In New Hampshire, fight for LGBTQ acceptance has spanned decades – WMUR Manchester

June 10, 2022 News Editor

June is Pride Month, and in New Hampshire, the fight for acceptance for the LGBTQ community has been continuing for decades.On June 28, 1969, the New York Police Department began an early morning raid at the Stonewall Inn, a gay club in the city’s Greenwich Village neighborhood. The first brick flew, sparking protests and clashes among police and members of the LGBTQ community. Those six days of protest sparked what’s widely recognized as the start of the nationwide push for LGBTQ rights in the United States. But LGBTQ stories did not begin in 1969. In New Hampshire, a gay community became active in the 1950s when Portsmouth became a bustling military town thanks to the newly installed Air Force base. Tom Kaufhold, of the Seacoast Outright LGBTQ History Project, said the first gay bar in the city, the Seaport Club, opened in 1957. It was located on Daniel Street, where The Press Room bar and restaurant is today. “It was very clandestine,” Kaufhold said. “And you had to knock on the door, you had to be a member and all those things.”In the years following the Stonewall riots, similar fights for rights unfolded across the United States, including in New Hampshire. “Wayne April was very active in the Gay Student Organization at (the University of New Hampshire) in the early ’70s,” Kaufhold said. “The Gay Student Organization was holding social events.”The group received serious opposition from the owner of the Manchester Union Leader and then-Gov. Meldrim Thomson. “He informed the university that the GSO could exist, but they couldn’t hold any social events,” Kaufhold said. “And the GSO took him to court, took the university to court, and it went to the New Hampshire state Supreme Court.”In 1974, the court ruled in favor of the GSO and allowed it to remain in operation. At the start of the new decade, the HIV/AIDS epidemic took hold of the U.S., with the first cases reported in 1981. Former state Rep. Jim Splaine, of Portsmouth, said he and other members of the community were active in getting resources for Granite Staters affected by AIDS.”There was considerable discrimination,” Splaine said. “There was fear among many people in New Hampshire about people who were gay and lesbian. We saw, as in other parts of the country and the world, people refusing to go to restaurants where gay people may work.”Splaine served as president of AIDS Response Seacoast in the late 1980s. During his time in charge of the nonprofit organization, he proposed a city ordinance in Portsmouth that would ban any business with contractors who discriminated against anyone based on their sexual orientation. “We had a public hearing in Portsmouth on it, and the chambers of the City Council filled up,” Splaine said. “We had some wonderful testimony in favor and some not-very-kind testimony in opposition. It was defeated by the City Council by a vote of 5-4.”That vote took place in 1993, but advocates were able to pass a similar ordinance several years later, opening the door for other communities to do the same. Those pushes for equality then trickled to the state level when Splaine and other lawmakers pushed through a hate crime bill in the 1990s. In the early 2000s, lawmakers worked on a civil unions bill that faced an uphill battle.”It did not immediately receive support from the Democratic leadership or from the governor,” Splaine said. “Months of discussion ensued, and strong, well-attended public hearings with a lot of people for and opposed in the House and Senate. It passed.”When Gov. John Lynch signed that bill in May 2007, New Hampshire became the first state in the United States to pass a civil unions law through legislative action instead of through the courts. “I think that was a very important time, because we could imagine that some kid who may have been beaten up in school in Iowa or in Nebraska that day before considering hurting himself because he wondered if anybody was like him or her might have seen that story and felt better about himself,” Splaine said.Two years later, the Granite State passed a law allowing same-sex marriages. Since the law went into effect on Jan. 1, 2010, more than 5,000 same-sex marriages have been celebrated in New Hampshire.In the years following the passage of the marriage bill, there have been other strides for the LGBTQ community in New Hampshire. In 2018, U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas was elected as the state’s first openly gay member of Congress. In that same year, Gov. Chris Sununu signed a ban on controversial conversion therapy.Other issues have come up in the Legislature. Last year, state lawmakers rejected a bill that would have banned transgender girls from playing girls’ sports. Last month, the State House voted against the so-called Parental Bill of Rights. Opponents believed it would have forced schools to out LGBTQ students. “We have to keep in mind that we have to continue the education and talk about it in schools, that it’s OK to be gay, it’s OK to be different,” Splaine said. “And it’s going to be a while, too, to make that case.”

