7, 2006
North Shore Sunday
Same-sex Salem
Nearly two years after they married on the steps of Salem City Hall, Bob Murch and Gary Halteman are holding their breath to see if their neighbors will have the right to vote for or against their union.

April 28, 2006
Salem Gazette
Mismanaging the marriage issue
When discussing same-sex marriages, as it seems we'll be doing for the foreseeable future, the question that should be considered is not whether homosexual couples have the right to be married; it's why the government should have any official say in the matter at all.

April 28, 2006
Salem Gazette
Women’s book celebrates institution of same-sex marriage
Karen Kahn and Pat Gozemba have only been married since last September, but they know the history of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts backwards and forwards. That’s why they are writing a book on the subject.

April 28, 2006
Salem Gazette
New Web site appeals to gay and lesbian visitors, newcomers
Nearly two years after they married on the steps of Salem City Hall, Bob Murch and Gary Halteman are holding their breath to see if their neighbors will have the right to vote for or against their union.

April 24, 2006
Associated Press
Federal judge throws out suit challenging 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'
A federal judge on Monday dismissed a lawsuit filed by 12 service members challenging the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy.

April 20, 2006
Bay Windows
Gay Salem = Straight Salem
Salem resident Bob Murch was upset by the number of folks that signed the initiative petition for a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage in Massachusetts, which circulated through the state last fall. So he created GaySalem.com with the aim of showing his signature-happy neighbors just how gay the Witch City really is.

April 20, 2006
Boston Globe
Parents rip school over gay storybook
In a controversy with a familiar ring, parents of a Lexington second-grader are protesting that their son's teacher read a fairy tale about gay marriage to the class without warning parents first.

April 19, 2006
Press Release
Gays Coming Out of the Broom Closet in Salem, Massachusetts
Salem, Massachusetts, long known for its Witches, ghosts, vampires, and other things that go bump in the night, is about to become known for another segment of its community—gays and lesbians.

April 13, 2006
Salem News
SJC's gay marriage rulings make little sense
It's difficult to look at the rulings of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on gay marriage and not be struck by the absence of clear, consistent reasoning....

April 9, 2006
Boston Globe
Chasm over gays deepens among Conservative Jews
Rabbi Michelle Robinson rose and delivered the most stirring sermon of her young career - an impassioned demand that the Conservative movement in Judaism sanction same-sex unions and other Jewish rituals for gays and lesbians. If movement leaders, who are in the midst of a deep debate over these issues, disagree, Emanuel, one of the wealthiest and most influential Conservative synagogues in New England, should sanctify such unions anyway, she said...

Gay Fabulous!
(These places are especially welcoming to gay and lesbians. We are in the process of evaluating every listing on our site to determine their "fabulousness." Let us know if you feel a listing should be designated as Gay Fabulous or to suggest a listing we might have missed entirely!)