William Saltonstall, 1927-2009, former Republican state senator actively fought for equality

With the death of former state senator William Saltonstall on Jan. 23, the state's gay community lost a distinguished and outspoken ally in the struggle for equality. Saltonstall, a Republican and the son of former governor and U.S. senator Leverett Saltonstall, was 81 years old.

Saltonstall, who resided in Manchester-by-the-Sea with his wife Jane, served in the legislature from 1966 to to 1978. It was not until his later years, however, that he became an advocate for the equal treatment of gay and lesbian people, spurred on by his daughter, Abigail Saltonstall, who came out to her parents in 1983.

"For Bill it was all about his daughter, and that was wonderful," said Tom Lang, a gay activist who also lives in Manchester-by-the-sea and worked with Saltonstall in recent years to urge area lawmakers to support marriage equality. "When he advocated he advocated on behalf of his daughter. He didn't talk logistics or the grandiose or how this is going to affect generations. It was always about his daughter and her family."

Abigail Saltonstall and her partner Chris Blankenship have three children. They reside in Palmer, Alaska.

Saltonstall first emerged as an ally in 2000, when he penned a brief but attention-getting letter to the Boston Globe explaining that he would not support the national Republican ticket in that year's presidential election as he felt that he and the national GOP leadership differed on too many issues. "One issue sticks in my craw. It's personal," Saltonstall wrote. "I have a lesbian daughter who, with her partner, has adopted three children into a loving family. The national leadership of the Republican Party takes the position that no gay people should adopt children, and if they do, the child might be taken away from them to be placed elsewhere.

"I regard this as a direct attack on my family," Saltonstall continued. "My daughter wants to keep these children. They are my grandchildren, and I want to keep them. While I will continue to support local Republicans, as long as the Republican national leadership feels this way, I cannot support it."

Saltonstall's voice on the issue was a surprising but welcome addition to the state's gay rights movement. A Globe profile of the politician - which characterized him as man whose "blood is Republican blue" - published a month after he wrote the letter encapsulated the surprising nature of his advocacy this way: "Saltonstalls are private people, taciturn Yankees. Their type doesn't go around talking about family matters; that's considered tacky."

"When you're dealing with people you might stereotype as [having a] very conservative background ... the discussion doesn't come up, but they have gay people in their families, they're very supportive, but they don't take where Bill took it," Lang agreed. "Bill took it to the public."

His support for his daughter led him to come out early in favor of marriage equality. In July of 2002, clad in his customary suit and bowtie, he spoke at a large rally inside the State House, calling on the legislature to vote down a proposed constitutional amendment. In July of 2003, four months before the Supreme Judicial Court ruled in favor of marriage equality, he wrote another letter to the Globe thanking the paper for editorializing in support of marriage rights for same-sex couples expressing hope that the SJC would act in a way that would make his daughter and her family feel welcome in the state.

Marc Solomon, the executive director of MassEquality, recalled reaching out to Saltonstall early in the marriage fight as part of a project to enlist Republican supporters to the cause. Saltonstall spoke at a State House rally in 2004, on the eve of a constitutional convention where the legislature hotly debated rolling back the SJC's marriage decision. "People just loved it when he stood up and spoke because he was an 'unusual suspect,'" said Solomon. "First of all he's a Republican; second of all, he is the quintessential Boston Brahmin."

Beyond speaking out publicly, Saltonstall also worked behind the scenes throughout the battle to preserve marriage equality, said both Lang and Solomon, lobbying legislators and donating money to MassEquality and candidates who were supportive on the issue. Solomon said Saltonstall would occasionally contact him before donating to a particular candidate to find out where they stood on the marriage issue.

"He wouldn't write checks to candidates that weren't good on marriage equality," said Solomon.

In 2006, Saltonstall changed his party affiliation to vote for Democrat Deval Patrick for governor, in part because he did not like the Republican Party's stance on gay issues. "I've been active in the gay rights movement, because my daughter is gay - she lives in Alaska - and the party has not been favorable to people like her," he told the Globe at the time. "And here in Boston, the local party has been back and forth on that sort of thing."

Lang recalled getting a phone call from Saltonstall in 2005, just after Republican state Rep. Brad Hill of Ipswich announced in a meeting with Lang and other advocates that he would be changing his future votes in the legislature to support marriage equality. "I'm extremely, extremely upset," Lang recalled Saltonstall telling him. "I was not invited to that meeting." Lang said he explained that he was under the impression Saltonstall was out of town when the meeting took place, to which Saltonstall replied, "Why didn't you call me?"

"To him to be there for that switch was so important," said Lang, who added that Saltonstall concluded the call by stating, "Well, at least it happened," and abruptly hanging up.

Saltonstall was involved in the marriage movement to point where Solomon explored the possibility of having him join the MassEquality Board of Directors when it was first created in 2005. Saltonstall demurred.

"I remember he said something like, 'Marc, at my age I'm trying to get off boards, I'm not trying to get on new boards," said Solomon.

Nonetheless, Saltonstall's public advocacy made a difference, said Solomon. "He stood up for us at a time when there weren't a lot of mainstream folks who were standing up for marriage equality. It helped."

Besides his wife and daughter, Saltonstall is survived by a son, William Saltonstall, Jr., who also lives in Alaska, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. A funeral service was held on Jan. 31 at St. John's Episcopal Church in Beverly Farms.