juicy Sapphires and -Blazing Diamonds in 18k by Barbara Heinrich. Corner of Church and Bank, Burlington - 660-2032 - M—S 10-6 - Sun 12-5 Mary Frances Arnold, Ph.D., NCC 3 Main Street. Suite I07 Burlington,VT 05401 (802) 65 i-7529 pager: (802) 350-5783 fax: (802) 862-9158 _ Because our team is dedicated to providing the best possible service to all people, we are proudof our ties to the GLBT community. Specializing in Addison County George Brewer www.Iangteam.net Jennifer Ponder REALTOR , REA TOR, _ -CR5: continued from page 6 da item by charging Outright with “bring[ing] 14- to 22- year-olds together and hand[ing] out pornographic “.1?L_.t'¢,F'1'c1l-”, ,. «. _ A . Her concern with‘ /, school personnel or agents “promoting the ‘homosexual agenda” was apparently trig- gered by a 1999 Safe Schools conference held by the National Educational Association, the Vermont Department of Health, the Vermont Department of Education, Outright Vermont, and other homosexual organ- izations to help school administrators and teachers understand how to deal sen- si-tively and legally with sex- ual identity issues. The legality of the warning request and of the resolution itself has been questioned by some. "The Vermont Coalition for ‘Lesbian and Gay Rights hopes that no school would make this a policy. It is important that schools pro- vide a safe environment for all students and that toler- ance and diversity is taught, not hatred,” said Virginia Renfrew, chairwoman of the Vermont Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Rights. “If a school were to adopt such a policy, we would look to the law to see if this would be considered discrimination based on sexual orientation” Vermont law does permit town select boards to place items on the warning when presented with a peti- tion signed by five percent of the town’s voters. However, because the resolution con- cerned schoolgpolicies and_ might be considered an unconstitutional llirnitation on free speech, some select- boards have deemedthe res- olution inappropriate for con- sideration at Town Meeting. . If there are support- ers of the resolution at the Town or School meetings, the issue could potentially be raised at the end of the meet- ing under an “any other business” agenda item. Notorious as the pri- mary sponsor of House Bill 182, Sheltra sought to pro- hibit same-sex couples from marrying in Vermont, and to deny recognition for same- gender couples’ lawful mar- riages performed in other jurisdictions. The bill died in committee. ‘ E A Some members of tiie H'0us,¢'of§,l§,€pr¢s¢ntati.v§;,s, walked out when Sheltra ‘ spoke in favor of a bill that would have required HIV testing as a condition of obtaining a civil union license. Sheltra is persistent in her pursuit of her conser- vative religious agenda, but her political influence is dis- counted by moderate observers because of her his- tory of endorsing extreme ' views and what some have called “hate speech.” V Details of Nancy She|tra’s letter to Vermont towns in January. we are writing it) Icqtiesl {Hat Inc waters 0} you prohibit promotion of the fiomosexuai agenda it it is UI‘IlOI’lUI“i1ilC that we have to deal with this is teachers and agents within the public school sys promote a homosexuai agenda. Please consider bringing this issue before your \ B <.~ it my .1 ,4-