ORDER-2016-127 : Appointment of Ellyn Ruthstrom, 15 Vine St., #1, to the Human Rights Commission for a three-year term; said term to expire on the last day of February 2019

Transcript (~7 min @ 32:43)

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▶ 32:52 Peter D. Mortimer: and bienvenue thank you the next order we have before us is order 2 0 1 6 dash 1 2 7 it is the appointment of Ellen Ruth strong 15 vine Street apartment number one to the Human Rights Commission for a three-year term said term to expire on the last day of February 2019 thank you very much for coming this evening thank you for agreeing to volunteer to serve on the Human Rights Commission would you like to make an opening statement um yeah I

▶ 33:20 Speaker 3: would just I'll just say simply that I've been in Melrose coming up on three years in June and one of the things that I like to do is to get involved with the community when i become a part of it i had originally gone to the commission meetings about two years ago but discovered that i had a conflict of that night and because i had a previous organization that i was working with so that that conflict has since resolved so it was exciting for me to think oh maybe it's maybe it's time now to um to put my time towards the human rights commission i'm presently the executive director of speak out boston which is an lgbtq Speakers Bureau and as an out by woman I find it important to put that visibility out into the community and to work as a part of a community to have good inclusion and diversity taken seriously so that was one of the main reasons that i wanted to be become a part of the commission to add that perspective uh thank you very much

▶ 34:31 Peter D. Mortimer: are there any aldermen who would like to ask questions of please consider please go ahead

▶ 34:40 Francis X. Wright Jr.: alderman wright thank you mr chairman i just wanted to say thank you for stepping forward i appreciate your willingness and your enthusiasm much like our previous uh candidate um i think historically melrose hasn't been the most diverse of of communities but i think that's changing and it's great to see uh people from all backgrounds step forward and be willing to serve the city and do so with great enthusiasm so i appreciate it thank you thank you mr chairman thank you alderman

▶ 35:07 Peter D. Mortimer: wright alderman's work oh please i guess i also just want to say thank you for coming forward on

▶ 35:11 Michael P. Zwirko: this um i just want to make a comment i was looking at your uh your bio here on the resume and um i think it's great that you previously worked for speak out and then you went back as as an executive director to go back in that role um you know kind of learning what you've learned in the preceding years and to come back as an executive director so i like that quality and i would also say that um i just have to give a shout out to this because the past couple of weeks i've been watching this tv show called gaycation and it's an amazing show that's on the vice network and the reason i bring it up is because i've lived in new england my whole life i've lived in massachusetts for excluding the four years that i've been alive so you sometimes feel that when it comes to LGBTQ issues that were way beyond where we should be and it's actually shocking to see some of these scenes that goes not only around the world but also in the in the United States of America where we just have a long way to go and I think you'll lend a very good voice to this commission I'm looking forward to the work that will come out of it and I just wanted to say

▶ 36:16 Peter D. Mortimer: thank you again for that I actually can I say you may respond we are under

▶ 36:20 Speaker 3: suspension please go ahead well bringing up that sort of global perspective I think is really important because you know the the the term the phrase when we say think globally and work locally and I feel like that is always something that I take very seriously in a lot of different ways when we look at the global picture there's so many problems going on of people communicating and being able to understand each other and work together and I'd like to hopefully be a part of a community that is working to be a community that wants to work together and wants to have differences celebrate difference and work together

▶ 37:06 Peter D. Mortimer: so yeah thank you thank you very much all set all the circle thank you very much certain ultimate Medeiros please thank you thank you and for stepping up

▶ 37:15 Monica C. Medeiros: also I just I know our previous speaker had mentioned it and like it you know do you feel comfortable to work with people who might not always agree with your views in what way are you saying and this is something I would like to kind of address to both of you as commissioners that you know it's it's very important to come back. I want to see Mellor's be a very welcoming community and sometimes it's sort of forgotten that you know even say I as a Catholic which might be a little bit more mainstream in our views can sometimes feel a little bit marginalized and like for instance even for our

▶ 38:00 Speaker 3: recent master plan meeting for the public it was you know kind of a big deal meeting and it was actually held on Ash Wednesday which is one of our holidays so you know sort of working to make sure that you know all voices are included and sometimes of course those might be some that may be in conflict and you know do you feel comfortable we can find the togetherness to risk yeah yeah thank you for explaining that a bit more yes I do and even to reference my work with speak out because we go into so many different communities so many many different audiences and one of the key things of our training for our speakers is to be able to have a very open and accepting tone and the way we can respond to difficult questions and that we know that everybody doesn't have the same views on things and so you want to be able to hear what people have to say and to respond respectfully and that's definitely something that my own organization fosters so yeah I do understand that and I think it is very important within a community to do that thank you thank you thank you all the

▶ 39:19 Peter D. Mortimer: member Darrell's anyone else to be heard Oh recommend we have a motion to recommend from Alderman MacMaster my goal is to the second of our Alderman Boyce L all in favor please say aye aye any opposed hearing none this order will be recommended for passage at our next full board meeting you need not come again you may have heard me say that already this evening and thank you so much for