The Agawam City Council took public comments at its meeting on Feb. 17.
Photo credit: Agawam Media
AGAWAM — During the Agawam City Council meeting on Feb. 17, residents used the citizen-speak time to address comments made during the discussion on municipal benefits for domestic partners on Feb. 2.
The ordinance was voted against but looked at allowing the significant others of municipal employees in domestic partnerships to be eligible for spousal benefits. Instead, Agawam employees must be married to claim benefits for their partner.
Some residents were concerned people would abuse the system by claiming an “infinite number of partners” and some councilors addressed the financial cost of the ordinance. Councilor George Bitzas said that the matter was “black and white,” and there was no problem to solve since same sex marriage is legal, adding that municipalities that allow it are “extreme, radical, left-liberal,” and that he doesn’t want Agawam to be one of those cities.
Guy Qvistgaard spoke first and said he was there to denounce the comments because “silence is the voice of complicity.”
“In addition to the out of touch comments made during the town council and legislative committee meetings regarding extreme radical left liberals, this same councilor stated that having a domestic partnership option might even discourage people from getting married,” Qvistgaard said. “This councilor’s partisan and offensive rhetoric has no place in our City Council and this councilor should, at the very least, be censured. Agawam is currently the butt of online jokes and derision, due to one councilor’s remarks and social media posts that were defensive, ill-informed, dated and divisive. To this councilor, I say two things. First, your 1950’s values have no place in 21st century Massachusetts and secondly, it’s past time for you to resign.”
Carolyn Qvistgaard spoke next and claimed that other inflammatory remarks have been made, but the meeting videos are now reportedly taken down from the Agawam Media website.
Qvistgaard also noted a Reddit thread from Feb. 6 made about the comments in the Massachusetts subreddit with over 1,000 comments. She said if the “councilor’s goal was attention, mission accomplished.”
“The problem is that this behavior makes it obvious that someone doesn’t understand younger generations, modern families or why this commentary is inappropriate coming from an elected official in 2026, representing all citizens of Agawam, and not just those that he is politically aligned with,” Qvistgaard said. “This councilor has made Agawam a laughing stock in Western Massachusetts and beyond. While I disagree with the council’s decision, I respect the way Councilors [Robert] Rossi and [Edward] Borgatti express their concerns in a professional and inclusive manner. I ask this body to censure the councilor … and hold him accountable for violating the decorum of the town, town council and common decency in our community.”
Uduak Enyiema said the comments made about families and domestic partners didn’t sit well with her because it was spoken as if some families were more worthy than others.
“We’re not debating policy, we are drawing lines between people,” Enyiema said. “We are telling certain residents that their love, their commitment and their households do not measure up. In this town, families do look different. Some are married, some are not, some are led by single parents, some are grandparents raising grandchildren, some are same sex couples building a life together. All of them wake up, go to work, pay taxes and pour into this community. When we suggest that offering equal benefits threatens tradition, what many of us hear is something else. We hear that our family is being judged. We hear that dignity is conditional.”
Enyiema said what struck her more than the comments themselves is what came after. She said there was no pause, no moment of reflection and no voice in the room to say “let us be careful how we speak about people we represent.”
“The council moved on, and silence in moments like that speaks loudly,” Enyiema said. “For those of us watching, that silence felt heavy. It felt like those words were allowed to define who we are as a town. But let me be clear, this is not about left or right. This is not about winning an argument. When we are elected to serve, we serve everyone, even those who do not look like you.”
She added that Agawam doesn’t lose anything by recognizing the dignity of every family, but they do lose something when they fail to do so.
Corlene Roberts, a 41-year Agawam resident, said that she was very bothered and that a comment of that nature is extremely divisive.
“Are we not a town of mixed political views,” Roberts said. “I was under the impression that being a member of the council is non-partisan, or at least it should be. To also address the comment stating that parents and grandparents would be upset if their family member decided not to marry and carry on the family name, as a parent and grandparent, my wish for my kids and grandkids is to be happy and healthy, not to carry on the family name. That’s an outdated way of thinking.”
When asked about the comments at the meeting, Bitzas told Reminder Publishing following the meeting “that disagreements of a policy does not justify fabricated statements,” and that he will not apologize for claims that are untrue.
“I respect all people, regardless of color, religion, ethnicity, gender or how they live their lives,” Bitzas said. “I welcome any honest debate. I will not accept tarnishing my reputation with false claims. They exaggerate and put words in my mouth. I never said those things.”
He said most of the members of the Democratic Town Committee came to attack him because they didn’t like that the ordinance didn’t pass, referring to them as fabricators.
“They complain about, that I don’t want Agawam to be like Cambridge and Somerville, that they are extremely liberal cities,” Bitzas said. “I want Agawam not to be, Agawam is not. Agawam is very conservative, I want Agawam to stay that way. That was to be like Cambridge, and I emphasize that again and again, and I stay behind what I said … they try to destroy my, you know, politically, to trash my reputation, to tarnish. But it’s not, I think my reputation is very, very clear. I’m proud of myself and the people know who I am.”
He said the meeting video is available for anyone to watch and judge for themselves, but that the claims made against him and on a Facebook post about the comments are “misleading and all false.”
