Difference between revisions of "Elaine Noble"

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(New page: Evelyn C. Mantilla (D) Hartford, Connecticut State Representative, 4th District Born February 16, 1963 15,000 constituents Elected February 1997 Came out in June 1997 R...)
 
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Evelyn C. Mantilla (D)              
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Elaine Noble (D)                      
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Hartford, Connecticut
 
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State Representative, 4th District
 
  
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Born February 16, 1963
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Boston, Massachusetts
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State Representative, 6th District
  
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15,000 constituents
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Born January 22, 1944
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250,000 constituents
  
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Elected February 1997
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Elected November 1974
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Came out in June 1997
 
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Re-elected in 1998, 00
 
  
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Re-elected 1976
  
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Although we had know each other for two years, it was the night of the announcement of my first campaign that we began our romantic journey. I was not out and Babette was the campaign manager for a State Representative in another district, so we began to date under somewhat secretive circumstances.  
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[[Image:OEElaineNoble.jpg|center|Elaine Noble]]
  
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Mine was a contentious campaign that included death threats to myself, threats of physical harm to volunteers and an arson attempt on our headquarters. I lost that race to the incumbent who was soon to be convicted of voter fraud. A new election was scheduled for February of 1997.
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Noble now lives in a converted railroad station outside of Boston and is seen here with the two goats in her small menagerie of interesting animals.  
  
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Still not out, we ran and won amid a field of six candidates, including the ex-wife of the former Representative. It was exhilarating to win, but stressful to not yet be out. Babette patiently stepped aside during public appearances. Because it was a special election, a separate swearing-in ceremony was held for me and another Representative who had been elected on the same day. Standing in the front of the room to be sworn in by the Secretary of the State, the other Representative had his wife by his side, but I stood alone. I repeatedly looked at Babette and tried to somehow express my love to her. It was, nevertheless a telling moment in that amid all the congratulations, I felt a heaviness in my heart. 
 
  
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After much deliberation, we decided that I would come out publicly during the Pride festivities in June 1997. We weighed the effects that this may have on my constituents in a district primarily populated by Puerto Rican families and decided that the political risk would be worth it. I wrote my speech the night before the event and would not share it with Babette.  On the day of Pride, while sitting on the lawn of Bushnell Park, Babette asked if I wanted her to be on the stage with me and I said "no." She was visibly disappointed. With the encouragement of Representative Art Feltman, the only other openly gay legislator at the time, I delivered my speech stating that "I am a bisexual woman in love with a woman."
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'''Q:  As the first out gay person in the country elected to a state legislature, you made history.  What was that like?'''
  
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A:  I think I have a better perspective on it the farther away I get from it. I’m not sure even today that I really understand the ramifications of it and I certainly didn’t at the time because I viewed myself as taking a step forward that would be helpful to gay folks, but I viewed it as being elected in spite of being gay, not because of it. Now people get elected because they are gay as well as other characteristics. Kind of nice. 
  
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It was a very ugly campaign. Ugly. There was a lot of shooting through my windows, destroying my car, breaking windows at my campaign headquarters, serious harassment of people visiting my house and campaign office – it was really bad. I talk to the election commissioner every once in a while, he’s now retired now, and he still remembers it as one of the ugliest ever seen in the City of Boston.
  
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'''Q:  How did your colleagues receive you when you made it to the House?'''
  
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A:  A lot of harassment at first. But then they saw I was serious. It was ugly too; I had to deal with human feces left in my desk and a lot of obscene profanities. I just tried to maintain with what level of dignity that I could.
  
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'''Q: How were things by your second campaign?'''
  
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Amid much cheer, I asked the crowd to indulge me while I addressed my partner, Babette. I asked her to please stand and told her how much I loved her and how much I appreciated her support during so many trying times. I then asked her if she would marry me!
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A:  Well, I won by almost 90 percent of the vote, so things had quieted down somewhat. I helped create the first Ethics Committee and served on it, and put together a package of legislation that I cared about. The one thing that I wasn’t able to get was a gay rights bill, and it took about another 10 years to get that. That was one thing I deeply cared about. But, I worked toward it in the ensuing years and was delighted when it did finally go through.
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The crowd went wild, but what I remember the most is seeing her standing with both hands over her mouth, then extending them and replying "Yes!" 
 
  
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A flurry of media activity followed. We awoke the next day to see our picture in the front page of the newspaper. It was a sweet story about my proposal – yet I felt a sense of fear and vulnerability. Walking out of the house was actually difficult, with visions of just about anything in our heads.  But, there were no eggs on our porch, no hateful messages, just a couple of Puerto Rican men across the street who called my name and offered congratulations!
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'''Q:  What was the biggest issue you dealt with that also stirred up controversy?'''
  
