Headlines from the Granite State
Victory Fund endorses Boyer
The LGBTQ Victory Fund, the national nonprofit dedicated to electing LGBTQ leaders to public office, has endorsed Goffstown Selectwoman Kelly Boyer for a seat, representing District 4, on the New Hampshire Executive Council. If elected, Boyer would be her state’s first openly LGBTQ woman to service on her state’s council, representing the city of Dover as well as the towns of Barrington, Rollinsford and Somersworth.
Boyer “is a passionate public servant who has volunteered and worked in the nonprofit sector for most of her life,” notes Victory Fund. “Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois; she moved to New Hampshire in 2008 while serving with AmeriCorps. Kelly currently works as a Human Resources Information Specialist. In 2018 Kelly was elected to the Goffstown Select Board. As a Selectwoman, Kelly has been noted as the first woman elected to the board in over 10 years, the youngest elected Selectwoman in the history of the town, and the first openly LGBTQ+ elected official for Goffstown.”
HRC endorses Shaheen, Pappas
US Senator Jeanne Shaheen and Congressman Chris Pappas, both representing the Granite State in DC, are among the candidates who received early endorsements in May by the Human Rights Campaign.
Their endorsements came relatively early in the campaign, HRC National Press Secretary Lucas Acosta told Manchester, New Hampshire–based WMUR-TV 9, because “New Hampshire is a key state for Democrats to retain control of the House and possibly win the majority in the Senate.”
“Chris Pappas is one of our community’s fiercest allies in Congress,” Acosta said in the WMUR report, which notes that “Pappas is among seven LGBT House members and part of a pro-LGBT House majority” and that “his presence in the House means the LGBT community ‘has a seat at every table because every issue impacts our community.’”
“And since her days as governor, Senator Shaheen has truly been an ally of, and advocate for, our community,” Acosta said. “She pushed for marriage equality in the Senate before it became the law of the land. She has been a true leader on our issues at every level.”
“Every American should be free to be who they are, earn a living and love who they love without facing discrimination or pain, but there is so much more work to do to provide true equality,” Shaheen told WMUR.
State GOP tables vote to update platform
Despite the latest in repeated efforts to remove anti-marriage equality language from the New Hampshire Republican party platform, the state’s GOP party platform committee voted unanimously to ask delegates at their May 9 convention to make no changes to the platform at all.
They said making any changes to the platform would be too difficult to do via Zoom since COVID-19 precautions moved their convention online, according to a WMUR-9 TV report.
“This is driven largely by the logistical difficulty in conducting a full and transparent debate [during the COVID-19 pandemic], Platform Committee Chair Chris Ager wrote in an April 20 statement. “We received over 40 suggestions from 30 Republicans. Our intention is to carry-over these suggestions into the next cycle for review.”
Derry Town Councilor and Granite State Log Cabin Republicans leader Jim Morgan had led the effort to change the language earlier this year. A previous effort to make the change two years ago, led by then state GOP Chair Jennifer Horn, was unsuccessful.
White Mountains Pride
White Mountains Pride Week and The White Mountains Pride Festival were just picking up momentum last year after their volunteer-based committee got going in 2018. Then the pandemic came along. But the North Conway–based group didn’t let COVID-19 slow it down in 2020—like Prides throughout New England and around the world this year, they took their regional celebrations of diversity and inclusion online.
“We have brought together a diverse group of entertainers from last year to perform again for our community to celebrate, educate and help foster acceptance of all people,” Greg Vander Veer, chair of the entertainment committee said.
What’s more, they posted videos and photos provided by the community throughout the month of June, which you can check out on White Mountains Pride’s Facebook page.
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