Straight people to rally in Augusta for gay rights

Becca Hanks believes she’s a lot like other teenagers with stepparents. The 16-year-old splits her time between her mother’s and father’s houses in Orrington.

Both parents attend school events with their significant others at John Bapst Memorial High School in Bangor, where the girl is a junior. The only difference between Becca Hanks and most of her friends is the fact that both of her stepparents are women.

The teen, along with her mother, Elise Senecal, her father, Mark Hanks, and their partners will participate in a vigil from 4 to 6 p.m. Sunday on the steps of the State House in Augusta.

The rally is part of a weeklong national event called Seven Straight Nights for Equal Rights to show that heterosexuals are demanding equal rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered Americans and their families.

Becca Hanks will speak at the event organized in Maine by her father and stepmother, Mary Jude. Her mother’s partner, Rindy Fogler, and her 14-year-old brother, Daniel Hanks, also will participate.

“I want to get across the idea that having a gay mother isn’t any different than having a regular family,” Becca Hanks said Wednesday. “Everyone seems to think that’s a big deal, but it’s not. I have a stepparent at both houses. They’re just stepmoms.”

Her brother, a freshman at John Bapst, hopes the event gets people who oppose rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people and relationships between same-sex partners to rethink their positions.

“I think they should know that a gay family really isn’t much different, and they shouldn’t really make such a big deal out of it,” he said.

Becca Hanks has learned first-hand that people can change their minds once they meet a family like hers.

“I’ve only had one person who said for religious reasons she didn’t want to come to my mom’s house,” she said. “But we worked it out and once she met my parents, her whole opinion changed.”

Jude and Mark Hanks took on the job of organizing the statewide event at the request of their pastor, the Rev. Mark Doty of Hammond Street Congregational Church, UCC, in Bangor.

“We get very concerned about the reaction and overreaction of some people to various issues around GLBT rights,” Jude, 53, said. “Straight folks need to stand up and show support. It can’t just be their fight. Everybody needs to do the right thing.”

Senecal, 43, said that she and Fogler, 45, were happy to be part of the event.

“I just really hope people will just look at us and the people there and see families,” she said. “We all love each other and care for each other, and that’s what it should be all about rather than the labels or what’s ‘normal.'”

Seven Straight Nights for Equal Rights was initiated by Soulforce and Atticus Circle, two Texas-based organizations with members throughout the country.

Soulforce is committed to “freedom for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people from religious and political oppression through the practice of relentless nonviolent resistance,” according to its mission statement.

Atticus Circle is dedicated to “achieving equality for all parents and partners, regardless of sexual orientation,” according to information on its Web site.