Gay Head or Aqunah? Change to a vote

Contents:

• GAY HEAD VOTED OUT AS MASS. TOWN'S NAME
• GAY HEAD JOURNAL; A TOWN WH HISTORY, BUT WHOSE?
• GAY HEAD OR AQUNAH? CHANGE TO A VOTE

GAY HEAD VOTED OUT AS MASS. TOWN'S NAME

GAY HEAD, MASSACHUSETTSOn the wtern edge of the island of Martha's Veyard, there is an outcroppg of craggy, brightly tted rock. The town of Gay Head was born.

It was laid to rt 400 years later, when the town of Gay Head succsfully voted to change s name to Aqunah 1997. That name mak me thk of a sex act, " the people behd the name change want the world to know their cisn had nothg to do wh homosexual nnotatns. GAY HEAD, Mass., May 15 -- Rints the Martha's Veyard island town of Gay Head, Mass., have cid by a three-vote marg to change s name to the origal Indian name of Aqunah ('-kw-a ah').

Early whe explorers gave the name Gay Head to the lorful cliffs on the wtern tip of the rort island. ' Gay Head was adopted as the town's official name when was rporated 1870. A group of Indians and wh here would like that to May 15, the 191 registered voters this town on the wtern edge of Martha's Veyard will be asked whether Gay Head should change s name to Aqunah, the origal Wampanoag name for the wtern Veyard the measure succeeds, Gay Head would bee only the third Massachetts municipaly this century to rename self.

GAY HEAD JOURNAL; A TOWN WH HISTORY, BUT WHOSE?

Cottage Cy, also on the Veyard, changed to Oak Bluffs 1907 and Manchter, on the state's north shore, beme Manchter-by-the-Sea last procs began here last month, when Carl Widdiss, a 41-year-old Wampanoag (pronounced wam-pa-NO-og), circulated a petn that asked rints if they wanted to vote on whether Gay Head should bee Aqunah (pronounced ah-KWIN-ah), which he said means "land unr the hill.

GAY HEAD OR AQUNAH? CHANGE TO A VOTE

" The hill, acrdg to tribal lore, is Peaked Hill, a knoll the neighborg town of Chilmark om which all of Gay Head n be Widdiss need 19 signatur, or 10 percent of the votg rolls, to get the qutn on the ballot; ls than two weeks, he llected 24. He said his primary motivatn was a sire to rtore his tribe's stature the culture of southeastern New no pot has the movement to change the name foced on the 20th-century nnotatn of the word "gay, " which meant somethg que different when was affixed to this area durg the 17th century.

Nowhere, at tim, has the lite balance between permanent rints and seasonal visors been more prer than Gay town tak s name om the spectacular Gay Head Cliffs, a craggy amalgamatn of red and brown clay that stretch for a e across the island's wtern promontory and plung 150 steep feet to the Atlantic Ocean. "I really thk those people would roll over their grav if we were to trash the name of Gay Head, " he said.

We're also proud of Gay Head.