New Hampshire
Drag queens settle defamation lawsuit against N.H. lawmaker for $100k each plus a public apology – The Boston Globe
![Drag queens settle defamation lawsuit against N.H. lawmaker for 0k each plus a public apology – The Boston Globe Drag queens settle defamation lawsuit against N.H. lawmaker for 0k each plus a public apology – The Boston Globe](https://bostonglobe-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/KKfYjKZNTsx7Mxd1BH9aFW8VbQE=/506x0/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/bostonglobe/SARNXCFVHPJHPVF3YKK7OJG2YE.jpg)
McMahon, 25, said he’s a big fan of free speech.
“But I think people need to realize that it comes with consequences,” he said.
Their case highlights a tense environment for drag performers and LGBTQ+ people more broadly, both in New Hampshire and across the country, as conservative state lawmakers and some extremist groups have sought to exert political pressure against rising acceptance and visibility for people who defy binary notions of sex and gender.
Love, a Republican, was sponsoring an ill-fated bill in 2022 to require public libraries to conduct background checks on all staff and volunteers when he cited concerns about recent library events featuring drag queens. He mentioned two performers in particular without naming them.
Love testified before a New Hampshire House committee that one performer had been revealed to be a “convicted sex offender” after an event at a library in Nashua and another had been seen “rubbing butts” with kids during an event that was held at a private venue in Derry after opponents objected to holding the event at the local library — but he didn’t have his facts straight.
In bringing their lawsuit, Champion and McMahon alleged Love had clearly been referring to them. They noted Champion had performed for a teen-oriented event at the Nashua Public Library, and McMahon had performed for a family-friendly storytime event at the Tupelo Music Hall in Derry.
Love claimed the lawsuit hadn’t adequately alleged that his comments were about the plaintiffs, but Merrimack County Superior Court Judge Brian T. Tucker disagreed. In a preliminary ruling in January, he found that Champion and McMahon had each outlined a plausible defamation claim.
Tucker also rejected an assertion that Love was entitled to absolute legislative immunity for comments he made as a sitting lawmaker discussing pending legislation.
Although the New Hampshire Constitution says legislative speech and debate “cannot be the foundation of any action, complaint, or prosecution,” that shield didn’t apply to comments Love made when he expounded on his testimony during a subsequent public meeting and an interview with a local online news outlet, Tucker ruled.
In a statement released as part of the settlement agreement, Love said he had been given inaccurate information and failed to verify it before publicly relaying false claims about Champion and McMahon in the legislative hearing then repeating the claims during a Derry Town Council meeting and an interview with the Manchester Ink Link.
“I have since learned that those assertions were completely false,” he said. “I wish to publicly retract those statements and apologize to Robert and Michael.”
The statement said Love has agreed to a monetary judgment of $100,000 for each plaintiff.
An attorney for the plaintiffs, Olivia F. Bensinger of Shaheen & Gordon, released Love’s statement to the Globe on Wednesday when asked about the settlement, which was first reported by the Manchester Ink Link. The terms of the agreement are confidential aside from the text of the statement, she said.
This outcome shows “there are consequences for defamatory remarks,” Bensinger added.
A motion to dismiss the lawsuit was filed Monday by the parties because a settlement had been reached.
Love and his attorneys, Gretchen M. Wade and Michael J. Tierney, did not respond to requests for comment. Nor did they answer emailed questions regarding the source of the funds Love would use to pay the $200,000 settlement.
Love, who represents Rockingham County District 13 in the New Hampshire House, is running for re-election.
Tense environment for drag performers
Drag performances, particularly those advertised as family-friendly, have been the subject of political controversy in recent years, not just for policymakers but also for extremist groups.
“Drag has been under attack,” Champion said, recounting recent examples of far-right groups seeking to intimidate performers and attendees.
In June 2023, the Weeks Memorial Library in Lancaster, N.H., canceled an LGBTQ+ Pride group’s Drag Story Hour event with just four days’ notice, citing safety concerns after a barrage of harassing phone calls and public backlash. That same month, a group of masked neo-Nazis from the Nationalist Social Club-131 (NSC-131) shouted and knocked on windows of the Teatotaller cafe in Concord, N.H., to disrupt and intimidate those who gathered for a family-oriented drag event inside. And in November another fascist group, the Proud Boys, distributed pamphlets ahead of a Teatotaller drag event.
New Hampshire Attorney General John M. Formella is pressing civil rights charges against NSC-131 and the masked individuals for their alleged efforts to terrorize Teatotaller patrons on account of their actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity, or sex.
As similar incidents and litigation have happened elsewhere in New England and across the country, the headlines have felt personal for Champion and McMahon and others like them.
