editorial

If Not Now,

When?

ere are only a couple of glbtq
issues on the legislative agenda
in Vermont — or not, depending
on whom you talk to. Perhaps we’re
still all licking our wounds from the
last major battle three years ago.
Medical marijuana is one —
and of course it doesn’t only affect
us. But we care because we’ve
watched gay and bi friends waste

' away from HIV/AIDS or from the

side effects of the drugs that keep the
viral loads low.
And we know lesbians and

' bi women and straight allies who

struggle for weeks and months to ~ ~
fight the nausea of chemotherapy
treatments for their breast or ovarian

- or other forms of cancer. My mother

died of non-Hodgkins lymphoma,
and the one thing that got to her in
her last six weeks of life was having
to throw up every single day, regard-
less of whatever anti-nausea medica-
tions she was given. That was when
she decided she wanted to die.

_ So we’ll keep an eye on
S76 as it progresses or fails to
progress through the Senate and the
House. Whether the governor would
sign such a bill is an open question —
as he reveals in yet another interview
full of equivocations, evasions, and
pleas to wait for an answer while he
“huddles with” his advisors.

Fonner Governor Dean
might have been rigid, self-righteous,
and insufferably smug on occasion,
but at least we knew where he stood,
even when it was on the wrong side
of an issue. i _

The major issue brought up
at the lgbtq Visibility Day meeting
with the governor — by agreement
among the diverse organizations —
was harassment of students based on
a perception that they might be les-
bian or gay or trans,_or just beyond
the narrow band of expression that
adolescents think is “gender norma-

' tive.” Vermont already has regula-

tions in place to combat such harass-
ment. It has a largely somnolent Safe
Schools program directed by Doug
Dowz. But enforcement of the regu-‘
lations and training of staff is almost
non-existent.

The governor insisted in
that Visibility Day meeting that he
had no control over the Education

Department and, in any case, he
would not support any proposal that
would cost money. So much for safe
schools.

But the orphan issue is one
of utmost importance to the trans
community — and to everyone who

’ remembers what it’s like to be an

outsider, denied work and healthcare
and housing because of factors that

‘ should have no relevance. And not so

long ago, that was everyone in the
gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgen-
der communities.

Now, while the rest of us

v , havelegal protection against discrim-

inatiori, transfolk still do not.

This issue should be a no-
brainer to everyone in our com1nuni—
ties and to our legislative allies.

But ask Equality Vermont’s
(formerly Vermont Coalition for
Lesbian and Gay Rights) Keith
Goslant about the issue, and he talks
about an “educational” bill intro-
duced without any intention of it
going anywhere; he asks whether
there’s anyone who will really push
for such a bill. There’s a difference,
he says, between what’s right and
what’s possible. Besides, Goslant
opines, it’s already too late in this
session to introduce a new bill.

It might take,_ Goslant says,

the defeat of a lawsuit by a transper- '

son over a lostjob or eviction from
housing or denied healthcare or
refused medical, birth, or DMV
records changes to graphically and
personally demonstrate the need for
this legislation.

Ask gay Hinesburg Rep.
Bill Lippert, and he says OITM is the
only entity that has expressed any
interest in the issue this year. And, he
adds, maybe he’s not the right person
to introduce such a bill, while admit-
ting that he helped scuttle the last
attempt because it was not the “right
time,” and its supporters had not
gone about it in the “right way.”

But ask Rutland CPA and
transactivist Liz Campbell and you
get a long history of the legislative
session a few years ago that she spent
at the Statehouse lobbying for the
inclusion of gender identity and gen-
der expression in the state’s nondis-
crimination statute. According to
Campbell, she finally agreed to “fall

 

on Her sword" so that what was then
the battle over gay marriage would
not be complicated by a transgender
issue.

So we ask: If not now —
when? When will it finally be the

_ “right time” to recognize and remedy

currently legal discrimination against
‘transgender pieces in housing,
employment, loans, and medical
care? 2.

And ifBill Lippert or
Robert Dostis or David Zuckerman
or Ann Pugh or I-lelen Head or
Francis Brooks or any others of our
allies are unwilling, then who will do
what is right-and equitable and com-
mit to making it work?

Well-Deserved

Recognition

The Democrats are holding their
annual David W. Curtis Award
Dinner on Friday, March 14 at the
Capitol Plaza at 6 pm. Curtis was
openly gay, a defender general, and a
chainnan of the Democratic Party,
among many other positions of trust
and public service that he held.

I’m not much for award
dinners — they’re primarily an oppor-
tunity for the sponsoring organization
to pat itself on the back and trumpet
how wonderful it is. And the food,

._ well 

But I’ll make an exception
for this one. Independent Senator Jim
Jeffords is the major honoree, good
enough reason for many people to
go, along with co-honorees Cindy
Metcalf, state Sen. Susan Bartlett and
Rep. John Tracey.

But the reasons I’ll go to
this one are honorees Beth Robinson
and Susan Murray. Their tenacious,
persistent, intelligent, savvy, and
immensely competent campaign for
gay marriage and then civil union,
and their steadfast support for the
legislators who voted yes on this
major civil and economic rights issue
is a textbook example of how to
wage a grassroots battle for social
justice — and win. The toll it has
taken on their personal and social
lives is enormous. The gift they gave
to the gay and lesbian community
and to all Vermont is beyond price:
justice, equality, recognition, dignity.
It is only fitting that their leadership
is honored with the David W. Curtis
Award. I want to be there to watch as
they receive a token of the esteem in
which we hold them.

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DAVID SEDARIS

WEDNESDA APRIL 2 2003 | 7:30 PM

MPM has a limited number of balcony tickets available for
best-selling author and NPR humorist David Sedaris’
performance at the Flynn Center in Burlington, VT on
Wednesday, April 2, 2003 @ 7:30 p.m. Join us for an
entertaining evening of theater! Tickets are just $25, a
portion of which goes to benefit Mountain Pride Media and
Out In The Mountains. To purchase tickets contact Roland
Palmer at 802-383-7679 or by email: rfpvt@together.net