LITTLETON — In protest of a selectman’s controversial comments, the town manager resigned this week, saying he had concluded that a proposal regarding public art belied an anti- LGBTQ agenda.
Jim Gleason, whose son Patrick was gay and died from cancer in 2016 at age 35, tendered his resignation at Monday’s Board of Selectmen meeting.
Later in the meeting, Selectman Carrie Gendreau repeated and elaborated on previous remarks she had made about an ongoing “spiritual battle” in this Upper Valley community.
That battle began last summer after Gendreau spotted three paintings on the outside wall of a downtown restaurant that she said contained “demonic” content. At a subsequent selectmen’s meeting, she brought up the question of what say the town had over public art displays.
Gleason said he later determined that Gendreau, who also is a state senator, actually opposed the group that commissioned the artwork, North Country Pride, which promotes diversity and equality.
Gleason has said that at the selectmen’s Aug. 28 meeting, Gendreau expressed concern that someone would try to install art in public places that might be offensive to her and others.
As news of the controversy spread, Gendreau told the Boston Globe that homosexuality is an “abomination.”
Not long afterward, a female Littleton resident went to Gleason’s office to complain about an upcoming production of “La Cage aux Folles,” a musical comedy with gay characters planned by Theatre UP for the town-owned Littleton Opera House. The musical was turned into a 1996 film, “The Birdcage,” starring Nathan Lane, Robin Williams and Gene Hackman.
Gleason said that when he responded that the play was protected by the First Amendment and the town could do nothing to stop it, the woman asked if he was happy that his late son “was in hell with the devil where he belonged.”
In an email Tuesday, Gleason wrote that Gendreau “attempted to justify” the woman’s comments, “but there are (6) employees who can confirm that I did not engage in any hostile or inappropriate behavior during that discussion.”
Gleason also forwarded an email he received Tuesday morning from a New Hampshire white supremacist that said, “Your son is an abomination.”
At Monday’s meeting, Gleason updated the board on two items of business before presenting a third — his resignation, which is effective Feb. 2. Gleason’s three-year contract was to expire on April 19.
Gleason, who wore a shirt with the legend, “We the People Means Everyone,” and a rainbow-colored logo, said the decision “has not been easy” to make but was in his and the town’s best interests.
Pressed for more by someone in the audience, Gleason said, “I’m tired of what’s going on” with his relationship with Gendreau and the selectmen, which he described as “very hurtful,” both professionally and personally.
Neither Gendreau, board Chair Roger Emerson nor Vice Chair Linda MacNeil commented on Gleason’s announcement before the board moved on to consider the town’s tow list.
After dispensing with half a dozen other items, Emerson announced, “We’re going to discuss the art tonight,” quickly adding that the board to date had not formally discussed the topic.
The board previously met privately with an attorney to review the legality of a public-art ban ordinance, Gleason said.
Emerson complained that no selectman has used the phrase “art ban,” but that those words just won’t “go away.”
He said the town supports the arts and that there is “nothing in the works for banning any art in the Town of Littleton.”
Emerson’s comment was greeted by guffaws of disbelief from many in the audience of about a hundred. When public comment began, Emerson and the board were criticized for not immediately shutting down anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and talk of an art ban.
Kerri Harrington, a co-chair of North Country Pride and a declared candidate for Gendreau’s seat on the board in the 2024 town election, spoke to her directly, asserting that the art ban “was never about art” but about hatred of the LGBTQ community.
Most who spoke made comments similar to Harrington’s, but Gendreau had her supporters.
One man, who did not identify himself, said he didn’t care what adults do in private, but he was worried about the “effect on kids” of public messages.
Resident Julie Butner said Gendreau, not Gleason, should resign.
Gendreau did not respond.
A subsequent speaker said the entire Board of Selectmen should go.
Gendreau, who has become a statewide lightning rod for co-sponsoring legislation that would create a ban on abortions after 15 days, said after the meeting that she is praying about whether she should resign from her positions as Littleton selectman and/or state senator.
Asked whether she owed anyone an apology, Gendreau answered, “I can’t apologize about God’s words. Truth is truth.”
Her actions, she said, are a reflection of her relationship with “my Lord and Savior” and constitute “a spiritual battle” that she believes will continue.
