New Hampshire official quits after receiving homophobic comments about his dead gay son

The town manager in Littleton, N.H., has resigned amid a controversy over LGBTQ-themed public art in the town — a discussion that has included negative comments about the manager’s late son, a gay man.

Jim Gleason submitted his resignation at the January 8 meeting of the Board of Selectmen, the town’s governing body, the New Hampshire Union Leader reports. His last day on the job will be February 2. He had been town manager for three years after stints in city administration in Georgia and Florida.

One of the board members, Carrie Gendreau, had called paintings commissioned by a local LGBTQ+ group, North Country Pride, “demonic” and said homosexuality was an abomination. The paintings appeared on the side of a restaurant in downtown Littleton.

Gendreau had also defended the actions of a Littleton woman who had made hateful remarks to Gleason, he said upon resigning.

The woman, Jean Chouinard, came to Gleason’s office in October to complain about a production of La Cage Aux Folles by Theater UP at the municipally owned Littleton Opera House. She wanted Gleason to shut it down. He said he couldn’t because it would be an infringement of First Amendment free speech rights but told Chouinard she could exercise her own rights by protesting the show. She then called him weak and asked if he was pleased that his son Patrick, who died of cancer in 2016, “was in hell with the devil where he belonged,” according to Gleason.

He recently obtained an order of protection barring Chouinard from contact with him. Last Friday, someone dropped off an envelope at the town government offices that contained a picture of him with the words “Queer Bastard” written across it, the Union Leader reports. Chouinard admitted to being the source, and Gleason cited it when seeking the order of protection.

When announcing his resignation, Gleason said the whole situation has been “very hurtful,” according to In Depth NH. There have been worries about the town government regulating public art in Littleton, he noted, but some members of the Board of Selectmen have denied they’re talking about a ban on certain art.

At the meeting where Gleason resigned, board member Roger Emerson said a ban was never considered, and he and Gendreau suggested it was a rumor started by Gleason or the theater company. But some board members said they may ask citizens to vote on art regulations, New Hampshire Public Radio reports.

“I will say nowhere in any email from the Board of Selectmen or in public comment did they ever use the word ‘ban,’” Gleason told the radio outlet. “But when someone says, ‘We need to do something to ensure that this art on these private buildings doesn't make it onto public property’ — that to me is a ban. Because the board has two choices: They cannot regulate content, so they either allow it or they don’t.” Meanwhile, the theater group is considering a move out of the Littleton Opera House.

Gendreau, a Republican who is also a New Hampshire state senator, has stood by her comments that the town shouldn’t allow the murals sponsored by the Pride group, In Depth NH notes. She has said her religious faith guides all her decisions in elected office. Her spiritual guide is Jonathan Cahn, a Messianic Jewish minister who has claimed the Stonewall uprising, which jump-started the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement, unleashed demonic forces on the world. Messianic Jews — which is a Protestant Christian sect — self-identify as Jewish but also believe in Jesus Christ as their savior.

Gleason has received much praise from townspeople. “This gentleman here is the best of the best,” resident Rudy Gelsi said at the meeting where Gleason resigned, according to In Depth NH. Another resident, Kerri Harrington, thanked Gleason for all he’d done and said the recent debate “was not about art. It was about hate for the LGBTQ community.”

Pictured: Jim Gleason and greeting cards based on the "controversial" art, created by Meg Reinhold