MANCHESTER, N.H. —

June is Pride Month, and in New Hampshire, the fight for acceptance for the LGBTQ community has been continuing for decades.

On June 28, 1969, the New York Police Department began an early morning raid at the Stonewall Inn, a gay club in the city’s Greenwich Village neighborhood. The first brick flew, sparking protests and clashes among police and members of the LGBTQ community.

Those six days of protest sparked what’s widely recognized as the start of the nationwide push for LGBTQ rights in the United States.

But LGBTQ stories did not begin in 1969. In New Hampshire, a gay community became active in the 1950s when Portsmouth became a bustling military town thanks to the newly installed Air Force base.

Tom Kaufhold, of the Seacoast Outright LGBTQ History Project, said the first gay bar in the city, the Seaport Club, opened in 1957. It was located on Daniel Street, where The Press Room bar and restaurant is today.

“It was very clandestine,” Kaufhold said. “And you had to knock on the door, you had to be a member and all those things.”

In the years following the Stonewall riots, similar fights for rights unfolded across the United States, including in New Hampshire.

“Wayne April was very active in the Gay Student Organization at (the University of New Hampshire) in the early ’70s,” Kaufhold said. “The Gay Student Organization was holding social events.”

The group received serious opposition from the owner of the Manchester Union Leader and then-Gov. Meldrim Thomson.

“He informed the university that the GSO could exist, but they couldn’t hold any social events,” Kaufhold said. “And the GSO took him to court, took the university to court, and it went to the New Hampshire state Supreme Court.”

In 1974, the court ruled in favor of the GSO and allowed it to remain in operation.

At the start of the new decade, the HIV/AIDS epidemic took hold of the U.S., with the first cases reported in 1981. Former state Rep. Jim Splaine, of Portsmouth, said he and other members of the community were active in getting resources for Granite Staters affected by AIDS.

“There was considerable discrimination,” Splaine said. “There was fear among many people in New Hampshire about people who were gay and lesbian. We saw, as in other parts of the country and the world, people refusing to go to restaurants where gay people may work.”

Splaine served as president of AIDS Response Seacoast in the late 1980s. During his time in charge of the nonprofit organization, he proposed a city ordinance in Portsmouth that would ban any business with contractors who discriminated against anyone based on their sexual orientation.

“We had a public hearing in Portsmouth on it, and the chambers of the City Council filled up,” Splaine said. “We had some wonderful testimony in favor and some not-very-kind testimony in opposition. It was defeated by the City Council by a vote of 5-4.”

That vote took place in 1993, but advocates were able to pass a similar ordinance several years later, opening the door for other communities to do the same.

Those pushes for equality then trickled to the state level when Splaine and other lawmakers pushed through a hate crime bill in the 1990s.

In the early 2000s, lawmakers worked on a civil unions bill that faced an uphill battle.

“It did not immediately receive support from the Democratic leadership or from the governor,” Splaine said. “Months of discussion ensued, and strong, well-attended public hearings with a lot of people for and opposed in the House and Senate. It passed.”

When Gov. John Lynch signed that bill in May 2007, New Hampshire became the first state in the United States to pass a civil unions law through legislative action instead of through the courts.

“I think that was a very important time, because we could imagine that some kid who may have been beaten up in school in Iowa or in Nebraska that day before considering hurting himself because he wondered if anybody was like him or her might have seen that story and felt better about himself,” Splaine said.

Two years later, the Granite State passed a law allowing same-sex marriages. Since the law went into effect on Jan. 1, 2010, more than 5,000 same-sex marriages have been celebrated in New Hampshire.

In the years following the passage of the marriage bill, there have been other strides for the LGBTQ community in New Hampshire. In 2018, U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas was elected as the state’s first openly gay member of Congress.

In that same year, Gov. Chris Sununu signed a ban on controversial conversion therapy.

Other issues have come up in the Legislature. Last year, state lawmakers rejected a bill that would have banned transgender girls from playing girls’ sports. Last month, the State House voted against the so-called Parental Bill of Rights. Opponents believed it would have forced schools to out LGBTQ students.

“We have to keep in mind that we have to continue the education and talk about it in schools, that it’s OK to be gay, it’s OK to be different,” Splaine said. “And it’s going to be a while, too, to make that case.”