.0971 I

   
 

     
   

l'CE. FOR THE '—7L“E"

BY BENNETT LAW

emocratic Gubernatorial

Candidate Doug Racine

has begun an aggressive
campaign of reconnecting with
LBGT Vermonters. In separate
meetings on December 12th and
January 8th, Racine met with
community members to learn first
hand about the issues of concern
to our community today.

“In the past several
years, many issues of great con-
cern to the LGBT community in
Vermont have become secondary
by virtue of the focus necessary
to move ahead with civil union
legislation,” Racine noted. “I
think it is important that those
issues be brought back onto the
political radar screen.” ,

On December 12th,
Racine met at the Burlington
offices of Outright Vermont with
Executive Director B.J. Rogers,
Virginia Renfrew, and Tim
Palmer. The focus of this discus-
sion wasthe Safe Schools pro-
grams of the Department of

he Vermont Coalition for
Lesbian and Gay Rights

al Visibility Day at the Vermont
State House on January 18, 2001.
Six organizations from the com-
munity joined VCLGR:'Kara
DeLeonardis, SafeSpace; B.J.
Rogers, Outright Vermont; Susan
Murray and Beth Robinson,
Vermonters for Civil Unions;
Emily Clark, Vermont CARES;

I

Connect 

(VCLGR) held their annu- »

Doug Racine, left, meets with Outright Vermont's Tim Palmer and Chuck Kletecka of the Freedom to Marry task force.

Education.

‘Rogers provided an
overview of the work of Outright
Vermont, and the needs of LBGT
youth that the agency exists to
address. It is the agency’s focus

Above, from left to right: Susan Murray, (Vermonters-tor Civil Unions), Emily Clark (Vermont CARES), Keith Goslant, (VCLGR), Ted Looby,
(Samara Foundation), Beth Diamond, (Freedom to Marry Task Force), Chuck Kletecka.

Ted Looby, Samara Foundation;
Beth Diamond, Keith Ribnick,
and Chuck Kletecka, Freedom to

on youth that Racine believes
made Outright “a rather conven-
ient target for the backlash to the
civil union legislation.”
In response to protests

from anti-civil unio11 activists, the

Annual Visibility Day Held At
Vermont State House

err

Marry Task Force; and Keith
Goslant and Virginia Renfrew,
VCLGR.

“VCLGR started Visibility Day because we felt it
was important to educate legislators about our-
selves and the organizations in our communities.
Legislators can stop by and meet the representa-
tives of the different organizations and pick up
organization materials.” Virginia Renfrew, VCLGR

, lSEXUAL':,i AND TiRAl§lS‘G:EN—DER coMMiu N ITY

 

State discontinued it’s funding of
Outright Vermont’s Safe Schools
program, asserting that the
Vermont Department of
Education would address the con-
> continued on page 6

R.U. 1 .2?
Community
Center
Receives
$60,000
Grant

BY JOEL NICHOLS

 

urlington’s Lesbian, Gay,

Bisexual, Transgendered,

Intersex, and Questioning
Community Center has received
a $60,000 grant from the Gill
Foundation.

The Gill Foundation has also
pledged to support the R.U.1.2?
Community Center with
fiindraising training, donor devel- '
opment seminars, and organiza-
tional development programs.

The board of directors of
R.U.1.2? have decided that the
next step will_be to hire an exec-
utive director to enable the
organizationto best serve the
LGBTIQA community.

According to Don Eggert, co-
chair of the organization, one
goal for the new executive direc-
tor would include leasing or buy-
ing a building for the Center to
better execute the Center’s

>,_contlnued on page 6