Nominating New Hampshire as the
State Next Door to the Gay-Friendliest State

by Ernie McLeod

wasn’t sure what to think
I when I opened the last issue

of OITM and spotted the
headline “Nominating New
Hampshire as the Gay—Friendliest
State.”

After being thankful that my
chair was low to the floor, I
guessed the April Fool’s edition
of OITM had arrived late this
year. But, no, September was
clearly printed in the header.
Then I thought maybe the head-
line was intended in an ironic
way, something like
“Nominating Keanu Reeves as
the Best Actor Ever.” Or that
maybe those pranksters, the Log
Cabin Republicans, were at it
again, tossing out one of their
amusing oxymorons such as
“George W. Bush —
Compassionate Conservative,” in
which case I was prepared to
laugh and laugh!

But, it seemed this commen-
tary was actually nominating
New Hampshire as the GLBT-
friendliest state in the union,
beating out even California, New
York, and Massachusetts!

I did find it curious that
Vennont was left off this short-
list of gay-friendly states, what
with our progressive laws (most
of them on the books for some
time now), predominantly liberal
political representation at state
and federal levels, not to mention
the recent colorful response to
the nut-cases from Kansas, and,
oh yes, that minor marriage case
pending before the Supreme
Court.

I found it especially curious
since the article was published in
OITM, which, unless I’m mistak-
en, is a Vermont newspaper.
(Although I’ve encountered peo-
ple as close as Montreal who
have no idea Vermont exists, one
would presume all New
Hampshire residents are at least
mildly aware there’s something
between them and New York.)

I tried to imagine the psychol-
ogy behind such a glaring omis-
sion. After much consideration, I
decided Vennont’s absence from
the article was a) a gross and neg-
ligent oversight, b) a deliberately
snotty, unneighborly gesture, c)
the case of the lesser desperately
trying to overshadow the greater

 

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Silent Art Auction!

by irrationally pretending that the
greater does not exist (an exam-
ple of this syndrome would be
Mariah Carey squinting past
Aretha Franklin — no easy task —
on “VH1 Divas Live”), or d) a
provocation designed to raise the
blood pressure of GLBT persons
throughout the Green Mountain
State.

Don’t get me wrong, I am
more than pleased that New
Hampshire is catching up to
Vermont in terms of gay-friendly
legislation — more power to
everyone working hard to get
those laws passed!

And I do admit to being sur-
prised that New Hampshire is
passing such laws. Long ago I
had, not entirely fairly it seems,
written off New Hampshire as
Vermont’s evil, upside-down
political twin. I stand corrected.
New Hampshire’s lavender horse
got a late start out of the gate, but
if it’s finally gaining on
Verrrront’s pink pony; I say go for
a photo finish! In short, I am tick-
led lavender and pink for New
Hampshire, especially for all its
GLBT citizens, and I salute Sen.
Trombly and the other jockeys
who rode that horse as fast as it
could canter.

Still, even with all these recent
legislative successes, I wonder
what happened to the New
Hampshire that refused, year afier
year, to adopt the Martin Luther
King holiday? What happened to
the New Hampshire that boasts
one of the most stridently conser-
vative “mainstream” newspapers
in the country? What about the
New Hampshire that elects, time
afier time, senators and represen-
tatives who are certainly not pals
of the GLBT community? I’m
thinking of Rep. Charles Bass, of
Rep. John Sununu, of Sen. Judd
Gregg, and, especially, of Sen.
Bob Smith (not to be confused

with the Bob Smith who penned
“Openly Bob”). Does this New
Hampshire no longer exist?

Just to make sure I wasn’t
making any presumptions about
the voting records of the afore-
mentioned elected officials, I
consulted two Web sites that keep
track of such things, the Christian
Coalition, and the Human Rights
Campaign.

The results? All of New
Hampshire’s federal politicians
got high marks indeed on the
CC’s 1998 scorecards: Rep.
Sununu and Sen. Smith each
scored a perfect 100 percent

One would presume all New
Hampshire residents are at least
mildly aware there’s something
between them and New York.

