Special Collections houses numerous legislators’ papers pertaining to LGBTQ+ issues. Featured here are two of those collections in honor of Pride Month:
Ms. Coll. 138: Jarrett T. Barrios Papers, 1996-2005  |
Jarret
Barrios image
courtesy of
prideandprogress.org |
Jarrett Barrios served as a member of both the Massachusetts House of Representatives and the Massachusetts Senate and became the first Latino and first openly gay man elected to the Massachusetts Senate. Barrios came to Cambridge at age 17 to study at Harvard University from his home state of Florida. After graduating, he worked as a legislative aide for Boston City Councilor David Scondras. In 1992, Barrios entered law school at Georgetown University where he graduated with honors. In 1998, he was elected as the State Representative for the 28th Middlesex District. He was reelected in 2000 without opposition. In 2002, the voters of his Middlesex, Suffolk and Essex District elected him to the State Senate, and he was re-elected without opposition in both 2004 and 2006. Barrios was the Senate Chairman of the Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security and served on the Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure, Transportation, Housing, Public Health, and Municipalities and Regional Government committees.
Ms. Coll. 138 includes subject files on a variety of Barrios' legislative activities and interests, including the Community Reinvestment Act, bilingual education, insider trading, public housing, correction reform, breast feeding, emergency room interpreters, domestic partnerships, and same sex marriage. Materials include meeting notes, clippings, memoranda, press releases, agendas, schedules, correspondence, publications, photographs, and various reports and studies. Of particular interest is the material pertaining to same sex marriage, including information about the Defense of Marriage Act and civil unions, as well as correspondence from constituents protesting and supporting same sex marriage.
You can find more information about the Jarrett T. Barrios Papers in our digital repository
here.
Ms. Coll. 165: Denise Provost Papers on Legislation Concerning Gender Identity and Nondiscrimination, 1997-2017, bulk 2014-2016 
Denise Provost was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives for the 27th Middlesex District in 2006 and served until 2020. Prior to being elected, Provost worked as Assistant City Solicitor and Alderman-at-large in Somerville. Provost received her bachelor’s degree from Bennington College and a law degree from Boston University. During her tenure as state representative, Provost served on numerous committees including the Joint Committee on Higher Education, the Joint Committee on Revenue, the Joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight, and the House Committee on Global Warming and Climate Change. As the representative for the 27th Middlesex District, Provost cosponsored a bill concerning gender identity and nondiscrimination with Representative Byron Rushing in 2015. Bill H.1577, known as An Act Relative to Gender Identity and Nondiscrimination, aimed to close a loophole in the 2012 Transgender Equal Rights Act, which allowed transgender people to be discriminated against in public accommodations. The language in this bill was ultimately signed into law by Governor Charlie Baker on July 8, 2016.
Ms. Coll. 165 contains personal papers related to Denise Provost’s work on the Transgender Public Accommodations bill, including newspaper clippings, press releases, city ordinances, correspondence, publications, court decisions, and committee meeting material. Also included in this collection is the material Denise Provost used to research the bill, such as information relating to transgender rights in the United States and specifically in cities across Massachusetts. Drafts of the bill and amendments made to the bill are included in the collection.
You can find more information about Denise Provost’s Ms. Coll. 165 in our digital repository
here.
Both Jarrett Barrios’ and Denise Provost’s collections are open for research in the Special Collections Department. If you are interested in accessing these papers, please contact us by email to schedule a research visit. Happy Pride from the State Library!
Alyssa Persson
Special Collections Processing Librarian
