Carrie Gendreau standing with a campaign yard sign from 2022. (Photo Credit: State Senator Carrie Gendreau/Facebook)
By Rob Salerno | LITTLETON, N.H. – The Littleton, New Hampshire town councilor who led a drive to ban all public art after a group installed rainbow-themed murals on the side of a restaurant is not running for re-election, after failing to file papers by the Feb 2 deadline.
Carrie Gendreau, who told the Boston Globe “homosexuality is an abomination” and has repeated the theories of doomsday cultist Jonathan Cahn, who believes that rainbows are demonic symbols that empower the Mesopotamian goddess Ishtar, who wants to subjugate Christians. She has served on the Littleton Board of Selectmen since 2018.
Gendreau also currently serves in the New Hampshire Senate, representing District 1, and is up for reelection in November. She has not responded to questions from the Blade or other outlets about whether she intends to run again. Gendreau beat her Democratic opponent 55-45 in 2022, her first election.
New Hampshire has one of the most closely divided state legislatures in the country and will be a closely watched battleground in November.
Last fall, the Littleton Board moved to ban all public art, after North Country Pride and the United Way installed a series of small murals that were meant to celebrate diversity. The board had initially wanted to ban only LGBTQ-themed art but was told that would run afoul of the first amendment right to free speech.
The board had also moved to punish the local theatre company, which put on a production of the classic gay-themed play La Cage Aux Folles (The Birdcage). Theatre UP was told that the Board wanted the production cancelled, and that its contract with the town-owned Opera House where they mount their shows may not be renewed when it comes up in May. While the board did not make a decision, Theatre UP has responded by deciding to find or build a new venue anyway.
Theatre UP was honored for its “integrity, grace, and love” in the face of the controversy at the 19th Annual New Hampshire Theatre Alliance Awards in January, while BJ Williams took how the award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Community Production of a Musical for playing the flamboyantly gay butler Jacob in the show.
The homophobic attacks from Gendreau and the other board members drew intense criticism from the community, who demanded an apology at the January board meeting. Gendreau offered no apology.
Instead, in a surprise move, the town’s manager Jim Gleason resigned, citing the stress caused by the controversy, and dogged personal attacks from anti-LGBT bigots who sent him hateful messages about his late son who was gay.
The moves caught headlines across the country and around the world, most of it negative, says Kerri Harrington, one of the organizers of North Country Pride. Harrington is one of four candidates who have filed for the March 12 election to fill Gendreau’s seat.
“It’s been a rollercoaster. Personally, I think we’ve turned the corner of the shock and anger, and I’m looking forward to the future. We know our community is not what was represented by that one voice. The larger voice has been one of inclusion and moving forward and progress in many issues, not just LGBT issues. I feel like the next story about Littleton is going to be positive,” she says.
Harrington, who is married to a man, says she has been a supporter of the LGBT community since she was a child.
“I was brought up to be open minded and to fight when I can with my privilege and allyship. Two of my aunts growing up were openly lesbian. They were always part of my family. Watching their struggles and having to fight for marriage equality, it became important to me by a very young age, because these were people I love,” Harrington says. “People ask me, if you’re married to a guy, why would you be involved, and I always say, ‘Why wouldn’t I be involved in fighting people’s rights?’”
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