{"id":9523,"date":"2024-01-10T14:21:35","date_gmt":"2024-01-10T14:21:35","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","slug":"Littleton-town-manager-resigns-in-latest-turn-in-debate-over-public-art-and-censorship-53649112\/","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/?p=9523","title":{"rendered":"Littleton town manager resigns"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Littleton\u2019s<\/a>
Littleton\u2019s town manager resigns amid controversy over public art and LGBTQ+ expression.<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Dozens of Littleton residents gathered at Monday\u2019s select board meeting, many hoping for an apology for anti-LGBTQ+ remarks made by one of its members and a resolution to the board\u2019s handling of a larger debate over public art by and about LGBTQ+ people.<\/p>\n

But the board issued no such statement. Instead, Town Manager Jim Gleason stepped down from his position, citing the pain he said he experienced during the controversy. Gleason said he has been subject to hateful remarks about his late son, who was gay.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been here almost three years, and, yes, I\u2019m an outsider when I came and still the guy from Florida and whatever,\u201d Gleason said in an interview. \u201cThis is a beautiful community. There are some great people in this community that I\u2019ve got to work with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gleason\u2019s departure is the latest turn in a months-long controversy centered on questions of what kind of public art is appropriate in this North Country town. It began with a debate over public murals that some, including select board member Carrie Gendreau, claimed were pushing a \u201cdemonic\u201d pro-LGBTQ+ message, something she called \u201can abomination.\u201d That led to a further debate over bans of public art, and disrupted the town\u2019s long-standing relationship with a local theater company, Theatre UP, that was staging a production of \u201cLa Cage aux Folles.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gleason hopes that, with his departure, the board and community will be able to move forward.<\/p>\n

At the meeting, select board member Roger Emerson said the board was never planning to ban public art. Emerson and Gendreau suggested the idea could have come from Theatre UP leaders and possibly Gleason.<\/p>\n

But town officials have also said voters could be asked to weigh in on new art rules in the future.<\/p>\n

Gleason feels a review of art still places the town in a predicament.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will say nowhere in any email from the Board of Selectmen or in public comment did they ever use the word \u2018ban,\u2019 \u201d Gleason said. \u201cBut when someone says, \u2018we need to do something to ensure that this art on these private buildings doesn\u2019t make it onto public property\u2019 \u2013 that to me is a ban. Because the board has two choices: They cannot regulate content, so they either allow it or they don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kerri Harrington, co-chair of North Country Pride, a nonprofit that supports LGBTQ+ people in the area, said it\u2019s been a difficult chapter for Littleton and that Monday\u2019s meeting was a bit of a shock to not receive an apology. The meeting also closed with a reading by Gendreau, in which Harrington said people walked out on feeling upset by its contents.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople were angry and sad, and it\u2019s been really rough, it\u2019s not been feeling great around here,\u201d Herrington said. \u201cNow we\u2019re in a predicament because we\u2019re not going to have a town manager.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n These articles are being shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information visit collaborativenh.org.<\/em>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dozens of Littleton residents gathered at Monday\u2019s select board meeting, many hoping for an apology for anti-LGBTQ+ remarks made by one of its members and a resolution to the board\u2019s handling of a larger debate over public art by and about LGBTQ+…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":471,"featured_media":9524,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","_newspack_byline_active":true,"_newspack_byline":"by [Author id=471]Olivia Richardson[\/Author] New Hampshire Public Radio","newspack_content_restriction_is_exempt":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[508,12],"tags":[505],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[561],"class_list":["post-9523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-headlines-cm","category-town-city-government","tag-paywall","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/42661091-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/471"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9523"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9523\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9525,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9523\/revisions\/9525"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9523"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fnewspack_spnsrs_tax&post=9523"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=9523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}