At times, it had the feel of an arena concert, Bigwig’s cocktail hour, nightclub and amusement park. bottom.
Governor Maura Healy is the first woman elected governor of Massachusetts and the country’s first openly lesbian governor. Before her inauguration at her arena, she and Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll were inaugurated earlier in the day as the state’s first all-female executive duo.
And, as a video broadcast from The Garden’s Jumbotron noted, Healy was also the first Governor of Bay to play professional basketball, and was a point guard for an Austrian team after graduating from law school.
Basketball motifs run wild into the night with an arcade-style mini-hoop where revelers can shoot baskets and foam fingers emblazoned with the slogan “Let’s Team Massachusetts” under the theme of “Moving the Ball Forward” I was. Healy and Driscoll showed off their matching high-top sneakers with basketballs as they took the stage.
All came together for what Driscoll called “a different kind of garden party.”
“We wanted this place because it’s a special place,” says Driscoll. “Look up at the ceiling. Those championship banners. They wouldn’t be without teamwork, and Maura and I are about teamwork.”
Healy’s formal swearing-in ceremony at the State Capitol was a more solemn affair steeped in tradition. Evening celebrations have become livelier and more modern. Instead of top hats and ceremonial staff, there were rainbow light sticks, balloon arches, and a photo with Blaze, the Boston Bruins mascot. But the sense of history was still up in the air.
“I cried watching the inauguration. I am such a political battleaxe that you would think I was impervious to it,” said Arline Isaacson, co-chair of the Massachusetts GLBTQ Political Caucus. Speaking from the arena concourse.
The event kicked off with performances by Massachusetts acts including Salem High’s a cappella group Witch Pitch, Everett High School’s Marching Band, Roxbury hip-hop artists OOMPA, and the Boston Gay Men’s Chorus.
Ellis Patterson, Founder and Executive Artistic Director of Abilities Dance Boston, presented the dance with audio commentary explaining the moves for the visually impaired audience.
“It’s been great to see the incoming Women’s Leadership Team take seriously the different ways they intersect with representation, and I’m happy to see disability included in that,” she told GBH News.
Boston Celtics great Bob Cousy, former WNBA player and Olympian Sue Bird, and former U.S. women’s soccer team co-captain Megan Rapinoe all wished Healy well in a video message, and tennis champion Billy Gene King describes her as “a leader with a desire to win.” ”
It was headlined by singer-songwriter Brandi Carlyle, who was introduced as Healy’s favorite performer. He said he was. They were made to feel less.
Carlyle welcomed his wife Katherine on stage with her and told the crowd that the two were married in Massachusetts when the federal Defense of Marriage Act was still in effect. While working in the office of the
“We owe a lot of that freedom and privilege to Governor Healy, who was on the cutting edge of DOMA repeal long before DOMA was cool,” Carlile said.