Partners in Business and Life
Antique dealers reflect on their long road to acceptance in NH
As happy as Lionel Loveless and Greg Pruitt are that they moved to New Hampshire, the gay, interracial couple says gaining acceptance and full inclusion continues to be a struggle.
Lionel Loveless and Greg Pruitt moved from Oklahoma City seven years ago to Stratham to begin a new chapter, including buying an antique store.
The couple are interracial and gay. Pruitt, who is white, says moving to Stratham to purchase The Collector’s Eye and reside in the same town was challenging.
“Don’t get me wrong,” Loveless says. “Some of our best friends are in Stratham, but it was definitely hard to find our place there.”
As happy as they are that New Hampshire is embracing diversity, the couple say achieving complete inclusion and acceptance remains elusive.
They put an offer on a business that had been on the market for 10 years. Formerly known as the Lane Homestead in the Stratham traffic circle, The Collector’s Eye, built in 1741, was named to the New Hampshire Preservation Alliance’s Seven to Save list for 2015.
They said while they feel comfortable in Hampton Falls, Loveless, who is Black, says there are businesses he still won’t patronize.
“I just know I’ll get ‘the look’,” he says.
Greg Pruitt take great pride in their two antiques businesses they own in Stratham and Hampton Falls. As more people from the diverse community choose to make New Hampshire home, the couple hope it will be easier for them to gain acceptance.
The couple decided to move to New Hampshire because Pruitt had spent a year at Westfield State University during an exchange program with Oklahoma State University.
“It’s very liberal and accepting in that part of Massachusetts, so I thought New Hampshire may be the same,” Pruitt says.
The couple now resides in Hampton Falls, where they own two antique establishments — Route 1 Antiques on 106 Lafayette Road and the recently purchased BrickHouse 76 Antiques & Decorative Arts on 76 Lafayette Road.
“You could say we’re the keeper of historic properties,” Pruitt says. “Both buildings are from the mid-1700s, as is the one in Stratham.”
But there is still a slight undercurrent of uneasiness.
“Also, being a gay business, some feel we’re not authentic in everything we do,” Pruitt says. “The tide has to rise to that.”
While Loveless has been active in Portsmouth’s Black community, Pruitt says he would still like to live somewhere, even abroad, where “we’d be loved and wanted.”
“The smaller-scale community we’ve been able to build around us is amazing,” Loveless says. “Still, there are no gay bars here like there were in Oklahoma. We miss that.”
Pruitt and Loveless met at a Cinco de Mayo party in Oklahoma City on May 5, 2011.
“I asked Lionel for his phone number, and he said ‘yes’,” Pruitt recalls.
Lionel Loveless take great pride in their two antique businesses they own in Stratham and Hampton Falls. As more people from the diverse community choose to make New Hampshire home, the couple hope it will be easier for them to gain acceptance.
He pulled out his cellphone and showed how he listed his then partner’s name as “Yes Lionel.”
Gay marriage became legal in New Hampshire on Jan. 1, 2010. The couple recalls they were celebrating their friends’ 50th anniversary in December 2018 and decided to get married that same month.
“We went back to their apartment and planned a wedding,” Pruitt says. “It was Dec. 14, and we set the date for Dec. 28 to get married and have a party at their place. We got shrimp at Al’s Seafood, flowers at Shaw’s and Market Basket did the cake. Twenty people came to celebrate.”
Both agreed that the Seacoast is the best place in the state for them to be right now. Business is good, with Route 1 Antiques representing just over 80 dealers in its 5,000-square-foot space.
“We’ve been seeing a large diversity of transgender customers,” Pruitt says. “We want to make sure they know they’re welcome, and we’ll be doing some staff training around that. Other peoples’ bodies are not my business at all.”
Because there are no gay bars per se in the area, Pruitt says someone from their community of friends will pick a place and call the owner to inquire about having a large group of people for a gathering. They’ve been to the newly opened Hearth Market in Portsmouth and to some places in Dover.
“We’re not going to let them take our fun away,” he says.
Both are excited that Seacoast Outright hosts a large Pride parade in Portsmouth, which has taken place annually since 2015.
Loveless says he’s made some great connections with the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire, AIDS Response Seacoast, Seacoast Outright, and enjoys dance parties held at 3S Artspace.
They would like to see a diversity business association established on the Seacoast like they had in Oklahoma City, and Loveless is looking into making that happen.
In some ways, Pruitt and Loveless realize they are trailblazers who decided to make New Hampshire their home and operate businesses here. As New Hampshire’s diversity grows and the state attracts more members from the LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, people of color) communities, the couple hopes they will find their way and become integral parts of their cities and towns.
There is a sign in three languages at the entrance to their Route 1 Antiques shop that reads: “No matter where you are from, we’re glad you’re our neighbor.”
This article is featured in the spring 2024 issue of 603 Diversity.
603 Diversity’s mission is to educate readers of all backgrounds about the exciting accomplishments and cultural contributions of the state’s diverse communities, as well as the challenges faced and support needed by those communities to continue to grow and thrive in the Granite State.
More stories from 603 Diversity.
