Special is “a distinctive and uplifting new series about a gay man named Ryan, with mild cerebral palsy who decides to rewrite his identity and finally go after the life he wants.”^[

Special takes a look at the LGBTQIA+ community from a rarely if ever seen angle, from the perspective of a disabled person.

Highly lauded as both history-making and well-made viewing, Special also is unique in that the main character is actually played the by the author and inspiration of the book “I’m Special and Other Lies We Tell Ourselves” that is basis for the series.

Opting for direct representation rather than an actor to play him, Ryan O’Connell is a wonder and delight and is providing representation for an often overlooked community. We look forward to seeing this progression of Netflix into an LGBTQIA+ film and tv powerhouse.

Our month discussion meeting will not be on the first Saturday of the month in May, it will be on the second Saturday. At the May 11 meeting in Pittsfield, Rainbow Seniors member Howard Cruse will return with another slideshow presentation about his work. This time the subject will be his 1995 graphic novel Stuck Rubber Baby, which will be re-issued next year in a re-packaged 25th anniversary edition.

Since its publication, Howard’s book has won Eisner and Harvey Awards in the U.S., a Comics Creators Award in the U.K., a Luchs Award in Germany, a 2007 Saló del Còmic de Barcelona Award in Spain, and a 2002 Prix de la critique at the Angouleme International Comics Festival in France. The Comics Journal cited Stuck Rubber Baby as being among the “100 Best Comics of the [20th] Century.”

Howard’s slideshow will focus on the thought processes that went into his book’s creation. After the presentation Howard will respond to any questions or comments offered by the members present.

Northampton Pride is on Saturday, May 4th, 2019 from 11 am to 4:30 pm. Stage show and festival start at 12:30. Entries for cars being in the parade and for marching as a designated unit filled up much quicker this year so a number of groups were unable to sign up.

Berkshire Health Systems and their Diversity Council however did sign up and said that Berkshire LGBTQ groups are more than welcome to march with them, this includes Rainbow Seniors and Berkshire Pride. If you would like to march in the parade with Berkshire Health Systems, Rainbow Seniors and Berkshire Pride, please email: kenneth@rainbowseniors.org

If you have a vehicle and would like to carpool to Noho Pride, please also let us know.

We would like to make it possible for members of Rainbow Seniors to attend the event.

Arrival to march in parade is 9:30 am, so leaving the Berkshires around 8:15 is advisable. If you don’t want to or are unable to march we also want to make it possible to attend to watch the parade. Arrival would be same time as for marching.

We encourage those carpooling to stay for the pride festival as well which takes place until 4:30 pm.