“Every time we do shows now, we’re always looking, we’re always watching, we’re always on high alert,” Champion said. “It’s so hard to just relax and enjoy your job as a drag queen because you’re so afraid of violence now.”
All the while, Champion said, a sense of uncertainty about the pending defamation lawsuit lingered in the back of his mind. Even though it was clear Love had spread lies about them, the positive outcome they ultimately secured was never guaranteed, he said.
“So you live with this fear,” he said. “Somebody put out there that I was a pedophile. Are people going to believe that? Are people going to come after me for that?”
Debate rages over age appropriateness
While critics often say drag performances are hypersexualized and categorically inappropriate for kids, advocates for the art form contend performers generally tailor their material to their audience and venue, much like stand-up comics.
Champion, the father of an 8-year-old boy, likened the diversity of drag styles and performances to the diversity of movie genres. While some are family-friendly, others are not, he said.
“If we’re going into an event for children, obviously we’re not going to go in there doing anything inappropriate for children,” he added.
Champion — who has been doing drag for about as long as McMahon has been alive — said he recalls feeling unsafe at times outside the bars where he performed years ago, but also finds himself wishing things now could be a bit more like they were before cellphones were ubiquitous and drag queens were the focus of so much political ire.
McMahon, who started doing drag shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic, said he feels lucky to have come of age in an era with social media, though he acknowledges the downsides. There seems to be more acceptance and more backlash, he said.
One difference now, McMahon added, is that people like him these days are more comfortable being themselves. This settlement agreement represents something of a silver lining in the dark cloud that has lingered overhead for more than two years, he said.
“The more and more we stand up for ourselves, the more and more people are going to realize that like, no, they don’t have to like drag, they don’t have to like this stuff, but that doesn’t mean they can’t respect us,” he said.
Steven Porter can be reached at steven.porter@globe.com. Follow him @reporterporter.
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New Hampshire
Obituary for Steven S. Perry at Brookside Chapel & Funeral Home
New Hampshire
At the Democratic National Convention, breakfast isn’t just bacon and eggs – The Boston Globe
![At the Democratic National Convention, breakfast isn’t just bacon and eggs – The Boston Globe At the Democratic National Convention, breakfast isn’t just bacon and eggs – The Boston Globe](https://bostonglobe-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/dFGDzkNeNjB08RLiIXWKPTBNfyI=/506x0/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/bostonglobe/ACK5QOX3YX7YDWDXL77V5CCONU.jpg)
At the national party conventions, state delegation breakfasts are in part organizational events, where weary state party staffers hand out credentials and preview the day’s schedule, not unlike camp counselors rallying their adult wards for the day. But the gatherings also offer revealing glimpses at political up-and-comers, who spend their early-morning hours with the party faithful they will need to secure higher office down the line. Their remarks are typically brief — sometimes funny, sometimes heartfelt, always laudatory of the state they’re addressing. For strong speakers, they end in standing ovations.
Savvy politicos make the rounds, moving with discipline from hotel ballroom to hotel ballroom and often hitting multiple breakfasts per day. Not all 50 are created equal: The A-list speakers pay particular attention to battlegrounds, influential delegations, and, of course, the early nominating states that could decide their fates should they pursue the presidency.
That elite status was clear this week for humble New Hampshire, with a breakfast speaker line up that included many of the party’s buzziest names. Vermont’s breakfast may have had maple syrup shots, but its New England neighbor heard from a who’s who of the party’s up and comers, including some who have run for president before or are looking to in the future, and some who were under consideration to serve as Harris’s running mate. Delegates enjoyed bacon, eggs, and potatoes as speakers addressed them from a podium flanked by inflatable coconut trees, an apparent tribute to the now-famous Harris line.
Not every state got the same attention. Shapiro was on the schedule to speak to a Massachusetts breakfast on Thursday, but did not appear. He did not miss his appointment with the New Hampshire delegation Wednesday morning, though.
The status of the state’s first-in-the-nation primary is uncertain on the Democratic side, after the national party pushed it later in the nominating calendar and New Hampshire rebelled. But the early contest, and the outsize power it gives this state of just 1.4 million people, was nonetheless at the center of the conversation.
“Speaking of New Hampshire, the primary is back!” laughed retiring New Hampshire Congresswoman Annie Kuster as she introduced Booker to the delegation on Thursday morning.
“I’m like, it’s home,” Booker said as he took the podium to applause. “I just love your state. I spent so much time there — I don’t know if you all know this, I ran for president in 2020.”
Ten minutes later, the crowd was on its feet applauding him, and state party chair Raymond Buckley had to chastise attendees for lining up for selfies and delaying the rest of the stacked program.
“You know, Cory Booker’s been to New Hampshire about 455 times, and he’s coming back,” Buckley chided.
