Racine

continued from page 1

would permit Justices of the Peace to refuse to
perform civil unions. What is your position on
that bill?

Racine: I would want to talk this over with the
Secretary of State and with an attomey.
Generally, I don’t think JPs should say yes, I’ll
do marriages but no, I won't do civil unions. I
don’t know how you write or enforce that. But
to say specifically that we are going to have a
law that permits discrimination, no, I wouldn’t
support that.

OITM: Would you support an amendment to
Verrnont’s Constitution defining marriage as a
union between one man and one woman?

I Racine: I don’t think it is necessary. No, I

would not support that.

OITM: State Rep. Nancy Sheltra introduced a
bill (H. 259) prohibiting the “promotion” of
homosexuality in Vermont’s public schools. As
Governor, would you support that bill?

Racine: I would be absolutely opposed to that.
Rep. Sheltra and others who are thinking like
her see anything but condenmation of homosex-
uality as promotion. I think that is a very dan-
gerous and ugly bill.

OITM: Recently, a gay male couple in‘ Rutland
was accused of sexually assaulting a male fos-

ter child in their care. In light of this, what is
your position on gay men and lesbians serving
as foster and adoptive parents?

Racine: I don’t have any problem at all with

gay men, and lesbians adopting or being foster
parents. They are no more or less likely to be
pedophiles than anyone else in society. If a gay
or lesbian couple has abused a child then they
ought to be prosecuted for child molestation.

marijuana and would support a well-crafted
bill.

OITM: What is your position on legislation
that would permit citizen initiatives in
Vermont?

Racine: I like our system of government the
way that it is in Vermont. Citizens have repre-
sentation through the legislature. Citizens have

“My message is more of a plea to be politically active this
year and to really search for the candidates who are going
to be supportive of gay and lesbian issues and to be polit-
ically active on their behalf.” Doug Racine

OITM: In light of current budgetary pressures, ‘

what is your position on the continuation of
Verrnont’s Human Rights Conunission?

Racine: The Human Rights Commission along
with any other entity of state government is

going to face a tighter budget. That's just a fact .

of life right now. But I would certainly oppose
any effort to eliminate the Human Rights
Commission. It serves a crucial function in
exposing discrimination of all sorts and in seek-
ing prosecution in some cases. I don’t want to
see those efforts end.

OITM: What is your position on the medical
use of marijuana by people living with A
HIV/AIDS?

Racine: I am supportive of the medical use of

the ability to petition state government to make
changes to the laws and I would prefer to keep
with our representative form of government
rather than go down the road that California
and other states have gone where there are so
many initiatives on the ballot that are contradic-

tory and confusing. I don’t think they are better

served than the people of Vermont are.

OITM: As Governor would you maintain a
relationship with Vermont’s gay and lesbian
community through an official liaison?

Racine: The answer to that is yes, but it needs ‘
to be broader than that. I have made an effort in
this campaign to sit down with groups and not
rely on one or two people to represent a whole
community. That would be like having" one
businessperson to represent the whole business
community. I think the gay and lesbian commu-

nity is as diverse as any other in their concerns
about issues and political points of view. My
efforts would be to reach out to as broad a
group as possible.

OITM: Do you have any final message to
Vermont’s gay community?

Racine: Through political activism and electing
the right people to office great strides have
been made in Vennont towards moving beyond
tolerance to acceptance and understanding of
gay and lesbian Vermonters. A lot of that
progress could be lost if the wrong people are
elected. We have a House of Representatives in
the last two years that has been very hostile to
civil unions. We have a Republican party that
made opposition to civil unions two years ago .
the basis for their political efforts and we
almost lost Governor Dean. I want people to
understand how close this (election) is.

My messageis more of a plea to be
politically active this year and to really search
for the candidates‘ who are going to be support-.
ive of gay and lesbian issues and to be political- 
ly active on their behalf. We can lose in '
Vermont a lot of the progress that has been
made. We can lose civil unions with the wrong
legislature and the wrong Governor in place.
While my opponent, Mr. Douglas, has said on
occasion that he wouldn’t support repeal of
civil unions, he has also said that he supports

the bill (H.502) that Rep. Peg Flory got through I

the House last year which very specifically
repeals civil unions. He’s trying to have it both
ways, and I hope people will see through that
and understand that if a bill like Peg Flory’s
lands on his desk as Governor, he will sign it —
and civil unions will be dead in Vermont. V

Douglas

continued from page 1

say no it is an expansion of what we had. I
don’t want to get bogged down in semantics.
I’m not going to suggest repealing the law but I
am willing to consider recognition of other rela-
tionships. I guess I don’t want to be trapped
into the answer of whether that was the right
vehicle or not.

OITM: The current civil union law has a recip-
rocal beneficiaries section for spinster aunts,
mothers and sons, etc., yet no one has regis-
tered for this. Would that lead you to conclude
that there isn’t a demand for expansion of the
law?

Douglas: It may well. I’m just saying that I’m
not going to rule exploring the possibility of
other types of recognition. I'm not proposing
any but I’m not going to rule them out.

OITM: The proponents of H.502 are civil
union opponents. Do you see H.502 an attempt
to undermine the civil union law?

