M LGBT Innkeepers Find
Neighbors Live and Let Live

“The community doesn't care
that we are gay. Everyone
has just accepted us.”

David Karsat, co-owner of the Deer
Brook 3&8 in Wooastock

BY FRANCESCA SUSANNA

kay, you’ve moved into the big

house, the remodeling is done,

you’re all set to open as a lesbian
or gay-owned bed and breakfast in the
gay-friendliest state in the union. What’s
your biggest problem?

According to the innkeepers I
spoke to, it’s not homophobia, but rousing
interest among the GLBT communities
within the state. Kathy Maieli owns
Highgate Manor in Highgate Falls in the
northwestern part of Franklin County. She
says she’d like to host fundraisers and
generally see more local customers use
her banquet space. “But we are forty min-
utes from Burlington and people think

i that’s so far away.” Like many other gay

innkeepers, she markets to the GLBT
community with listings in Lesbian
Connection and PurpleRoofs.com — which
elicit lots of response from out of state.
Unfortimately, instate ads — even in lgbtq
media — bring in almost no business.

Bev Youree and Carol Nepton
own Hummingbird Haven, a lesbian B &
B in Berkshire (northern Franklin
County). They market exclusively to the
lesbian honeymooner sector, but the only
Vermont lesbian guests they see arrive in
July when they havean armual picnic.
With their two meadows and 53 acres, it
would not be a problem for them to host a
large outdoor ceremony and reception, but
the bed and breakfast consists of one large
suite and only accommodates two guests:
“It really is a honeymoon suite.”

Almost all the innkeepers I spoke
with have no in-state civil union business.
After all, about three quarters of the civil
unions performed in Vermont involve out-
of-staters. And most of their gay couple

' guests come from out of state — probably

an indication of the way Americans go on
their honeymoons: like everyone else, les-
bian and gay couples in Vermont go some-
place ‘away.’ T

On the other end of Vennont,
Chris Clay of the Stone Hearth Inn in
Chester (southwest of Springfield, in
Windsor County) is gearing up for the
winter season. He too would like to see
more local, customers. Besides having a
tavern that is officially open to the public,
he is working on booking more regular
entertainment with intent to attract a more
local GLBT crowd.

Meanwhile in Woodstock (west
of White River Junction in Windsor

 

County), David Kanal and his partner J
George DeFina are in the process of secur-.
ing a liquor license and adding a pub to T

the Deer Brook B & B in order to attract . _ 1

local customers, straight and gay.

On the plus side, another constant
refrain of innkeepers I spoke with - from
the owners of Hummingbird Haven, look-
ing out onto the Canadian plains; to Bob
Shannon of A.Stone Wall Inn far to the
south in Windham (northern Windham
County) — is that they have had no trouble‘

‘ in their towns as gay business owners or

couples. “I’ve had no reactions, really,”

Shannon says. “We leave them alone, they 

leave us alone,” Jim McKimm of the
River Bend B & B in Troy (Orleans
County) says. David Kanal has found,

“The community doesn’t care that we are 1”

gay. Everyone has just accepted us.”

“l’ve had no trouble,” according
to Maieli of Highgate Manor. When she
hosts a large gathering, it is anoticeable _
occurrence in the small Franklin County 
town. A wedding with 150 guests tends to 3
bring a large and diverse crowd to the 
area. “Except, ...” she adds hesitantly, ,,.(.,q',;

A Except that in the last election, ’
Highgate Falls voted out every Justice of
the Peace who was willing to perfomi ' f
civil unions. According to Vermont law, if‘ '_
a JP refuses to perform civil unions, he or,’

A she cannot perform conventional marriage —

ceremonies either. Maieli can’t be certain 
that this move was aimed at her and her 
establishment, but it is hard not to take it .6,
personally. 
Clay, of the Stone Hearth, sus-

pects that there is probably plenty of
“Take Back Vermont” sentiment left here,—'i
“but they don’t realize how much money 
the civil unions bring into the state.” In A
fact, most of the innkeepers are working [,1
harder to keep up with their growing busi-“7
nesses — and hiring more workers to put in}.
jacuzzis, re-landscape their grounds, con- 
vett barns and other outbuildings. “Who if];
knows what they know or don’t know,” vi 
Clay says of the local contractors he hired
to convert a barn on his grounds. They are. =_
doing their work — and collecting their ’'
paychecks — and the innkeepers are doing»;
theirs. ~ 1"

 

.Perhaps the famous Vermont atti-. if
tude, live and let live, has returned to its .
grass roots. V '

Francesca Susanna lives and writes in
Burlington.