Biotech board member resigns over Finneran's anti-gay stance
By Laura Kiritsy, Bay Windows | February 15, 2006
MIT scientist says Finneran should not have signed marriage ban petition
A board member of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Education Foundation, the educational arm of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council (MBC), has resigned his position in protest of MBC President Tom Finneran's signing of an initiative petition to put a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.
"I felt like I could not in good conscience lend my expertise and abilities to the MassBiotech and MassBioEd as long as the public front man takes a stand like this," said Fintan Steele, the director of scientific education and public communications at the Broad Institute, a biomedical research institute run collaboratively by Harvard, MIT and the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, of his decision to resign from the board. Steele, who lives in Medford with his husband Scott Beard, notified Finneran, who also serves as president of the education foundation's board of directors, of his resignation in a letter dated Feb. 15.
Steele, who has been on the MassBioEd board for two years, said he contacted Finneran immediately after the Boston Globe reported in December that Finneran had signed the petition. The two had agreed to a meeting, said Steele, but due to conflicting schedules they were unable to find a mutually convenient time to meet. Steele said that in several e-mail and voice mails exchanges, Finneran explained his signing of the petition by saying that the people of Massachusetts should have the opportunity to vote on the definition of marriage.
Finneran did not return a phone call for comment.
Steele's letter makes clear that while he is personally offended by Finneran's signing of the petition, his resignation is rooted in his belief that Finneran's move could be seen as a tacit endorsement of the petition by the biotech council: "As President, your actions speak for the entire MBC," he wrote. "Given your position within an industry that has led the way in regard to same-sex partner benefits and has many gay men and women at all levels, I believe that your action is a terribly inaccurate reflection of the industry by its official organization in Massachusetts."
Steele added that others within the field of biotechnology "are similarly concerned that your public stance may result in the biotechnology industry appearing hostile to some of its own valued members . . . " He said that "it was the thoughts and support of many of these that convinced me that resignation was my only option at this time."
"He can say, 'I signed the petition as a private citizen,'" Steele told Bay Windows, "but he knows that this is going to be a public record. He's the face of the biotechnology council and I think MassBiotech shouldn't be represented this way."
The MBC is a non-profit organization that provides services and support for the Massachusetts biotechnology industry; it represents more than 400 companies, academic institutions and service organizations involved in biotechnology and healthcare. Finneran resigned his position as speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives and assumed the MBC presidency in September 2004.
MBC board chair Una Ryan said she was "grateful for Steele's service to MBC and that she accepted his resignation with sincere regret." But, she added, "The MBC does not take public positions on issues unrelated to the biotechnology industry. However, we can not prohibit MBC or MBE board members and staff from expressing their opinions as individuals on important issues of our time."
The biotech industry has been one of private industry's leaders in creating workplace policies to attract and keep LGBT employees, says Daryl Herrschaft, director of the Human Rights Campaign's Workplace Project. "Like most of corporate America, biotech firms are leaders on insuring fairness in benefits and employment for gay and lesbian workers," said Herrschaft, pointing to companies pharmaceutical giants like Dow Chemical, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer and Glaxo Smith Kline. "There were few industries in front of them. I think you can point to the high tech industry and banking and financial services but the biotech industry is right up there with those historical leaders for GLBT- inclusive workplace policies."
That Finneran's signature popped up on the marriage ban petition, however, is not surprising. His social conservatism, combined with the power he wielded as House Speaker made him a formidable obstacle to the advancement of pro-gay legislation on Beacon Hill. His boldest effort came at the 2004 constitutional convention when, after Senate President Robert Travaglini offered Finneran the courtesy of making remarks at the start of the proceedings, he shocked and angered members of the legislature by offering up his own surprise amendment, which would have banned same-sex marriage and allowed the legislature to determine what benefits same-sex couples would receive. The measure failed.
Steele conceded that some members of the MBC board have suggested to him that the organization shouldn't be taking sides on the marriage issue one way or the other given the council's sole focus on biotechnology. "I understand their argument but this is a question of right or wrong," said Steele. "These companies individually have decided that it's right for them to support the employees that they have who are gay and in gay relationships. But they're afraid to stand up and say that publicly -- well, then what good are they doing us?"
MassBioEd board member Ken Mirvis, principal of The Writing Company, a Watertown-based communications consulting company, said he had "immense respect" for Steele's decision. Mirvis, who said he grew up in Jim Crow-era Atlanta, added, "It takes real bravery on the part of people to be able to live an authentic life and when an injustice is being done in any way, then I think you have to stand up for it."
When asked if he was considering resigning from the board, Mirvis said, "I'm waiting to see how this hand is going to play out."
So what impact will Steele's resignation from the MassBioEd board have on the MBC? "That is the $64,000 question," said Mirvis. "There is a good chance that it will wake up people who are snoozing and there's a good chance that it will have no impact whatsoever -- it'll blip through the radar screen and be gone."
"It'll make ripples," predicted Steele, who emphasized that he plans to continue working with MassBioEd to align biotechnology industry educational initiatives. "I have no illusions this is going to turn the world on its head or get Tom Finneran blackballed or anything like that. It's really about, this is for me to be authentic and true to what I believe," he said. "I really don't have any choice."
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