New Hampshire Freedom to Marry

Add Greenville to the list, that makes 73 towns voting no to the resolution!

The Hampton Union printed a front page article declaring NH voters (overwhelmingly) want to vote on marriage and they are quoting Cornerstone as their leading authority. I hope you'll all join me in relaying accurate information to the editor. Letnhvote is spreading misinformation (surprise!) by reporting the article passed 59 towns and failed in... See More 33. That's deliberate skewing of the facts. There were 133 towns involved and if 59 passed it then that's 74 towns rejecting the article by vote or by tabling it. It is so important that we be louder than the liars and the misinformed.

Tabled in Jaffrey! The people have spoken!!!!

Tabled in Temple!

Kirk: We need to get people to be more vocal, as you were, with letting businesses know that they will not get GLBT money. That's surely a way to wake up some people! Great decision on your part. And, for your letting them know why you opted to go elsewhere. Let others follow your fine example!

Deering crushed it: 27 yes, 67 no

That is fantastic !!!!

and they wanted us to wait for these results before we voted! How do you spell irony?

What happened in Merrimack?

Tuftonboro tabled it (killed it). I'm proud of my hometown. Love should never be legislated. Period.

Es muy bueno!!!

I AM SOOOOOOO HAPPY FOR EVERYONE!!!!!! BEST WISHES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's about time they got smart! Soon this will be nationwide.

If they tried this in Alabama, there would be another Civil War. Seriously. I love the South, but this would not fly.

Lisa, I couldn't agree with you more. Personally, I don't get it; but they're so jaded and narrow-minded, they'd rather see a gonorrhea outbreak...or worse.

Watch out Congress! We're knocking at your front door!!

Thank God

Thank the hard work of nhftm too!

Already submitted my absentee ballot for Goley!

Heading out to vote for Goley today! Just reminded the husband too...but this is a great reminder why it's so important!

I emailed all my reps yesterday and one got back to me saying that they were scheduled to vote on it this coming Wednesday.

Chief Justice Margaret Marshall
Supreme Court
One Pemberton Place
Boston, MA 02108
... See More
Dear Justice Marshall:

This letter has been a long time coming. I did not know how to address you, I was not sure of my grammar, I was not sure what to say. After reading the wonderful story about your commencement speech at Brandeis University I decided that no letter would be worse than a poorly written one.

When I was a little boy growing up in Worcester MA, where I still live, my mother used to read me fairy tales until I fell asleep. I always dreamt that I would grow up to be Cinderella and live happy ever after with Prince Charming. As I grew a little older I was told…”that is not possible and is not a normal dream”. After watching the Miss America Pageant I used to parade around the house with a chenille bedspread and a bouquet of plastic flowers. When my father saw this he told me “you are not normal”. He was a State Representative and could not understand why I did not want to be a fireman or police officer. Quite honestly, at the time, neither did I.
Going to school was a nightmare. When I walked the halls kids would stick me with sharp pins, spit in my face and punch me. After being beaten up, on almost a daily basis, I quit school at 15. I was told by the teachers that I was “not normal” and that it would be best if I “just left” so as not to distract the other students.
Many years later I went to night school and received a High School Diploma. To this day I wish I could have gone to a prom, received a yearbook, and had an alma mater. That was not to be as I was not “normal.
I began working at Worcester State Hospital at the age of 17. I got a car and moved into a little cottage that my mother owned. I was happy but that did not last very long. Soon after the “kids” in the neighborhood found out I had moved into the cottage, my windows were smashed with rocks, the house was spray painted with obscenities, and my car was vandalized. My mother stood by me and was my best friend. She spoke to the mothers in the neighborhood to no avail for they told her…”well after all, you can’t blame our kids…Dennis is not normal”.
After a few months of this abuse, I picked up my first drink. I found it helped me to fall asleep to the taunts I could hear outside, as well as the sound of breaking glass as rocks were thrown through my windows. Thus begun my voyage into the world of alcohol, which lasted for many years. I went to work everyday, was kind and caring towards the patients, and tried to ignore the teasing from the “guys” I worked with. I endured a severe beating at the hands of a coworker and was out of work for 16 weeks. He was not even sent home for the day…because the Steward of the Hospital Mr. Paul Foran was sure “He must have done something to deserve it” “after all he is not normal”.
My “love affair” with alcohol lasted for many years until the day I found myself in bed with hepatitis, having been told by my Doctor, that the road I was on led to death. I had never felt so sick and vulnerable as I did during those days. I sat up in bed and prayed to God. I asked Him to “take me OR help me”. I went into a detox center in 1978 and to this day have never picked up another drink.
After I sobered up, living in the cottage was intolerable. My dear mother had a few dollars saved and bought me a little house on the “nice” side of the city. Indeed it was. I moved into a little house and for the first time in years, fell asleep to the sound of crickets and not breaking glass. My neighbors accepted me as I was and I live in that house to this day.
I met a wonderful man and spent 17 years with him. I asked his mother one day why she always signed her Christmas and birthday cards…Regards, Thelma and yet signed the cards to her two son-in-laws..Love, Mom even though they had only been together for a few years compared to our 17. She explained “Dennis, you are my sons “special” friend and what you have really is not “normal” but I try to accept it. The relationship ended on a very nice note and we remain friends.
I began a 10 year relationship with the love of my life and am accepted by his lovely family as Richard’s partner. I feel completely at home when I am with them and it is understood by all that I am “Family”! The only thing missing was some kind of validation. I had thought that because Vermont had a “Civil Union” type arrangement, that perhaps one day it might also happen in Massachusetts. I dreamed of that day but truly felt it would never happen in Massachusetts. I picked up the newspaper one morning and read: “Supreme Court Rules in favor of Gay Marriage”. I honestly don’t recall how long I sat there with tears streaming down my face. All the hurt, all the broken windows, all the beatings, disappeared in that one headline. I was afraid to rejoice lest it was some kind of joke or I had misinterpreted it. But sure enough, it was true. The Supreme Court of Massachusetts had declared me “normal”. After 50 years, I was for the first time in my life…”normal”.
On July 9th at 2 P.M. I will marry Richard at the Unitarian Meeting House in Provincetown MA. I had originally planned a small service but Richard, knowing this day was perhaps the most important day of my life, decided that I should have all the trappings of a “real wedding”. Consequently, formal invitations have been sent out, flowers ordered, a cake picked out, musicians retained, and a large reception planned at Michael Shays.
It is at this point that I wish to say, from the bottom of my heart, Thank You! Thank you, and the other justices for making this all possible. And Thank You for your continued support on behalf of all the people in Massachusetts who are now able to marry the one they love. If I should die the day after Richard and I become legally married, it would not matter because for just one day, one GLORIOUS DAY….I was finally “normal”.
Respectfully and with a heart full of gratitude, I remain... Dennis R. Troy

Well said Rob...

Duh?