Gay marriage petition signature riles selectman

http://www.capecodonline.com/cctimes/gaymarriage22.htm


April 22, 2006

By ERIC WILLIAMS
STAFF WRITER

TRURO - The usually dull and genteel business of appointing members to a volunteer town board took a peculiar and aggressive turn at this week's selectmen meeting.

A candidate for reappointment to the board of fire engineers, Leo Childs, was called on the carpet by Selectman Paul Asher-Best for signing a recently circulated petition opposing gay marriage.

Childs' bid for reappointment was denied when selectmen voted unanimously to appoint other candidates. Most selectmen said their reason for not reappointing Childs was in the interest of having new faces on a town board.

Asher-Best defended his vote not to reappoint Childs on more personal grounds during an interview yesterday. ''If you think I'm not entitled to civil marriage, then the only conclusion I can draw is that you don't think I'm fully human, or that my humanity is not on par with yours,'' he said.

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