Douglas: I don’t know. I saw it, at the time, as
a way to accommodate those who wanted to
undermine the civil union law. Some would
argue that the new House majority was
achieved, in part, because of the [civil union]
law and I think the [House] leadership felt they
had an obligation to provide a forum for that
discussion. But what their objective was on an
individual basis. I don’t know. I talked with
Rep. Peg Flory [R-Pittsford] more recently and
I think she feels that the [Judiciary] committee
might look at other issues in the coming ses-
sron.

OITM: Legislation has been introduced that
would permit Justices of the Peace to refuse to
perform civil unions. What is your position on
that bill (S.55)?

Douglas: I guess I wonder if it is constitutional
based on the Supreme Court’s decision. We
have an obligation to adhere to the Baker deci-

sion and extend the benefits of marriage to gay
couples. There was a question at the time about
Town Clerks declining to issue a license, and I
think the advice the Attorney General gave ‘was
that they ought not to decline. A public official
needs to treat all residents of the state equally
so I don’t know if it would be constitutional. So
I guess my reaction would be to ask my legal
counsel how to react to it. If it appears to vio-
late the Baker decision, then that ought to settle
the debate.

OITM: Earlier this year, you criticized the
political tactics of Rev. David Sterzbach, an
anti gay activist. While you were critical of his
attacks on Republican lawmakers you did not
condemn his attacks on Verrnont’s gay commu-
nity. Why?

Douglas: I’ve never met Mr. Sterzbach and
don’t know about all of his activities. What I
saw was attacks on people of good will in the

Douglas: I really believe that a father and
mother are the best environment for a child but
that’s not possible in every case and I believe
that the best interest of the child ought to be the
controlling standard. There is no question that a
gay household can be a very loving experience
for a youngster and I certainly wouldn’t move
to change the law (permitting gay adoption).

OITM: What is your position on the medical
use of marijuana by people living with
HIV/AIDS?

Douglas: 1 yield to Dr. [Gov.] Dean’s inclina-
tion on that. I’m not persuaded that we ought to
do it. I don’t pretend to be an expert on the
topic but many physicians and law enforcement
officials believe we ought not to open that door
so I’d like to see if there are alternatives that
we can pursue. I certainly know people who
had HIV, cancer and other very painful and
debilitating diseases and I obviously want to

"The biggest issue  is the weakness in our economy
and the erosion of 8,000 jobs over the last year or so. It
doesn't matter what anyone's sexual orientation is, it is a
serious problem." Jim Dougtas

legislature and that is what I was focusing on. I
guess I hadn’t heard his attacks otherwise. I '
think most Vermonters want to move on and I
think that most Vermonters don’t like the tactics
that he has employed.

OITM: State Rep. Nancy Sheltra introduced a
bill [H. 259] prohibiting the “promotion” of
homosexuality in Verrnont’s public schools. As
Governor. would you support that bill?

Douglas: I think I heard [former] Education
Commissioner [David Wolk] say that we don’t
want to promote any particular matters of sexu-
al orientation in schools and that ought to be
the policy statewide. I certainly agree with that.
Idon’t see the need for the legislation.

OITM: What is your position of the adoption
of children by gay men and lesbians?

find a way to accommodate their suffering. But
I’m not persuaded that a drug that has been ille-
gal for so long ought to be pennitted. I might -
be persuaded but I guess I’m not at this point.

OITM: As Governor would you maintain a
relationship with Vermont’s gay and lesbian
community through an official liaison?

Douglas: Ihadn’t thought about that. I guess

the question is broader about liaisons to other
communities or organizations. I guess I don’t
know the answer to that right now.

OITM: What is your position on the existence
of Verrnont’s Human Rights Commission? In
the past, there have been legislative attempts to
eliminate it.

Douglas: I don’t know. We're coming into a
time now where budgets are very tight and

tough decisions are going to have to be made. I
certainly want to make sure that all civil rights
laws are enforced. Whether that is in the con-

text of a separate commission Ithink is some-'

thing that we can debate. In tough budgetary ‘-

times I don’t want to be tied definitively. I cer-
tainly respect all that the commission has done. 

OITM: Many civil union opponentsgcontend
that civil unions are just marriage by another
name yet, as a married heterosexual, you
receive 1,049 federal benefits that gay andles-
bian couples do not.

Douglas: I didn’t know that. But even if we
called it marriage here the feds wouldn’t neces-
sarily be obligated to go along would they?

OITM: Probably not, in light of the federal
Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Would you ,
support an amendmentto Vennont’s
Constitution defining maniage as a union
between one man and one woman? A

Douglas: I’m certainly not going to propose
that. We have the shortest constitution in the
country in terms of its length. It is very basic. It ‘
is the fundamental law of our state. We ought "

not to amend it lightly by putting in more detail'_ ‘ ‘ I

than is customary. Secondly, I don’t want to see
the state bogged down in another debate on a

topic that was amply debated two years ago. So. 

I don’t see the usefulness of doing it.

GITM: Do you have any final message to the ’ ’
readers of OITM? ‘

Douglas: I guess I come back to what I said at *
the beginning. We have some serious issues ‘
confronting our state, principally the result of
the weak economy, and I want all Vermonters

to work together to solve these problems. It_
doesn’t matter what their sexual orientation is. I A
want people to bring their talent and abilitiesto ,
the table and work to improve our state. It is
going to take everybody’s effort. My goal as a
Governor is to bring Vermonters together to

talk about matters that unite us and not to get
bogged down in a debate over issues that divide
us. v

Paul Olsen also writes for Boston '5
in newsweekly and lives in Colchesten

  ‘*\ ;_ 2-;:;::‘