The Times Record, Tuesday, June 13, 2000

Picture a married couple walking down tile sidewalk holding hands. Now imagine them being harassed or assaulted for that public display of their love for each other.

Impossible to think of? But what if the couple were gay?

Jonathan Lee, executive director of the Maine Speak Out! Project, said many gay couples do not feel they can display such simple gestures of affection as holding hands or walking down the street arm-in-arm: They fear being discriminated against, he said, simply because of their sexual orientation.

To counter such forms of prejudice, Maine Speak Out! is sponsoring "Walk with the One You Love" in Brunswick and nine other Maine communities Sunday. The walks, Lee said, are intended to bring together people of diverse sexual orientations, religious faiths and political affiliations in an affirmation of their commitment to helping their communities become places where anyone can feel safe to walk with a loved one in public without fear of harassment or humiliation.

"So often gay people are thought of as being 'hypersexual,'" Lee said. "We're saying this has to do with love. This isn't a rally for sex. We're talking about love and relationships and different kinds of families."

The Brunswick walk is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. Sunday rain or shine, at the gazebo on the Mall. Its route will go through the Bowdoin College campus over to Longfellow School and then back down Park Row to the Mall. The distance is about one mile.

"We want this to be a mainstream, local event, so that it's not divisive," Lee added, noting that similar walks will be held in Portland, South Portland, Augusta, Bangor, Belfast, Rockland, Lewiston-Auburn, Kennebunk and Peaks Island.

Lester W. Hodgdon, a senior vice president at Mid Coast Hospital, and his wife, Sidney a middle school teacher, are among the organizers of the Brunswick walk, Both are hoping for a good turnout of people from all walks of life in the greater Brunswick area.

"It's important to give the message that these are our friends and neighbors," Lester said, to which Sidney added, "This is also your son and daughter your brother and sister."

As a teacher, Sidney said she has seen teen-agers struggling with issues of sexual identity who might have an easier time of it if they were to see leaders of the community walking in support of gay people.

"I just would like people to feel more comfortable with themselves," she said. "Young people who are questioning their sexual identity may feel accepted by their family but they really need to feel accepted by the community for who they are."

Maine Speak Out's Jonathan Lee said gay teen-agers in Maine are prone to feeling isolated, the result of being called names by homophobic peers and not having adults intervene on their behalf when they are subjected to that harassment. Many also fear telling their parents about their sexual preference, he said, out of fear that they will be rejected. An added burden for some is the stance of some churches that homosexuality is morally wrong.

Sidney Hodgdon said Sunday's "Walk With the One You Love!" will be a low-key affair.

"It's just an event where you show up and walk," she said. "It's not political. It's a community-building event. People need an opportunity to get out and publicly declare they are open and affirming in a way that doesn't take a lot of money and time."