All but one of the candidates running
for Massachusetts governor made an appearance Saturday during
Boston's gay pride parade, the Boston Globe reported. And
Governor Deval Patrick walked away with the state's largest gay
advocate's endorsement.
Governor Deval Patrick, a Democrat who
is campaigning to keep his job, marched in the parade with his
daughter Katherine, who publicly announced last year that she's gay.
Also marching in the parade was
Republican candidate Charles D. Baker. Baker was flanked by two
openly gay men: his brother Alexander and his running mate, Senate
Minority Leader Richard Tisei.
Independent candidate State Treasurer
Timothy P. Cahill was the only gubernatorial candidate that did not
work the parade's estimated 35,000 crowd.
About 200 organizations marched from
Tremont St. to City Hall Plaza, where revelers enjoyed the annual gay
pride festival.
Gay rights group MassEquality
endorsed Patrick for governor after the parade.
While both candidates support the
state's gay marriage law, Baker angered gay rights activists in April
when he distanced himself from a transgender protections bill
cosponsored by his running mate Tisei.
The bill, which would ban
discrimination against transgender people in the areas of housing,
employment and public accommodations, has
gained little traction since its 2007 introduction.
Opponents of the measure decried
Tisei's support for the measure during the
Republican convention that nominated the Baker-Tisei team. In an
effort to quell the controversy, the campaign issued a statement
saying that Baker would veto the bill if approved by lawmakers.
Patrick, on the other hand, has urged
lawmakers to approve the transgender rights measure.