Rockport student wins JFK Essay Contest with profile of pro-gay city councilor

Margo Balboni, a junior at Rockport High School, beat out more than 1400 students from across the country to win this year's John F. Kennedy Essay Contest, and she did it by writing about a Baltimore city councilor who took a bold stand for gay rights.

The subject of Balboni's essay, Councilman Nicholas D'Adamo, may not have the name recognition in the LGBT community of more high-profile politicians who have stood up for LGBT rights like San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom or the Bay State's own Congressman Barney Frank, but Balboni said D'Adamo inspired her essay because he was an unsung hero who bucked the views of his constituents and moved beyond his own prejudices to follow his conscience. In 2001 D'Adamo filed domestic partnership legislation that would have given same-sex couples certain benefits and protections, and while the legislation failed it served as a forerunner for later gay-rights gains in the city.
Balboni, who is straight, said that when she first decided to enter the essay contest she did not necessarily plan to write about gay rights. She discovered the contest while browsing online for scholarship opportunities, and she had been curious about John F. Kennedy's book Profiles in Courage, the Pulitzer-winning chronicle of eight senators who took unpopular but principled stands on different hot-button issues that inspired the contest. The contest rules urged students to pick subjects who took similarly courageous stands but who were not household names.

"I went online and spent four hours scanning the websites of newspapers across the country trying to find an obscure act that demonstrated political courage," said Balboni.
D'Adamo's story resonated with Balboni. The councilor came from a strongly Catholic district, and D'Adamo was himself Catholic, and up until 2001 he had generally opposed gay rights legislation. But that year some gay constituents met with him and shared their stories of being denied access to their partners in the hospital and being barred by hostile family members from attending their partners' funeral. D'Adamo had a change of heart. Against the wishes of many of his most fervent supporters, he filed legislation that would have created a domestic partner registry granting partners legal protections in certain limited situations: in hospitals, in prison, and in funeral-related matters.

The bill filed by D'Adamo prompted the first public debate in the council's history of spousal rights for same-sex couples, although it failed to pass. D'Adamo faced a political backlash, but he managed to hold on to his seat, and his efforts were later vindicated; in 2008 he joined the rest of the council in passing a resolution in support of full marriage equality.

"What stood out for me about Councilman D'Adamo is he was not only facing the wrath of his constituents but he was also rising above the narrow view he had in his life about gay marriage," said Balboni. "I thought it showed real courage to overcome his own prejudices in order to do something that was right. I think many people who oppose gay marriage do it sort of automatically; it's something that's been ingrained in them, and they would never do that searching inside themselves to reconsider their positions, so I thought it was very admirable."

In her essay Balboni wrote that D'Adamo showed the importance of politicians following their own convictions, even if it means breaking with their constituents. While conventional political wisdom says that elected officials should follow the will of the voters in their district first and foremost, Balboni said she was inspired by Kennedy's book and its argument that in extraordinary circumstances lawmakers owe it to their constituents to follow their conscience.

"I definitely do believe where even in a democratic society like ours leadership has to be dictated by their own conscience. It's not just and it's not ethical for us to ask our leaders to go against their ethical beliefs in order to follow the popular belief at all times," said Balboni. She said Kennedy's own arguments to that effect in Profiles in Courage "put words to ideas that I had had earlier but had never really solidified."

Of course, Massachusetts' own legislature has no shortage of profiles in courage, lawmakers who took risky votes in support of marriage equality, but Balboni said she did not follow the local marriage debate closely. When the Goodridge ruling first came down in 2003 Balboni was a mere 12 years old. She said she has some gay friends, but the issue of marriage equality, while important to her, is not one that has directly impacted her life.

Yet in her young life Balboni has worked diligently to better the world. She is co-founder and co-president of her school's environmental club, she has organized educational and fundraising events about human rights abuses in Darfur, and she has campaigned for a healthier school menu. Balboni also edits her high school's student newspaper. She plans to major in college in international relations, and when she graduates she plans to join the Peace Corps.

She said she identified with D'Adamo on a personal level as well, having grown up in a Catholic family.

"I myself was raised as a Catholic, so I think that might have given me a bit of empathy for Councilman D'Adamo, because I live with the fear of disappointing my very religious older family," Balboni said.

Far from disappointing her family, Balboni's prize in the essay contest has been celebrated. On May 18 she will be honored by Caroline Kennedy at the JFK Library during the presentation of the Profiles in Courage Awards. Balboni said her parents have invited her extended family to town for the event and turned the ceremony into a mini-family reunion. For her part Balboni said she is still in shock that her essay came out ahead of all the rest and that she'll be receiving an award from the Kennedy family. In particular, she is excited to meet the winners of this year's Profiles in Courage awards, who will also be honored at the ceremony. Among the recipients will be Leymah Gbowee, a Liberian peace activist, and a group of her fellow countrywomen who have supported her campaign.

"I'm ecstatic I'm going to actually get to meet the Kennedys and the actual winners of the Profiles in Courage award," said Balboni. "The peacemakers in Liberia, that will be incredible to meet them."