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During my re-election campaign, a local Pentecostal minister organized a rally of 100 people to protest a diversity poster in City Hall which depicted many children, one of whom was wearing a "Gay Pride" T-shirt. During that rally, he announced that he would challenge me as an independent candidate because, he said, "she's promoting the homosexual lifestyle in our schools." We kept our focus on our campaign while he used hateful language, distorted my record and used a campaign slogan of "No Metas la Pata" (commonly used as "Don't make a mistake," but with a second meaning of "Don't put the Dyke in."  His campaign literature included:  "She rubbed her sexuality on our faces," "She married a white woman who even took her name," and "She wants to teach anal sex and lesbian love in our schools." Leaders from the LGBT and the Puerto Rican communities came together to denounce his campaign tactics. We won with 88% of the vote.
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A:  The biggest issue probably was that Boston was in the height of desegregation of schools. As an educator, I decided to use all my campaign folks – I said they did not have to participate – but I decided that the school pick-ups and drop-offs for children in my district were going to be manned in person by my campaign volunteers. And because I believed in desegregation of schools and equality for all, and I believed that politics was about putting yourself on the line for what you believed in, I was the only White member of the Boston delegation that would ride on the buses with the children.
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For that I looked like I was breaking with the tribe and was resoundingly punished not only by members of the Boston delegation who would stand up on the House floor and say regarding my legislation, “This is a Noble bill and she believes in forced busing so anybody who doesn’t believe in forced busing should vote against this bill.” That was a little rocky. And members of the gay community who were, lets just say, who weren’t enlightened and were as racist as other folks got very nervous and thought, as one reporter for the only gay newspaper said to me, “You should stick to your own kind or we’re going to get someone else to represent us.” And I said, “Well, I believe, David, I am sticking with my own kind.” Its as a lot of things still stand – you can’t say that you want progress or change for one group and not for another. It doesn’t happen that way.
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'''Q: Any reflections on how things have changed since you were in office?'''
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A:  Well, schools have become desegregated in Boston, the quality of education is better, the gay community is a lot more open minded about race issues though it has a long way to go on those issues I think. And we’ve gotten more open-minded around women’s issues – when I was first active in Boston there was a group called the Homophile Union of Boston, and myself and two other women were told we could serve on the Board, but we couldn’t vote. Men could vote in the Homophile Union of Boston, which is why we chose to go work with Daughters of Bilitis. So, those kinds of things have changed, a lot. Very different back then.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Noble, Elaine}}
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[[Category:Out and Elected]]
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[[Category:People]]

Revision as of 13:25, 4 February 2008

Elaine Noble (D)

Boston, Massachusetts

State Representative, 6th District

Born January 22, 1944

250,000 constituents

Elected November 1974

Re-elected 1976

Elaine Noble

Noble now lives in a converted railroad station outside of Boston and is seen here with the two goats in her small menagerie of interesting animals.


Q: As the first out gay person in the country elected to a state legislature, you made history. What was that like?

A: I think I have a better perspective on it the farther away I get from it. I’m not sure even today that I really understand the ramifications of it and I certainly didn’t at the time because I viewed myself as taking a step forward that would be helpful to gay folks, but I viewed it as being elected in spite of being gay, not because of it. Now people get elected because they are gay as well as other characteristics. Kind of nice.

It was a very ugly campaign. Ugly. There was a lot of shooting through my windows, destroying my car, breaking windows at my campaign headquarters, serious harassment of people visiting my house and campaign office – it was really bad. I talk to the election commissioner every once in a while, he’s now retired now, and he still remembers it as one of the ugliest ever seen in the City of Boston.

Q: How did your colleagues receive you when you made it to the House?

A: A lot of harassment at first. But then they saw I was serious. It was ugly too; I had to deal with human feces left in my desk and a lot of obscene profanities. I just tried to maintain with what level of dignity that I could.

Q: How were things by your second campaign?

A: Well, I won by almost 90 percent of the vote, so things had quieted down somewhat. I helped create the first Ethics Committee and served on it, and put together a package of legislation that I cared about. The one thing that I wasn’t able to get was a gay rights bill, and it took about another 10 years to get that. That was one thing I deeply cared about. But, I worked toward it in the ensuing years and was delighted when it did finally go through.

Q: What was the biggest issue you dealt with that also stirred up controversy?

A: The biggest issue probably was that Boston was in the height of desegregation of schools. As an educator, I decided to use all my campaign folks – I said they did not have to participate – but I decided that the school pick-ups and drop-offs for children in my district were going to be manned in person by my campaign volunteers. And because I believed in desegregation of schools and equality for all, and I believed that politics was about putting yourself on the line for what you believed in, I was the only White member of the Boston delegation that would ride on the buses with the children.

For that I looked like I was breaking with the tribe and was resoundingly punished not only by members of the Boston delegation who would stand up on the House floor and say regarding my legislation, “This is a Noble bill and she believes in forced busing so anybody who doesn’t believe in forced busing should vote against this bill.” That was a little rocky. And members of the gay community who were, lets just say, who weren’t enlightened and were as racist as other folks got very nervous and thought, as one reporter for the only gay newspaper said to me, “You should stick to your own kind or we’re going to get someone else to represent us.” And I said, “Well, I believe, David, I am sticking with my own kind.” Its as a lot of things still stand – you can’t say that you want progress or change for one group and not for another. It doesn’t happen that way.

Q: Any reflections on how things have changed since you were in office?

A: Well, schools have become desegregated in Boston, the quality of education is better, the gay community is a lot more open minded about race issues though it has a long way to go on those issues I think. And we’ve gotten more open-minded around women’s issues – when I was first active in Boston there was a group called the Homophile Union of Boston, and myself and two other women were told we could serve on the Board, but we couldn’t vote. Men could vote in the Homophile Union of Boston, which is why we chose to go work with Daughters of Bilitis. So, those kinds of things have changed, a lot. Very different back then.

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