Equality Maine Public Policy Director Sports Hateful Attitude
By Mike Hein
Dec 26, 2007 - 10:55:48 AM
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| Paul Melanson of Orono |
The League Record's recent
news story and public comments regarding Orono grandfather Paul Melanson has received much local and national attention. Melanson's effort to hold the Asa C. Adams Elementary School administration accountable was temporarily cut short by Orono School Committee Chairman Robert Swindlehurst at a public meeting on December 18.
Since the meeting, Melanson has been interviewed locally by Bangor-area WABI television, the
Bangor Daily News, and nationally his story has been published by the
Alliance Defense Fund's Alert,
Covenant News, and
Free Republic.
The Bangor Daily News editorial board went so far as to issue a
December 21 editorial that was critical of the League Record's coverage of the story and the League's comments supportive of Melanson's effort.
More interestingly, perhaps, is the coverage the story has received by the transgendered lobby, including EqualityMaine and national websites
Pam's House Blend and
NGblog. (
Warning: these websites contain profanity and profane images.) The
NGblog website includes a video of the WABI television news story that aired after the School Committee meeting.
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| Huntress (right) at 2007 Dyke March |
EqualityMaine's Public Policy Director, Darlene Huntress, posted articles on her
personal website urging fellow homosexuals and transgendered people nationally to contact the television station and newspaper and criticize their reporting of the story. Huntress, an 'out' lesbian herself,
gleefully thanked all those national homosexuals and transgendered people who contacted the Bangor-area media, after the publication of the newspaper's editorial.
Huntress has routinely cursed the League in previous website postings, including
these remarks from December 8, "I stopped caring about what the Christian Civic League thinks of me and mine a long time ago. They are just cheap entertainment and beyond that, meaningless. Of course, I do love it when someone else calls them on their [expletive deleted]. And Bill Nemitz of the [Portland Press Herald] loves to call them on their [expletive deleted]."
Huntress also wrote
on November 18: "to make things interesting, mike hein from
the ccl also attended to take pictures of the purveyors of evil, as well as the gender-neutral bathroom signs which he is oddly obsessing over. i think he secretly wishes he played
for our team."
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| Huntress (left) with Ethan Strimling |
On June 23: "Of course, I know it's the inevitable price we pay for being OUT, for celebrating who we are, and for daring to empower ourselves as women, as dykes, and as part of the larger community that for so long has been pushed around by people claiming to be doing the work of God. Which, from what I can tell, means you must simply stop doing anything at all in your life that makes you feel good. Especially if it's sex."
On April 7: "Being a 'professional queer' is a dream come true for me. I am on the 'inside' track of a movement to build support around full equality, and get to sit at the table with some of the most brilliant minds working in our field today. I am actually PAID to talk daily about queer politics. I get to meet, learn from and work with passionate [Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, and Transgendered] activists from across the state, the region, and nationally. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to make sure this is really my life."
EqualityMaine's Executive Director, Betsy Smith, can be contacted at bsmith@equalitymaine.org and EqualityMaine's President of the Board of Directors, Matthew Dubois, Esq., can be reached at mdubois@maine-elderlaw.com.
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