(gold stars for them!); Sen. Gregg
finished close behind at 9l‘per-
cent; Rep. Bass came in at an
above-average 75 percent.

Verrnont’s politicians, on the
other hand, fared poorly: Sen.
Jeffords and Sen. Leahy each
scored a sorry nine percent, while
Rep. Sanders received a big fat
goose egg.

The HRC, shockingly enough,
had an almost opposite report. In
Vermont, Sen. Leahy and Sen.
Jeffords scored 100 percent,
while Rep. Sanders received 88
percent (did Bernie have a bad
hair day at some point during that
Congress?).

In New Hampshire, Sen.
Smith — give the man points for
consistency! —— scored an unam-
biguous zero percent, with Rep.
Sununu coming in at 12 percent,
Sen. Gregg at 33 percent, and
Rep. Bass at 38 percent.

Of course, Bob Smith is the
type of senator (not to mention
presidential candidate) any state
would be proud to call its own:
pro-flag burning amendment,
pro-prayer in schools, ditto the
NRA interpretation of the second
amendment, anti-abortion, and,

 

NEW HAMPSHIRE, PI3

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OUTRIGHT VERMONT’S

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November 12, 1999

7:30-9:30 PM

The Coach Barn, Shelburne Farms

OUT IN THE MOUNTAINS

— Ocroaerz 1999 — 7

Out in the Mopuntairzs

Seeking Courage and Common Ground

to Stem Anti-gay Violence
By Chuck Colbert

hen the Rev. Jerry Falwell has dinner next month with 200
‘   gay people, the table talk will be anti-gay rhetoric and vio-
lence.

This unusual gathering resulted from the efforts of the Rev. Mel
White, a former ghost writer for Falwell and author of Stranger at the
Gate: To Be Gay and Christian in America. White asked Falwell: Can
we talk? “Mel sincerely wants to lower the rhetoric on both sides. That
is exactly what we want,” Falwell told the Lynchburg, Va., News &
Advance.

No doubt about it: anti-gay rhetoric and violence abounds. The mur-
ders of Billy Jack Gaither (Alabama) and Matthew Shepard (Colorado)
and that of Private First Class Barry Winchell (Fort Campbell, Ky)
exemplify an increasingly hostile climate. This dinner discussion — a
hopefiil sign on the political and spiritual landscape —- holds a recon-
ciliatory potential for stemming a shameful national trend: Ugly,
inflammatory rhetoric and its companion, violent actions and in some
cases homicide against people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or trans-
gendered, or even perceived to be so.

At a recent academic forum at Northeastern University in Boston,
Father Robert Nugent, the priest whom the Vatican ordered to cease a
28-year gay-aflirming ministry, had plenty to say about violence. “One
of my road-show sound bites,” Nugent told 400 people, “was homo-
phobia is manifested from silence to violence.”

“Silence is a kind of violence,” he said, adding “We can’t restrict
violence just to physical violence. Emotional and psychological vio-
lence is also an issue.” For gay Roman Catholics like me the Church’s
violent language is four words: “intrinsic evil,” used to describe homo-
sexual orientation and “objective disorder,” used to describe homosex-
ual acts.

In an apparent effort to impose a hard-line dogma of chastity -—
mandatory, life-long celibacy for gays —— this contemptible language

prevails in the 1994 version of the Catechism and other texts, includ- '

ing a revision to the US bishop’s essentially gay-positive I997 pastoral
letter, “Always Our Children.”

Most recently, the Vatican Catholics have insisted that Father
Nugent and his ministerial partner Sister Jeannine Gramick sign a writ-
ten “profession of faith” containing words like “intrinsically evil,
“depraved,” and “intrinsically disordered.” Such language, especially
in a pastoral setting, is at best arcane and irrelevant. At worst it’s
counter productive, insulting, and enraging. One priest told me: “It’s

 

COMMON GROUND, P9

 
  

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