A quaint New Hampshire town is being torn apart over a series of colorful LGBTQ-themed murals that an openly anti-gay state senator claims carry “demonic hidden messages.”
The murals were installed last August by a nonprofit aiming to “beautify blighted properties” in a neighborhood of otherwise picturesque former mill town Littleton.
“It’s beautiful art,” Kelly Flanders previously told NPR of the images she now sees out her window instead of boarded-up windows.
However, state senator Carrie Gendreau — who also serves as town selectman and calls homosexuality “an abomination” — soon went on the warpath over the images after seeing one featured an LGBTQ-inspired rainbow.
“What went up was not good,” Gendreau told a previous meeting, according to the Boston Globe.
“I would encourage anyone to research what that really means,” she said of the symbolism. “I don’t want that to be in our town.”
Gendreau claimed at least one of the paintings carried “demonic hidden messages” and “demonic symbolism” — bluntly telling the Globe that she believes “homosexuality is an abomination.”
“I am very concerned about what is basically creeping into our community,” she said.
The feud soon turned into a push for all public art in the town to be strictly managed, as well as a focus on LGBTQ theater groups performing.
Town Manager Jim Gleason, whose late son was gay, quit in outrage in February over Gendreau’s views.
“My son is not an abomination,” Gleason told the select board to a standing ovation, referencing the earlier remarks by the state senator, whom he accused of creating a toxic work environment.
The artist behind the murals, Meg Reinhold, said she is stunned by the hate stirred up by images only meant to bring beauty.
“If a viewer looks at these works and sees demons and darkness, what does that tell us about how they view the world?” Reinhold has said.
With Post wires