news > continued from page 1 ence of the governor. What would you have state government do?” “Well, for one thing,” replied Dozetos, “We could have an Education Commissioner that backs Outright Vermont.” sion by past Commissioner David . Wolk to suspend a contract with Outright Vermont for inservice training, apparently due to politi- cal pressure from anti-civil union forces. Racine reminded Dozetos ‘that the governor does not pick the Education Commissioner, the State Board of Education does, although he admitted that the governor has some influence. B.J. Rogers, executive director of Outright Vermont, suggested that the state needs a comprehensive health and sexual- ity education curriculum. “There’s currently no standard model, no place for kids to talk openly. Under George Bush,” he continued, “we have a big increase in abstinence-only education funding. But that V ‘ leaves out queer youth and their concerns.” Tim Palmer, former director of VT CARES and Co- coordinator of the Racine 2002 campaign in Chittenden County, cited the existence of federal grants for HIV education but said that the state education depart- ment showed no interest in apply- ing. “Your cducation commis- sioner,” he told Racine, “should make it clear that there is a zero tolerance for prejudice. The Department should provide train- ing so teachers don’t assume that every kid has a mother and a father at home. They need cultur- al competence training.” Racine agreed that atti- tude is as important as resources. “The resources are often there, it’s how they’re used that makes a difference.” “The other thing that’s important,” added Palmer, “is making sure that the people table when decisions are made. The future of gay youth being Dozetos was referring to the deci- ' affected by the policies are at the - \ ~ *e\ ~\‘ Racine Continues To Court GLBTQ Voters 3; m .4 2: in I: : at In Lt. Governor Doug Racine (right) meets with Outright Vermont’s B.J. Rogers in Montpelier in January. decided by straight people is offensive and wrong.” “Diversity belongs at the table in every area,” Racine responded. “Bill Lippert told me that and I listen to Bill.” The governor does pick the Health Commissioner, and Deleonardis suggested that the Health Department needs to pay attention to other health issues affecting the GLBTQ communi- ties beyond HIV/AIDS. One such issue is domestic violence within this constituency. Deleonardis, part of the Safe Space initiative creating a hotline and support for victims of domestic violence in same-gender relationships, said it was difficult for gay men and les- bians toiacknowledge a battering situation, especially after the pas- sage of civil union legislation. “Everyone’s kind of looking at_ each other wondering who is going to be the first to get a C.U. divorce.” Palmer questioned why current Governor Howard Dean made no clear request to raise the cigarette tax. “The rate of smok- ing in our community is higher than among the general popula- tion. Tobacco is a major health issue,” he said. In the general dis- cussion of raising taxes and cut- ting budgetsithat followed, Palmer hoped that Racine would support uncoupling the Vermont income tax from the federal income tax and change it back to the tiered system that was in place under Republican Richard Snelling. Racine said that he would support some steps to neu- tralize the effects on Vermont of the‘Bush tax cuts, which, he noted, were overwhelmingly weighted toward the rich. During the hour and a half dis- cussion, other issues brought up included the need for affordable housing, access for nonprofits to state health care programs geared for small businesses, living wage legislation, parity of pay between state workers and nonprofit work- ers doing the same jobs — often under contract with the same state agency, and adding “trans- gender” to nondiscrimination statutes. In a phone interview ini- tiated by OITM, potential third- party candidate Anthony Pollina said that he would “without a doubt” be meeting with members of the GLBT community. “l’m not out there actively campaign- ‘ ‘ifigiyei fs.“tiie"~t>iii'3i*f"e'as‘U‘ri‘~s2Liclf‘”‘“' meetings have not yet taken place,” he said. “If people wanted to meet with me, I’m available at any time, and maybe they could help me make up my mind” about whether to run as a candi- date for governor. Asked if he recognized the GLBT community as poten- tial swing voters in a 3-way race, Pollina agreed, while noting that it has become a 4-way race with Con Hogan’s decision to run as an independent. ‘‘I know that some voters in that community were nervous about voting for me in the last election, and I don’t fault them for that. But given that I made such a strong showing and l’ve generally been very sup- ' portive of the issues important to gays and lesbians, I think there are a lot of folks who might vote for me ifl decide to run.” V As we went to press, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts invalidated parts of two cen- turies-old sodomy laws but left intact some areas of enforcement. The two laws involved prohibited oral and anal sex and carried penalties of up to 5 and 20 years imprisonment, respectively. Massachusetts Sodomy Ruling Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders argued that the laws were being selec- tively enforced against gay men andlesbians and not applied against heterosexuals, and are unconstitutional because they “criminalize common acts of inti- macy.” The nine individuals who brought the case were not currently subject to prosecution, so the case was dismissed. But in its terse dismissal, the court for the first time “declared that nei- ther of the Massachusetts laws apply to private, consensual con- duct,” according to a GLAD , press release. - Jennifer Levi, the GLAD attorney who argued the case before the high court, comment- ed, “This is a tremendous victory. The court today clarified that these antiquated laws may not be used to intrude on individuals‘ rights to engage in common acts of intimacy in private settings. Moreover, in a key part of the ruling, the court affirmed that neither the Attorney General nor the district attorneys may prose- cute anyone under the challenged laws unless the conduct took place either in public or without consent.” - According to GLAD, 14 states still have sodomy laws, only 4 of which apply exclusively to same-sex conduct. V . * , > — L * . — . K ‘ . _ . . . _ * . . ' _ . _ _ . _ . ‘ _ _ ..