40 years after conviction, birth control activist returns to former Boston jail that imprisoned him

[wicket]

He did 37 days in jail for giving an unmarried woman a condom.

Bless him :patriot:

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/city_region/breaking_news/2007/10/40_years_after.html">LINK

At the new Liberty Hotel, there is an intimacy kit in the mini-bar of each room that includes a complimentary condom. That amuses Bill Baird, the reproductive rights activist who served 37 days in the building when it was the notorious Charles Street Jail.

"The ironic part is that is what I was in jail for," said Baird, who was convicted 40 years ago today. "Giving out one condom. One. And giving a young woman some birth control foam."

As a challenge to existing law, Baird was purposely arrested in April 1967 when he displayed birth control devices during speech at Boston University. His conviction on Oct. 17, 1967, would ultimately be overturned by the Supreme Court in a ruling that legalized birth control for unmarried people and helped lay the foundation for Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion.

To mark today's date, Baird, 75, is holding a press conference at the Liberty Hotel, where his picture appears next to other famous inmates who spent time in the jail, including Boston Mayor James Michael Curley and the suffragettes, who fought for women’s right to vote.

-snip-

In the Charles Street Jail, Baird said he slept on a blood-stained mattress infested with lice. There were rats in his cell, bugs in his food, and "the horrors of people screaming at night." He hasn't been in the building since it was converted into a luxury hotel. "I don't even know how I am going to react to it," said Baird, who has driven past the former jail in recent years on trips to Massachusetts General Hospital. "Every time I go past that building my body still shakes."

"But I'm thrilled to see, like the phoenix out of the ashes of despair, some good has come," Baird continued. "People can now, believe it or not, use condoms that are given free there."

[LeftyMom]

1. Hard to believe that people want to take us back to those days. nt

[wicket]

9. Hard to believe it's the policy of so many of the Republican candidates

:puke:

[no_hypocrisy]

2. I met Bill Baird.

Interesting, articulate, and a gentle soul.

[wicket]

15. He sounds like a pretty amazing man

:)

[Warpy]

3. I can't believe they turned the Charles Street Jail

into a luxury hotel! It was a squat, gray, heavy building that just screamed "PRISON," constructed during the Victorian era as a building whose facade alone provoked foreboding over what might lie inside for miscreants. Even given the rage over Beacon Hill addresses, I couldn't see how they could possibly turn such a dour building into anything but a new and improved prison.

I don't think fresh flowers on the dresser and chocolates on the pillow will compensate.

I am delighted that they're carrying on Baird's fight. I remember celebrating when he got out and again when all the stupid laws were overturned.

Evil men, wrapped in the flag and hiding behind the cross, want to push us back into slavery. Our job is to fight them with everything we've got.

[MADem]

5. Now open...be CAPTIVATED!!!

http://libertyhotel.rtrk.com/coupon/?scid=474327&cid=105560&tc=07101712510282654&kw=4213742:2197&dynamic_proxy=1&primary_serv=libertyhotel-px.rtrk.com&se_refer=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.google.com%252Fsearch%253Fsource%253Dig%2526hl%253Den%2526rlz%253D%2526q%253DLiberty%252Bhotel%25252C%252Bboston



Our Boston Hotel Room Amenities Include:
• Luxurious bathrobes
• Two VOIP telephones operating on a fully converged digital network
• Flat panel HD-LCD televisions
• In-room safes
• Private bars
• High speed wireless internet (WI-FI) and scalable fiber connection access
• Molton Brown environmentally-friendly body care products
• Hair dryers and make up mirrors

The Liberty Hotel in Boston is pet friendly!

[Warpy]

10. HAHAHAHA!!!! The bar and restaurant is called CLINK!

I'm sorry but the distance view still makes it look like a damn prison.

A lot of my nearest and dearest were guests there in the late 60s and early 70s at the height of the antiwar protests.

If I get to Boston again, I'll pass. It's the Copley Plaza or nothing.

[wicket]

11. You're always welcome at Casa De Wicket

:hi:

[wicket]

7. It's gotten a massive face life, now a 4 star hotel

Check out the link MADem posted.

[MADem]

4. OMG!!!!!! I remember those events...like they were YESTERDAY!

Tempis friken fugit!!!

[AnneD]

6. To the men that have aided women's fight against hypocrisy...

the Doc's that still stand up for womens reproductive rights, we salute you.:patriot:

[wicket]

8. I'll drink to that!

:toast: :patriot:

[Manifestor_of_Light]

12. Eisenstadt v. Baird - very important case in Constitutional Law

Legalized birth control for unmarried people (1973).
Before that we had Griswold v. Connecticut (1969), which legalized it for married people under the right to privacy.

There are plenty of people who want to run us backwards to the Dark Ages and the age of meddling with other peoples' private lives.

[baldguy]

13. And look who Bush just appointed head of HHS Family Planning Saervices

Bush Family Planning Appointee Called Contraceptives Part Of The ‘Culture Of Death’

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/10/17/susan-orr/

[BrklynLib at work]

18. Olbermann commented on this last night. Bush just keeps spitting in our faces...and laughing.

[wicket]

20. I've got that sitting on my TiVo, will have to check it out after work

Bush really hates women. :grr:

[BrklynLib at work]

21. I agree. To him, the only good women are Stepford women.

Probably some interesting issues with Momma Babs, of the beautiful mind.

[wicket]

14. kick

:kick:

[wicket]

16. Can someone give this it's 5th rec?

Thanks!

[smokey nj]

17. Done! and here's a kick to go along with it!!

[wicket]

19. Thank-you!!!

:hi: