John O'Toole: Petition signature at issueAnonymous fliers posted along this year’s gay pride parade route prompted District 3 candidate John O’Toole to publicly explain his signature on an anti-gay marriage petition in circulation in 2005. The unsuccessful petition would have put gay marriage on the ballot after the Supreme Judicial Court ruled it legal in 2003.

“I signed it,” O’Toole said on Monday. “It was a mistake. I should’ve taken a closer look at it.”

In an interview, O’Toole, former president of the Cedar Grove Civic Association, took pains to point out that in 2007 he signed onto the efforts of local gay activists to encourage the state House and the Senate, particularly South Boston Sen. Jack Hart, to let the court ruling stand.

He added that he also supported and encouraged the decision of a colleague at the Olde Towne realty firm to marry his partner, noting that the company sponsored a float in past gay pride parades. And at this year’s parade, held on a rainy Saturday morning, O’Toole marched with outgoing Dorchester City Councillor Maureen Feeney, a prominent proponent of gay rights.

After the parade, O’Toole, one of seven candidates running to replace Feeney, sent an e-mail to supporters, outlining his support for gay rights and pointing to some of the same instances of support for gay rights he had detailed to the Reporter.

Richard O’Mara, a member of an influential Dorchester civic group representing the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community that will be closely looked to for an endorsement, said he personally has not decided whom to back in the race. But noting that he has family members who signed the petition, O’Mara said that he received an apology from O’Toole and he was satisfied with his response.

“There are members of the gay community that won’t accept that,” said O’Mara, a member of the steering committee and treasurer at the civic group DotOut. “There are members like myself that believe through honest civil dialogue, we can change people’s opinions and have some understanding, and I’m willing to give John the benefit of the doubt now.”

O’Mara, who is also a member of the Dorchester Historical Society, said that the gay community is too often used as a “football” in elections and he preferred to focus on development issues and historic preservation.

“I don’t want to talk about it anymore,” O’Mara said.

At various points facing the sidewalk along the parade route, laminated posters cited information on KnowThyNeighbor.org, the website of a gay rights advocacy group that lists the names of Bay State residents who signed the 2005 petition. The flier featured the word “Don’t” in large lettering above an “Elect John O’Toole” logo, and “He works against us” under the logo.

Tom Lang, director of the KnowThyNeighbor.org, said the website, which has a searchable database identifying those who signed the 2005 petition, was not behind the posters and vowed to find out who created them.

“They did something direct and they went for the throat with O’Toole,” he said of the flier’s creators.

Whether O’Toole can be forgiven for signing the 2005 petition will be up to individuals in the gay community, Lang said, noting that there had been some fraud in signature-gathering efforts for the petition, particularly in Dorchester.

O’Toole said he does not recall when or where he signed the petition, but he has asked for his name to be removed from the list of people who have signed it.

“I think he does have a history of supporting the gay community,” said Lang, who wrote a post about the controversy over the fliers and O’Toole’s marching in the gay pride parade. “This is one of these situations where he needs to get out there and say something publicly, really get out there,” added Lang, an independent voter who lives in Manchester-by-the-Sea.

Lang said that O’Toole, under questioning, also voiced support for a transgender rights bill, legislation that has wide support on Beacon Hill but remains stalled. The bill aims to protect transgender people from hiring and housing discrimination.

In a KnowThyNeighbor.org blog post, Lang said he spoke with several unnamed people who accused the campaign of Craig Galvin, another District 3 candidate, of putting up the anonymous fliers. Galvin told Lang and the Reporter that he and his staffers had nothing to do with the flier, and that he is focused on running his own campaign for public office. Galvin also stressed his support for gay and transgender rights.

O’Toole and Galvin appeared to be the only two District 3 candidates who walked in the parade, while Frank Baker, a local developer and former city employee from Savin Hill, shook hands with the parade watchers at City Hall Plaza.

Lang, in his interview Tuesday with the Reporter, stressed the need for a dialogue about gay rights. “You need to have meaningful conversations,” he said.

The distribution of anonymous attacks is part of Boston politics, including District 3 races. In 2001, when Feeney was facing four challengers, an anonymous mailing over the summer made the unfounded suggestion that she was taking bribes, according to a Boston Phoenix write-up on the race at the time. Feeney repeatedly won reelection battles, usually by wide margins. She has served in the seat since 1993 and decided earlier this year that she would not run for a ninth term.

Out of the seven candidates hoping to snag her seat, the others include: Doug Bennett and Marty Hogan, past candidates for City Council At-Large; Stephanie Everett, a top aide to state Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz; and Marydith Tuitt, an aide to state Rep. Gloria Fox.