From Sewa e Plantto
Views from the

 

Bv EUAN BEAR

o-dozen hardy souls representing a
dozen queer organizations met for
the fourth Queer Summit on a sunny

Green-Up Saturday in May. The State
House location in Montpelier was a step
up from the site of the first Summit meet-
ing a year ago at the Burlington sewage
plant.

In many ways, Summits are
another meet-and-greet, not so different
from Chamber of Commerce mixers,
though probably more structured and virtu-
ally all nonprofit. We spend the first 90
minutes introducing ourselves and giving’
brief (in some cases, not-so-brief) updates
on our organizations’ activities and con-
cerns. This Summit also offered a legisla-
tive update, a primer on trans issues and
approaches, and an update/brainstorrning
session on the Vermont Unity Project.
What follows are highlights and news bits
from the gathering.

The Legislature: Lippert
Urges Queer Support for
Anti-Racism Bill

Representative Bill Lippert (D-Hinesburg)
acted as host and declared that because of the
last legislative election, the feeling in the State
House is “much better” than lastyear. “Seven new
Democrats were elected to the House and one new
Progressive. It has changed the whole tone of the
discussions. We no longer have an atmosphere in
which free rein is given to the airing of anti-gay
material within this building,” he rejoiced.

Lobbyist and Equality Vermont repre-
sentative Virginia Renfrew took a more pes-
simistic view: “The Speaker of the House [Walter
Freed, R-Dorset] has 30 far-right party members
whom he has been trying to keep .quiet so he can
portray the party as more moderate than it is. He
has been trying not to have debates on the floor so
these members won’t show just how extreme the
Republican Party has become.”

. In his “legislative update” presentation,
Lippert clarified that “while the tone has changed,
the leadership has not. The chairperson of the
House Judiciary Committee [Peg Flory, R-
Pittsford] armounced, ‘This committee is not going
to deal with social issues this year.’ Who is in
charge is who sets the agenda. Frankly, I want to
set the agenda.”

Lippert and Renfrew mentioned three
bills of importance to the queer community:
H.113, focused on racism and harassment in
schools; H.01ll/S.0076, medical marijuana,
passed by the Senate 22-7, bottled up in the House
Health and Welfare Committee, unlikely to pass
this year; and H.366, adding gender identity to the
anti-discrimination law, also unlikely to pass this
year.

Lippert and R.U.l.2?’s Kaufman urged
the queer community to support H.113, because
racism hurts everyone, and combating race-based
harassment can only help our community. Renfrew
noted that every harassment bill passed has con-
tained a mandate for training for teachers and
administrators, “but they keep taking that part
out.”

“The testimony we’ve heard on this bill
has beenjust heartbreaking,” said Lippert.
“Supporting this bill is the right thing to do. As
this bill moves forward, we move forward. lt’s
time for us as a community to make this a strong
alliance.”

Paij Wadley-Bailey a
slrategize at the State

Community Groups:
Fundraising and Volunteers

e search for volunteers and board members
was a recurring theme. Most of our organiza-
tions are nonprofits governed by boards of direc-
tors. All of them need a continuous stream of vol-
unteers to keep their organizations running.

Among the attendees were two repre-
sentatives of the Barony of All Vermont, a chap-
ter of the nationwide “court” system that attracts a
high percentage of gay and lesbian participants
among its cross-dressers and drag kings and
queens. “I’ve never seen so much that sparkles in
one place,” joked Samara Foundation_ Executive
‘Director Bill Lippert, referring to the Barony’s
benefit performance for the foundation. Like more
traditional “fratemal” organizations, the Barony’s
focus is on having fim while raising funds to bene-
fit community organizations ranging fi'om various
food shelves to Mountain Pride Media.

New attendees included members of
two student organizations: Free to Be GLBTQA
from the University of Vermont (organizers of the
recent “Translating Identity” conference), and One
in Ten from Castleton State College, west of
Rutland. Also new to the Summits was Dot
Brauer, representing the LGBTQA Services
Office of the Cultural Diversity Center at UVM,
which has been working hard to make the univer-
sity a more welcoming place for transgender stu-
dents, faculty, and staff. Her office has also begun
supporting a new lgbtqa alumni association.

R.U.l.2? Community Center
Executive Director Christopher Kaufman and
Americorps-Vista worker Khristian Kemp-Delisser
announced that the community center’s recent
silent auction and fund-raising dinner was such a
success that people were turned away, even though
the Radisson is the largest banquet venue in town
(barring the cavernous Sheraton). There was a jok-
ing reference to “next year at Shelbume Farms”
with a quick retraction as eyebrows rose all across
the room.

Besides acting as organizers of the

ueer Summit

Queer Summits, the center is focusing on
antiracism work, collaborating with the
Juneteenth-Stonewall Commemoration Committee
(which includes the Women of Color Alliance,
Outright, Pride Vennont, RU12, VARAT, CEDO,
and SafeSpace) for a June 21 showing of Brother
Outsider, a film on the life of gay black civil rights
organizer Bayard Rustin. Juneteenth is the celebra-
tion of the date on which the last American slaves
— and their owners — in Galveston, Texas, were
finally notified that slavery had been outlawed and
that slaves were now free. It was June 19th, 1865,
more than two years alter the Emancipation
Proclamation.

