Andrews Inn
Photo by Jeremy Youst. Collection of Andrews Inn Oral History Project.
Photo by Evie Lovett
Tremendous animosity. That's how I remember it. But the town just hated the faggots that would come up, and faggots and the dykes that would come up, and sort of ruin their town, and all the sex that was going on. And I remember hearing that because I was also affiliated with, at the time, which now is called HCRS, they had a big office Bellows Falls, and I was a consultant with them. So I would hear what the community was saying about Andrews Inn from that—from that perspective, and it was very negative. Yet at the same time, business was booming all over town. But I do remember the breaking of the windows and the, you know, and the assaults. There were assaults that took place. Men would walk out of there—I don't know if women got assaulted—but the men would walk out of there and get beaten up. And so it was, you know, people would say, "walk out in a crowd, don't and walk out alone." And despite the negativity and animosity from the community around it, so much love is generated in it and by it and for it. This is good. Very good. Yeah. I think the important thing is that it was a wonderful place. It was a seminal place for activism. And it just brought people together from all over. It was a really heartfelt atmosphere because it just created—there's so much love that came out of that place. So much love. — Michael Gigante