Political impact of Barrios resignation will be severe

As both the first openly gay and the first Latino state senator to serve in the Massachusetts Legislature, Jarrett Barrios has been a political pioneer and a high-profile advocate on issues of importance to the LGBT and Latino communities, from staunchly defending LGBT youth programs and marriage equality to advocating bilingual education and in-state tuition rates for the children of undocumented immigrants, among many others. He was an obvious choice to speak at a recent panel discussion titled "Elections 2008: Inclusion and Democracy! Is the Latino GLBT community included?" that was held in conjunction with this year's Latino Pride celebration.

Additionally, since first being elected to the House of Representatives in 1998 - the first openly gay man and just the second Latino to do so - the Cambridge Democrat has enjoyed a higher profile than most of his Beacon Hill colleagues, owing to a combination of charisma, media savvy and ambition. In a somewhat surprising editorial considering its conservative leanings, the Boston Herald last week called Barrios "a notch above your basic rank and file member," praised his "energy, his enthusiasm and his work ethic," and deemed him "an able representative" of his racially, culturally and economically diverse district. Of course the editorial, which was prompted by the news that Barrios will soon be leaving the Senate to become the president of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation, a private healthcare philanthropy, was titled "Barrios gone; Fluff safe" a reference to the senator's ill-fated amendment to limit the feeding of Fluff to school kids, which garnered Barrios a heaping helping of media attention that, for once, he probably didn't want.

So how will Barrios's July departure - presumably after the legislature settles the issue of whether or not an anti-gay marriage amendment will go on the 2008 ballot - impact progress on issues of importance to the LGBT and/or the Latino communities?

Openly gay state Rep. Liz Malia says that Barrios's departure is a loss for LGBT advocates not only because he's the only openly gay person in the Senate but because they're losing a skilled strategist. "Jarrett has legal skills that are really amazing and a capacity to develop strategy and weed through some of the complexities that unfortunately some of the rest of us are not so quick on," says Malia. She notes that the community has "some incredible allies" in the legislature who have taken the lead on LGBT issues so as not to overburden the small number of openly gay legislators - and for a few years it was just Malia and Barrios - but there's no substituting for a gay legislator who can talk to colleagues personally "about their own families and their kids," says Malia. "That's definitely going to be a real loss." Barrios and his spouse, Democratic operative Doug Hattaway are the parents of two children.

Barrios says he's as yet unsure how he feels about relinquishing the leading role he's played on LGBT policy issues as a legislator, perhaps because he's still mired in them: At the time of this interview Barrios was attempting to secure more funding for the LGBT youth commission and LGBT domestic violence programs through the Senate budget amendment process. "I suspect it's going to feel very strange," he says of life away from LGBT politics. But he's quick to point out that, "Hubris is perhaps the greatest danger in politics - the idea that people can't live without you as a justification for not taking on new personal challenges and not allowing others to grow." He also points out that there are now more openly gay lawmakers on Beacon Hill than when he arrived: aside from Malia there are state Reps. Cheryl Coakley-Rivera, Carl Sciortino, and Sarah Peake. ("And a whole bunch more who might just add to our numbers someday," he said, in an apparent reference to their closeted counterparts.) Barrios also served with former state senator Cheryl Jacques, who came out in 2000 after serving seven years in the Senate, until she left her seat in 2003.

In a similar vein, Barrios also notes that more Latinos have been elected to the legislature during his tenure in the legislature: state Reps. Geraldo Alicea, William Lantigua, the aforementioned Rivera and Jeffrey Sanchez.

Giovanna Negretti, the executive director of Oiste?, an organization working to build the political power of the state's Latino community, makes the same observation as Barrios about increased Latino representation in elected office. But she places a bulk of the credit for that development with Barrios, who helped found the organization in 1999. "One thing he did do is he left not only a legacy on issues but a legacy on leadership," says Negretti.