By Bonnie Washuk,Staff Writer

LEWISTON – For 20 years, T.L. Mikesell of Auburn said he endured harassment and threats because his co-workers thought he wasn’t manly enough.

Rep. William Walcott, D-Lewiston, said that his announcement in March on the floor of the House of Representatives that he was gay had been difficult. More difficult was living with the fear when he was younger that others would find this out, he said.

Mikesell and Walcott were among several speakers at a Thursday rally urging people to vote no on Question 1 on Tuesday. About 50 people attended. Many held green “No on 1” signs.

Those who want to veto the gay rights law that prevents discrimination in housing, credit, education and employment are using half-truths and untruths, Mikesell said.

“I have experienced discrimination. And we are going to stop it by voting no on 1,” he said while standing in front of Trinity Episcopal Church downtown.

A grandfather, Mikesell said he has paid taxes all his life. He served in the Army during the Vietnam era. He worked for a company for more than 20 years that had a policy prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Even though he reported “every single incident, I was never afforded equal protection,” Mikesell said. He declined to name the company. Harassment happened often, he said. He was threatened that his house would be burned down. While at work, his truck was damaged to the tune of $4,000.

“Twenty years. Two decades. Think of it! Driving to work sick” from a stress-induced condition that required medical and mental health care, he said.

“Why? Because I was perceived by my fellow workers to not be manly enough for them.” An anti-discrimination law would have protected him, he said.

Walcott said he was a teenager 21 years ago, just beginning to understand he was gay. Then a news story reported that a Bangor man had been thrown from a bridge because he was gay.

“News of Charlie Howard’s murder sent shocks through Maine. It sent shivers of fear through my body,” Walcott said.

His friends joked about Howard’s death. Tormented, Walcott listened to the jokes. Afraid other teens would suspect he was gay, “I even joined in on the joking.”

Many gays hide who they are because they’re afraid, he said. A “no” vote Tuesday won’t get rid of hate, but it would relieve fear of losing a job or not getting credit. While there are people who will discriminate against others, “there must be laws to protect them,” Walcott said.

Even if the anti-discrimination law is upheld Tuesday, the fight to wipe out hate will go on, said the Rev. Dr. Jodi Hayashida, pastor of the First Unitarian Universalist Church in Auburn.

“It won’t change this culture where hatred and prejudice and oppression are considered signs of good, strong moral values,” she said, holding her young daughter.

If Question 1 fails, “it will become our job to change this culture … to say over and over, Unity not division; love not hate.'” That must be said so often it becomes reality, Hayashida said.

The Rev. George Hardy of Topsham, pastor of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, said the election is about what he learned 65 years ago as a kindergarten student: “Liberty and justice for all.”

The Pledge of Allegiance “doesn’t say justice for some, for a few,” he said. “It says justice for all. That is what we’re about.”