Remembering a fellow journalist of back in the day
Since I received the news that Charles "Chuck" R. Colbert, III (April 21, 1955 - June 30, 2022) died on June 30 in his hometown of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, I've been flooded with memories of our time as queer journalists for the now defunct LGBTQ+ weekly, "In Newsweekly" (1991- 2008).
Chuck was a regular political columnist for "In Newsweekly," and I penned the weekly column "The Religion Thang." We were covering queer news in and around Greater Boston at a time when major newspapers- local and national- were not. As journalists, we were educating and informing the public by chronicling our lives and LGBTQ+ topics as newsworthy. Both "In Newsweekly" and our competitor" Bay Windows" functioned as important community-based media.
Chuck "was a conscientious reporter with a passion for justice," said Arthur Lipkin of Cambridge. An example of Chuck's fierce passion for justice was expressed in the "Philadelphia Inquirer" February 2004 op-ed titled "Why it has to be 'marriage' for gays." In 2004, marriage equality movement activists contested that civil unions denied same-sex couples more than 1,100 federal rights protections and benefits conferred to married heterosexual couples. In defense of marriage, Chuck wrote that "A civil union would be a substantial trade down. In a pluralistic, secular America, civil marriage is a fundamental civil right - for all of us - gay and non-gay. There really is no such thing as separating the word marriage from the protections it provides. That's because one of the most important protections of marriage is the word itself - the word conveys the status everyone understands as the ultimate expression of love and commitment."
Also, he was undeterred by potential danger in covering the news. On a shared assignment to cover the controversial consecration of the Rev. V. Eugene Robinson as the ninth bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire, Chuck and I drove up to Durham together on that Sunday, November 2, 2003. Outside the Whittemore Center Arena at the University of New Hampshire was the notorious anti-gay activist Rev. Fred Phelp of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, KS, and his group protesting the event with placards spewing hate like "Fag Priest" and "Episcopal = sin. I hesitated to go past Phelp's folks, but Chuck calmly took me by the arm and ushered me through.
Chuck constantly emailed me his questions and thoughts on religious freedom. In an email to me dated July 9, 2013, he expressed his concerns about the Religious Right's weaponizing religious liberty as a guise to discriminate beyond LGBTQ+ issues was prescient, especially with the 2018 Supreme Court Masterpiece Cakeshop ruling in favor of the Colorado baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple on the grounds of religious freedom, and now the reversal of Roe v. Wade.
"Here is what is on my mind about media and their coverage of religion, faith, and religious liberty.
The religious liberty issue is growing with respect to LGBT matters such as same-sex marriage and reproductive issues, among others. What I mean here is those who oppose our full equality and rely on their faith tradition to voice disapproval of our relationships (meaning we are immoral) and feel they are being asked to go against strongly held beliefs even so far as renting spaces for wedding receptions and/or providing basic services such as being photographers at wedding ceremonies. So I am wondering your take on this development and its right-wing strategy from two perspectives – one as a columnist and commentator, the other as an ordained minister? "
The news of Chuck's passing leaves many with fond memories.
"We shared a passion for Catholic theology. It was a pleasure to engage Chuck in theological discussions as he was so well educated and informed and posed serious faith questions. We are deeply saddened by his death and extend our condolences to his wonderful mother," Joseph B. Sankovich, a childhood neighbor, wrote on the John Henderson Company Funeral Home website.
Chuck was indeed well-educated: the University of Notre Dame, with advanced degrees in business, psychology, and theology, from Georgetown University, Harvard University, and Weston Jesuit School of Theology.
Chuck was a contributor to several LGBTQ+ newspapers and magazines like Boston Spirit Magazine, Press Pass Q, and Bay Area Reporter, to name a few. Also, he was a contributor to numerous mainstream daily newspapers and magazines, like Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Harvard Business Review, Philadelphia Inquirer, and the National Catholic Reporter, covering the clerical sex-abuse crisis in the Boston archdiocese. And he was a national board member of NLGJA and Boston/New England chapter president.
Many will fondly remember Chuck as Tom Simonton, a lifelong friend and close neighbor depicted on the funeral website: "He was the smartest guy I knew! He was kind and gentle! Great wit! Very funny! May his memory be a blessing."