Kaufman noted that the event has
required some groups to “go outside their comfort
zones” in dealing with racism and homophobia.
The local Juneteenth Committee, headed by
Shirley Boyd Hill, has declined to cosponsor the
June 21 event, and has scheduled its official
Juneteenth Commemoration for the same day.

Kemp-DeLisser, coordinator of the cen-
ter’s popular education programs, is coming to the
end of his year of govemment-subsidized poverty
wages in August, and both the Center and
SafeSpace are looking for new Americorps-Vista
workers.

R.U.l.2? board member Peter Braun
announced that the community center board would
be down to 2 members in September unless new
volunteers step forward to join.

Beth Robinson was there to represent
Vermonters for Civil Unions and all its related
legislative monitoring and fundraising entities, as
well as to discuss approaches to achieving legal
protections for transfolk in Vermont.

Equality Vermont’s Virginia Renfrew
announced that the Diversity Resources Guide for
Vermont (co-produced by Equality_Vennont,
LEAD International, and the Vermont Human
Rights Commission) is available online through
LEAD International (www.leadintl.org). Keith
Goslant, she reported, had been appointed to the
Govemor’s Commission on Equity and Workplace
Diversity (fonnerly the Govemor’s Commission
on Affrrrnative Action).

State House:

The Samara Foundation is awarding
three $1,000 scholarships to activistryouth this
year and hosted a national gathering of lesbian and
gay funding organizations.

David Morrill reported that VT M4M,
an online HIV prevention effort, has identified
over 160 transgender and cross-dressing individu-
als in Vermont, pointing to a need for a trans chat-'
room. He also represented the Chronic
Conditions Information Network, which pro-
vides inforrnation on a number of chronic condi-
tions, including AIDS and diabetes.

Brian Cina represented Pride Vermont,
the organizers of Vermont’s annual June Pride cel-
ebration for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender,
queer, intersex and allied Vermonters. The com-
mittee is facing several challenges this year and
beyond (see story, page 1).

Roland Palmer and Dan Brink were
cautiously enthusiastic about Mountain Pride
Media’s position, while also noting a need for vol-
unteers, board members, and funds. MPM has held
a spring raffle, sponsored a performance by Lost
Nation Theater of Lillian Hellman’s The
Children '5 Hour, and has an upcoming “Eat Out”
bzenefit at The Waiting Room restaurant in
Burlington on June 10. ,

Paij Wadley Bailey was both facilitating
the meeting and representing the Vermont Anti-
Racism Action Team (VARAT; see the May, 2003
edition of OITM, page 6). She said that some
schools refuse to have the group link different dis-

-crimination issues, such as racism and homopho-

bia, and that the group has been dis-invited once
so far. It is working on training volunteers for its
hotline at 1-866-Yracism.

The Vermont Diversity Health Project
and Outright Vermont were both represented by
Lluvia Mulvaney-Stanak. The Health Project is the
group behind the booklet Our Bodies, Our Minds,
a directory of gay and lesbian-friendly mental and
physical health practitioners. The group is moving
toward holding trainings for health providers to
understand what they need to know to ask the
right questions of their queer clients and patients.

Outright sponsored last month’s Youth
Pride (see story on page 3) celebration and is cur-
rently working on a project called OVX — Our
Voices Exposed, youth action against tobacco mar-
keting to kids. Queer kids are at much higher risk
of becoming addicted to tobacco. There are also

‘ outreach projects in Montpelier and Barre and

Brattleboro. _

Kara DeLeonardis announced that
Safespace was observing its first full year as an
independent agency helping lgbtq victims of sexu-
al assault, domestic violence, hate crimes and dis-
crimination. March was the most active month
they’ve had so far, with 13 clients, compared to
the usual two—to-six clients per month — a statistic
of mixed significance: it’s good that more people
are seeking help and know about SafeSpace, not
good that we’re experiencing that much violence.
SafeSpace plans to hold workshops for community
members in addition to the trainings they usually
do for advocates and educators. Tony Barreto-Neto
also attended the meeting as a new SafeSpace
board member.

Faerie Camp Destiny was represented
by the Faerie Pippin, aka Christopher Kaufman.
The Faeries finally received their Act 250 permit
to improve their campsite in Grafton, lengthening
the access road andconstructing a kitchen and a
bath house, once they’ve raised $30,000.
Vandalism has been a problem and the group is
very concerned with the possibility of violence
from neighbors against people on the property.

Gender Identity: Oppression,
Education, Legislation,
Litigation

luvia Mulvaney-Stanak, Beth Robinson, Bill

Lippert, and Virginia Renfrew present-

ed a mini-workshop on gender identity. >>