For some of the state’s youngest delegates, access to the party’s future stars has been a highlight of the convention.
“Who’s gonna be there in ‘28, and who’s gonna be there in ‘32, and how many meals have we already had with them?” laughed Samay Sahu, a 20-year-old Dartmouth student. “Have I met them already? Have we taken a selfie?”
New Hampshire is “small” but “mighty,” Sahu added, crediting the primary for its political power.
Khanna, the California congressman seen as having presidential ambitions, attended more than a dozen state delegation breakfasts this week. A prominent poster near the New Hampshire delegation’s breakfast buffet thanked its sponsors; Khanna was at the top, and he was one of the few sponsors who did not live in the Granite State.
“I have gone to Michigan, to Pennsylvania, Wisconsin,” Khanna told reporters on Tuesday, naming a slate of battleground states as he spoke about the importance of introducing delegates to “the next generation of talent.”
“It’s about getting the right economic message for the party and figuring out what the right message is to win in the fall and going and talking to delegates, talking to people across the breakfasts, helps you figure that out,” he said.
And does the ambitious congressman have particular affection for the first-in-the-nation primary state?
“I love New Hampshire because it’s a state that values ideas. It’s a state that values retail politics,” Khanna said. He added that he has long been a supporter of New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary, “and I’m pretty confident that it’ll have a big role going forward.”
Paying extra attention to states such as New Hampshire is nothing new in national politics. It was a similar scene at the Republican National Convention last month in Milwaukee, where onetime presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy sponsored a breakfast for the state, his smiling face featured on posters outside the room. The state’s Republican delegation heard from Ramaswamy and Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
Bill Shaheen, husband of Senator Jeanne Shaheen and DNC committeeman for New Hampshire, said in an interview after breakfast Thursday that his state “has a tradition of being involved and being active, and I think we can help give these people who want to run for president guidance.”
Sahu, who introduced Boston Mayor Michelle Wu when she addressed the New Hampshire breakfast earlier this week, said he was “bawling” when they heard from Buttigieg, whom he reveres.
“The thing is, even though we’re seeing them, and I get to be, what, two feet away from Wes Moore, it’s almost not that big of a deal,” Sahu added. “Because he’s gonna come back to New Hampshire.”
Emma Platoff can be reached at emma.platoff@globe.com. Follow her @emmaplatoff.
New Hampshire
7 Caught Legionnaire's Disease In Lincoln, But It's 'No Longer A Risk'
![7 Caught Legionnaire's Disease In Lincoln, But It's 'No Longer A Risk' 7 Caught Legionnaire's Disease In Lincoln, But It's 'No Longer A Risk'](https://patch.com/img/cdn20/shutterstock/26244233/20240822/093147/styles/patch_image/public/shutterstock-1065839402___22093041909.jpg)
LINCOLN, NH — There is “no longer an elevated risk” of contracting Legionnaire’s disease in Lincoln after seven people became infected by bacteria in a cooling tower in town over the summer, New Hampshire health officials said Wednesday.
Legionnaire’s disease is a bacterial pneumonia caused by inhaling water droplets contaminated with Legionella bacteria, the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services said. Initially, officials said that five diagnoses were made in June and July, but they added Wednesday that two additional cases have since been confirmed. All seven people were exposed to contaminated water droplets from a cooling tower behind the RiverWalk Resort downtown, according to officials.
The cooling tower underwent a cleaning and disinfecting process, after which testing conducted by the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Public Health Services, and the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services confirmed that “remediation efforts to eliminate Legionella bacteria were successful,” officials said.
The cleaning took place on Aug. 12, and water samples were collected for additional testing.
“Test results, which were received today, confirm the effectiveness of the facility’s cleaning and disinfection process with negative results for Legionella,” officials said Wednesday. “RiverWalk continues to partner with DHHS and NHDES on a water management plan to prevent future contamination or bacterial re-growth.”
The health department said it will investigate any other diagnoses with a potential link to the area.
“The negative test results received today are good news and demonstrate the effectiveness of the cleaning and disinfection of the cooling tower,” Dr. Benjamin Chan, New Hampshire State Epidemiologist, said Wednesday. “Therefore, we do not believe there is currently an elevated risk for Legionella infection from this cooling tower, and we will continue to monitor and work with the facility to ensure an appropriate management plan is in place to prevent future contamination or re-growth of the bacteria.”
Legionella are naturally occurring environmental bacteria that can grow in water systems and infect people who breathe in contaminated water droplets from showers, hot tubs, faucets, cooling towers, misters, and decorative fountains, according to health officials.
People and businesses can prevent waterborne germs from growing in water sources by properly cleaning and maintining all devices that use water, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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