"Plans" Don't Include Sale to Gay Couple

By Dianne Williamson
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
July 28, 2012

http://www.telegram.com/article/20120726/COLUMN01/107269878/0/business

It's bad enough that the Catholic Church discriminates against gay people. But it's poor form — and possibly illegal — to document the bigotry and then mistakenly email it to the victims.

This embarrassing etiquette lapse occurred as James Fairbanks and Alain Beret were pursuing the purchase of Oakhurst, a 44-bedroom mansion in Northbridge, owned by the Diocese of Worcester. Fairbanks and Beret had searched for two years for the perfect renovation project, and hoped to turn the run-down estate into a banquet facility. Previously, the pair had transformed mansions in Vermont and Barre into similar businesses.

“When we saw Oakhurst, we fell in love with it,” Beret said.

The asking price of $1.4 million was negotiated to $1 million. On May 18, the pair signed an offer to purchase with a $75,000 deposit. They paid $3,000 for a home inspection. They also met with various town boards, all of which expressed enthusiasm for the project because it would save the historic building from developers seeking to raze it.

“These men had a good plan,” said Barbara Gaudette, Northbridge Planning Board chairwoman . “They have the background and experience. We would welcome that.”

In early June, the pair was notified that a $240,000 sprinkler system would have to be installed. Concerned that the deal might fall through, the diocese's broker suggested the men make a smaller counter offer for the mansion and some of the land, rather than the full 24 acres. So the men made a revised offer of $550,000 for the mansion and six acres, assuming everyone would be satisfied.

They were wrong. The next day, they received a brief email from the diocese's broker, LiSandra Rodriguez-Pagan, saying that the diocese decided to pursue “other plans” for the property.

Beret and Fairbanks were stunned, but perhaps they should have anticipated rejection from the church. The men are gay and have been together for 35 years. They married in 2004 and live quietly in Sutton.

“It never occurred to me they'd walk away from the table,” said Beret, 60, a lawyer.

This week, Monsignor Thomas Sullivan, who oversees the sale of diocesan property, told me the deal fell through because of financing.

“They couldn't come up with the money,” he said. “This happens all the time.”

I told him the potential buyers believed that he rejected the deal because of their sexual orientation, or the prospect of gay marriages someday being performed at Oakhurst. Was that an issue?

“No, it wasn't,” Msgr. Sullivan said. “It was an issue of them not having the financing. That was all.”

As noted, if you're going to discriminate, you should cover your tracks. Inadvertently attached to the email rejecting the counter offer is an email from Msgr. Sullivan to the diocesan broker:

“I just went down the hall and discussed it with the bishop,” Msgr. Sullivan wrote. “Because of the potentiality of gay marriages there, something you shared with us yesterday, we are not interested in going forward with these buyers. I think they're shaky anyway. So, just tell them that we will not accept their revised plan and the Diocese is making new plans for the property. You find the language.”

Now, Beret is trying to find the language to react to the email, which he didn't see right away because it was at the bottom of a long thread. Neither he nor his spouse ever disclosed their sexual orientation to the broker, but they assume she must have realized at some point that they were gay.

“Their message was, 'These guys are gay. Get rid of them,' ” Beret said. “I don't argue with their right to stand on the pulpit and condemn. But they don't have the right to chase me down with their poison.”

Their lawyer, Sergio Carvajal, said state law prohibits discriminating against buyers based on sexual orientation, and said the potential for gay marriages would exist regardless of the sexual orientation of the buyer.

“It's outrageous in this day and age that the church would refuse to sell to someone because of their sexual orientation,” Carvajal said. “It's reprehensible.”

Speaking of reprehensible, Oakhurst is perhaps best known as the former House of Affirmation, a treatment home for pedophile priests, which closed amid scandal in the late 1980s. Ironically, Beret was willing to overlook that history; he's a devout Christian who at one time studied for the priesthood.

“I have plenty of sins,” Beret said. “But being gay isn't one of them. This is not a fight I wanted to pick. But for the sake of my dignity, I'm not walking away.”

Contact: dwilliamson@telegram.com