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y the time most of you -
read this, Vermont’s bien-
_ nial elections will be over

 or not, depending on whether
one of the candidates in the races
for governor and lieutenant gov-
ernor received more than 50 per-
cent of the vote.

Either you voted  or
you didn’t.

You decided to have a
say in who’s going to run the
state, make the laws, and change
or maintain the policies that
affect your life  or you kept
silent.

Voting is like coming
out. It’s not something you do
just once, and that’s it, though
certainly the first time has the
potential for emotional intensity.
Like two years ago. A lot of us
came out personally and political-
ly to get the civil unions law
passed and to vote for the people
who understood something about
oppression and equality and had
the courage to vote for the law.

There was a lot of inten-
sity as we told our stories. There
was even more as we endured
slanderous, hateful speech from
legislators who claimed to repre-
sent us, but decided that “The
People” they should “Listen to”
didn’t include any of us. And
then, that fall, some of us worked
on our first political campaigns:
dropping off literature supporting
pro-civil union incumbents, post-
' ing signs of our own urging
Vennonters to “Keep It Civil,”

' licking envelopes, making phone
calls to get out the vote.

And once the campaign
was over, the intensity died
down. Most of us just wanted to
be left alone to live our lives free

editorial

Making a Difference

of harassment and with the same
rights, privileges and responsibil-
ities as our neighbors. We’d won
a significant victory, got pushed
back a little bit, but not enough to
undo the law, and we thought we
were done.

We’re not done.
Democracy is never done.
Deciding whether to come out
happens every time we meet
someone new. And voting, that
minimal level of participation in
civic life, happens every two
years on the statewide level.

One of the last things
my dad did was apply for an
absentee ballot for the September
primary election. He’d had his
electoral say in 21 biennial elec-
tions, and he was looking for one
more. But he died before he
could fill out the ballot. It might
have been his last regret.

In September I went to
visit a friend — who was dying of
malignant melanoma — when he
was still able to sit in his recliner,
and we talked about politics and
the elections. He asked for my
recommendations, though he
wasn’t sure he’d live long enough
to vote.

“Oh,” I said, “you can
vote any time after October 7,

_ stop by the town clerk’s office on

your way to or from the doc’s
office.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t
think I’m gonna be ‘stopping by’
much of anyplace,” he came
back. M

A couple of weeks later,
he was no longer in the recliner,
but in a hospital bed in the living
room where he could watch TV
and see the dogs and the chang-
ing leaves out the glass doors into

' the back yard. When I called, I
asked his wife — also a friend —
whether she’d been able to stop
by and pick up a ballot for him.
“He asked me just yesterday,” she
said , “and I told him you’d call
and remind us, you’d be all over
it.”

It took a few more days
for the logistics and the priorities
to align, but she got the ballot,
and mere days before he slipped
into the visions and dreams that
sometimes come with slow death,
she read him the choices and she
put an x in the box for the candi-
dates he chose. He signed the
affidavit and the ballot went in.

That’s two deaths in my
circle this fall: one who wanted _ ,
to vote and couldn’t, another who ’
made sure even death wouldn’t
interfere with the chance to have
his political say.

Some of us work so hard
to get to vote, while others ignore
the chance — for whatever rea- '
sons. We’re not scared enough, or ‘
involved enough, or angry
enough.

With the example of my
dad and my friend so freshly
before me, I cast my ballot on
October 16th.

' We’re seeing now
whether enough of us chose to
vote to keep the gains we’ve
made. We’re seeing now how
many of us thought we were done
when the election of 2000 was
over. We’re seeing now how
important it is to sustain some
level of commitment and purpose
and energy for the long political
haul.

We’re seeing now
whether we’ve made a difference.

_,.,..—
—_—--

2%»:

gs

§%%‘

   

Sex Play Now Legal in
Alabama

An Alabama law banning the sale of
sex toys was struck down last month
by a federal judge as a violation of the
right to privacy. “The fundamental
right of privacy, long recognized by
the Supreme Court as inherent among
our constitutional protections, incorpo-
rates a right to sexual privacy,” said
US District Judge Lynwood Smith Jr.

For the last four years Good
Vibrations, a San Francisco-based
worker-owned cooperative specializ-
ing in sex toys, has supported the
American Civil Liberties Union case
against the Alabama sex-toy ban. The
I998 law — part of a package of legis-
lation strengthening the state's obscen-
ity law — had banned the sale of

devices designed for “the stimulation
of human genital organs.”

In 2000, Good Vibrations
collected an emergency supply of sex
toys and collected nearly $l0,000
worth of products from generous ven-
dors to distribute free to the unfortu-
nate, toyless masses in Alabama.

Throughout the ban Good
Vibrations argued that sex toys are not
obscene and sexual gratification is
indeed a basic human right. As Good
Vibrations Sexologist and author Dr.
Carol Queen says, “Alabama may
have maintained that ‘There is no fun-
damental right to purchase a product
to use in pursuit of having an orgasm,’
but we strongly disagree, and have for
the last four years. What exactly do
they think the constitutional right to
the pursuit of happiness means?"

To celebrate the victory, the
store will offer formerly depraved —
oops, deprived -Alabama residents a
15 percent discount on mail order pur- '
chases for the month of November.

Now play nice — or nasty —
y’all.

‘ Australia!

Kiwi Fruits to Finance
Gay Rugby

According to an email press release,
Kiwi Fruits is the First ever
LesGayBiTrans New Zealand calen-
dar.

It is also a fundraiser for the
Touch Blacks, the gay Touch Rugby
Team going over to compete in the
Gay Games.

The calendar “features l2
colourful, fun and quirky images of
Queer New Zealand. Not only does it
feature bars and clubs in Wellington,
Auckland and "Palmerston North, but
also hairdressers, cafes, adult venues,
milk company and an automotive
company — all supporting the Queer
Community in New Zealand and

The group printed only

3,500 copies. selling briskly at NZ$l0 '
“(3 quid)” so we may have missed our
chance to get a gander at going down
down under. Check them out at
http://www.gaynz.com or by way of
Robert at touchblacks@hotmail.com.