By Jim O'Sullivan

There is a neighborhood association for people who live West of Washington and one for people who pride themselves on being Friends of Ronan Park. There is one for people in Jones Hill, in Meetinghouse Hill, and in Pope's Hill, and two for people in Columbia-Savin Hill, when you count the McCormack Civic. People in one precinct, 16-10, have a group all its own.

Now, gay people have one, too.

DotOUT, a grassroots group in its infancy, coalesced last Saturday morning in the tastefully-appointed Whitby Terrace three-decker owned by Dan Cushing. The group's members, Cushing said, have for years been active in churches and clubs and civic groups.

Now, with gay rights issues enjoying a gay-marriage-brightened spotlight, the time seemed ripe for the type of group organization with which Dorchester teems.

"I think people are mobilizing to talk about it because of that," said Cushing of the public's and media's attentiveness to the gay marriage drama. Speaking over his dining-room table after DotOUT's first official meeting had adjourned, "It just kind of occurred to us that, well, perhaps we should mobilize for our own issues."

With its membership still in single digits, the band is still gathering steam, but its mission has taken shape. A co-founder, Michele Gillen, described a hybrid between political action committee and an advocacy group, with the emphasis "more grassroots."

Unlike in the South End, where gay activists have been organized and vocal for decades, or South Boston, where the gay population has remained largely marginalized, Dorchester's gay residents have waffled somewhere in between - largely recognized and accepted, but unpossessed of a cohesive voice or a vehicle for their interests. Individuals or small groups met with politicians to advance their causes, but the movement had no title or face.

Now it does: DotOUT, cribbing a little bit from OutSomerville, whose more or less self-explanatory name describes a four-year-old group founded by Dorie Clark, a Somerville resident who has worked as a press secretary for former presidential candidate Howard Dean and former gubernatorial candidate Robert Reich.

And not a moment too soon in Dorchester, where last week the neighborhood marked its first gay marriage of which the Reporter is aware, when the Rev. Victor Carpenter presided over a May 20 wedding at First Parish Church.

For their grand coming-out party, the group has chosen the Dorchester Day Parade, Cushing said, where it will hoist rainbow flags and get out its message. Unlike in Dorchester's neighbor to the north, where South Boston's annual St. Patrick's Day Parade has long been a flashpoint for gay rights. The Supreme Court has upheld parade organizers' rights to ban gay and lesbian groups from marching there.

Because of the klieg-light political issues that swirl around them, the group's organizers know they must stay attuned politically. Last week, DotOUT sent a letter to the Dorchester delegation of elected officials, putting them on notice and promising somewhat ominously that, "[w]hile we look forward to continuing to make these positive, personal commitments to our neighborhood, we believe that DotOUT represents a wonderful opportunity to unite Dorchester's gay and lesbian voters and their allies in support of those elected officials and candidates who have demonstrated a commitment to us, their gay and lesbian neighbors."

The group insists it won't take punitive measures against politicians who don't side with them on the issues. Gillen and several other members of the fledgling group met with state Senator Jack Hart in between constitutional conventions. At both sessions, Hart voted consistently against gay marriage, saying that he supports full and equal rights for gays and lesbians, but draws the line at gay marriage.

But Hart, the group said, is in nobody's cross-hairs.

"I don't think we're about going after people," Cushing said. "I think we're promoting the issues that are important to us."

Gillen was a bit more critical of the South Boston lawmaker, but remained diplomatic, saying, "We're a little disappointed where Jack is in some of the issues, but we're trying to keep this positive."

To that end, the group plans to mobilize for state Representative Martin Walsh, the 13th Suffolk incumbent who is facing a challenge from John O'Gorman, a Codman Square man running on a family values platform. O'Gorman has criticized Walsh's support for gay marriage, a stance that stood among the most hard-line in the Legislature.

Hart said he is "delighted" that the group is marching in the parade, and says, "I hope to able to work with them."

Cushing called the group, simply, "a neighborhood association for gay people," and said he was anticipating no backlash in a social climate with elevated emotion in the wake of the gay marriage debate.

"Dorchester is a pretty liberal community," he says. "I think the diversity of Dorchester is such that I've never felt any resistance as an openly gay man."

To Gillen, "There's always the chance for a negative response, but I think that it'll be in the minority … I have more faith in my neighbors in Dorchester than that."

Another procession that Gillen can be assured has a festive reception at the end of it will be two days before the group's official Dorchester Day debut; on June 4, she and her partner, Julie, will be married at a ceremony inside Boston City Hall.