Four women from
our group
sacrificed their Memorial Day holiday.
(Sherry,Kelly,Donna and Rhonda) Others were off to
the
lake, beach, or backyard BBQ, and they were painting
the benches and trash receptacles. We were never
given any restrictions on what we could or couldn't
do. In fact, we were told "Do whatever you want to
do" What better place to paint the diversity colors,
we thought, than in a park with a plaque that reads,
"Dedicated To Those People Who Add Cultural Diversity to Our City". The decision to paint was done with the best interest of the park in mind.
After the
benches were painted rainbow, city officials told us
they must be painted over--that it "Jeopardized the
historic motif of the neighborhood" and,"A number of
calls have been received concerning the painting".
First, we asked, "What motif?" A strip mall on one
side? A boarded-up, condemned building on the other?
When pressed strongly about the "number of calls",
turned out to be 3 or 4! We interpreted this "historical motif"
and "number of calls" business as a smokescreen. More precisely, we interpreted this as homophobia and
intolerance by one individual director,who is under
the city manager.Yet we never publicly accused him of such. We wanted those benches to remain rainbow-colored because it was the right thing, not by screaming homophobia. He was beginning to lose his credibility, while we were gaining ours. We felt very strongly about
saving our benches.
We called on Rep. Bill
McCann-Dover, who had introduced the bill (HB421)
adding "gay" to the anti-discrimination legislation
which passed in May of last year (1997).The
signing of HB421 by Gov. Jeanne Shaheen can be seen
on the website's "News" page. The smiling Bill is standing over the seated Gov.(Jasper and Rick were there, but just out of the picture to the
right)
When we told Bill what was going on at
Immigrant's Park (which is located in his district),
he said he felt angry that intolerence was going
on,and worked very hard for our cause, coming to our
meetings with the community services director,and
when those talks broke down, talking with City
Manager Paul Beecher, and announcing he (Mr. McCann) would take it to
the city council if he had to.
On June 17, after
many meetings, emails, sleep deprivation from staying awake thinking over strategy, petition drives (Jasper single-handedly got about 130 signatures), readying
ourselves for a public opinion drive,and negotiations between Bill McCann and City Manager Paul Beecher,
Mr. Beecher ruled that the benches would remain as
they are. We felt so happy we had won the
battle! That it is possible to fight City Hall and WIN! (especially when you're right!) I never felt so strongly about
anything in my life! (Rick)
Controversy continues
around this issue, both for and against to this
writing (7/25/98). Newspaper articles, editorials,
talk-show fodder continues on.(WTSN's talk show host once called it "The Immigrant's Park Scandal", referring to something listeners could talk about)
We were a quiet
(not secretive) group for our first four years. It is now widely known that the GLBTQ group thrives in
Dover. S-u-r-p-r-i-s-e!!
This page with all it's
rainbow colors is dedicated to Rep. Bill McCann,who
also felt strongly about our cause, and negotiated
with City Manager Beecher. We are
grateful,Bill.
When in Dover the next time, seek
out our georgeous park on Main St. (near Janetos') with beautiful flower beds, lush green lawn
throughout, our fragrant-smelling rose bushes--and our famous rainbow benches!!
We have so much
now when we drive by and look at them--we hope
you do too!!