Last year, HRC sent staff members to New Hampshire to help elect U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and defeat former U.S. Sen. John E. Sununu. Sununu is no friend to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, and this was an important victory.
Well, in a reverse of the old cliché, it’s like son, like father when it comes to New Hampshire and the Sununus. Former NH Governor and White House Chief of Staff John H. Sununu, John E.’s father, is now chairman of the NH Republican party and is proving he can more than match his son when it comes to anti-LGBT rhetoric.
Sununu the elder stooped to trash talk when describing marriage and transgender antidiscrimination bills pending in the state Senate, demonstrating his disdain for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people by referring to the bills as “garbage”. Of course there are differing views on the issues we care about, but it is way out of bounds for the elder Sununu to refer to our rights as “garbage”.
Joe Solmonese issued this statement:
To call basic human rights for thousands of New Hampshire residents ‘garbage’ just shows how out of touch the former governor really is. Such rhetoric is neither civil nor appropriate, and I hope it galvanizes New Hampshire to move swiftly on both these measures.
The state House passed a marriage equality bill in March; it is now pending in the Senate. HB 436, which would provide marriage equality for the state’s LGBT couples. You can take action in support of this bill here: http://www.hrcactioncenter.org/campaign/nhmarriagediscrim.
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