Gays for Dean continued from p. 1 the story of meeting an 80-year-old veteran in ' South Carolina who told him about being gay in the military. The experience changed Dean’s perception of gays and lesbians in the military and also his perception about the South,” relat- ed Cooper. “I asked him if he had had any simi- lar situations in his life that informed his under- standing of TG [transgender] issues and, if not, how he came to his position on TG equality.” Dean, wrote Cooper in an email, told of an encounter with transgender health issues when a personnel manager asked Dean “whether or not their health insurance was going to cover sex-change operations, etc. He said, ‘Well I dunno I have to sit and think about that one. But I can’t imagine that it’s a question that comes up very often.’ The manag- er said, ‘You’d better think quick because we had 3 requests just last year.”’ The incident Chris cooper of 0utforDean.com (L) and Jan cadoret of Dykes for Dean (R) happened early in Dean’s govemorship. ' “Then he articulated his vision for a world where TG is recognized the same as any other gender. He articulated his position about TG equality and how he would fight for insur- ance coverage of sex-change operations, etc.,” Cooper concluded. Asked whether he _thought gays and lesbians nationally are ready for a serious back- lash, especially on gay marriage, Cooper declared, “We can win by telling our own sto- ries. The Republican Party and the press identi- fy the issue as gay marriage, when it’s really about lgbt equality. We need to package it in terms of the ability of an lgbt partner to visit the hospital, in terms of real peop1e,'real issues. It’s our responsibility to make the distinction between ‘marriage’ and ‘equality.”’ Cadoret wrote in an email, “Gay and lesbian Americans may not have much choice as to whether they can endure [a potentially dirty] campaign, since the right wing is already gearing up to make gay rights amain divisive issue. I think that the backlash will happen any- way because most of the Democratic candidates are supportive of gay rights. Since Gov. Dean already knows, from his Vermont experience, what right wing opponents are capable of, he may be able to handle it best.” “On Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell, employ- ment equality, hate crime, hospital visitation — on every issue the polling breaks our way. Except for gay marriage,” Cooper said. And as for the common wisdom that Dean’s support for lgbt rights makes him unpalatable in the South, Cooper pointed out, “The only Southern state we have to win is Florida, and the vote there will be under more scrutiny” in the ' upcoming election because of the debacle of the 2000 election. “But we’ve gotta win by a lot.’’ V aldemar Rataj is a slightly built rnan, especially standing next to Nick Korzistka, his tall, solidly built trans- lator. He is also Vice President of the Scientific Society, touring the United States on behalf of the Institute for Civil Society, Pro Publico Bono, shepherded through Vermont by the Vermont Council on World Affairs. He can ordinarily be . found in Krakow, Poland. But on October 10, he is at the R.U. 1.2? Queer Community Center, wanting to hear about lesbian and gay rights and programs in Vermont. . The conversation goes quickly, Korzistka providing verbatim simultaneous trans- ” lation, occasionally interrupting himself for clari- fication. R.U.l.2? Executive Director Christopher Kaufman outlines the center’s five-year history and programs, ranging from an archive project specific to Verrnont’s rural gays and lesbians to the Diversity Health Project directory of lgbt- friendly health practitioners, from the Queer Summits to the Stonewall-Juneteenth celebration this year. The significance of the Stonewall Rebellion is one of those interruptions for clarifi- cation, and Kaufman explains Juneteenth, as well. The questions are few and direct: “We met yesterday with the [Vermont] Attorney General and the Human Rights Commission and they say they are doing all these education pro- grams in schools. Are they? What is your opinion?” Kaufman agrees that there are some I pro-diversity, anti-harassment programs in schools, and that state law mandates that schools be a safe space for every Vermont student. But, he adds, many of those programs exist only on paper because the funds either were never appro- priated or were cut. He also mentions political pressure involved in diverting funds, citing the decision by the Education Department to stop reimbursing Outright Vemiont for its workshops in schools during the backlash against civil unions. -Kaufman also describes the work of the Vermont Anti-Racism Action Team in schools, leading into an explanation that much of the anti-discrimination work for the lgbt commu- nity — and for African Americans — is done by volunteers, not paid staff members. Asked what he willluse the information for, Rataj says he is “gathering general informa- tion on human_ rights, what are the most impor- tant issues, where are there problems. Finding out what problems there are with public organiza- tions, this information supplements what we hear from the ofiicial [state-funded] organizations.” Rataj asks whether discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people is widespread among many parts of socie- ty. Kaufman’s answer is yes: in housing, employ- ment, health care, and public accommodation, despite the existence of state laws making such discrimination illegal. Kaufman is quick to add that there has been progress, and that access to culturally com- petent health care of the lgbt community is improving. He mentions the Diversity Health Polish Visitor Asks About Queer Rights Project’s upcoming pilot program of practitioner , training. Rataj’s translator asks whether R.U.l.2'.7 does any legal work, and Kaufman clarifies R.U.l.2'?’s role as a referral source, pointing community members to agencies like SafeSpace and the Boston-based GLAD for legal and advo- cacy services related to discrimination. Rataj, a consultant to the human rights ombudsman in Poland, was hosted by Radha Tereska Buko of the Vermont Council on World Affairs. He got here by being recommended by the US. Ambassador to Poland to the State I Department for a U.S. tour invitation. The State Department’s Bureau for International Visitors makes the invitation to the individual, then can- vasses select states to take on hosting the visitor and creating a program of special interest, according to Buko. “We get a share of these visitors, and someone like me as a volunteer offers to create the visiting program,” Buko explained in an email after the visit. “I’m given a theme or topic, and I then set up appropriate meetings with gov- ernment and non-govemment agencies.” The theme for Mr. Rataj was human and civil rights and how different agencies work together to improve and uphold them. Rataj, wrote Buko, “was also interested in the Freedom of Information Act, though I wasn’t specifically asked to cover that. It was my choice to include R.U.l.2?.” Buko, who has traveled in Poland, said afierward that Rataj “was just interested in how human rights issues are dealt with here. There, it all comes from the state government,” she said, as opposed to the grassroots. I “My best friend in Krakow is gay and he has not been allowed to be very open about that fact,” she added. “I included RU.l.2? [on the tour] because we had gotten the government angle, but I thought no one would have spoken much about gender rights.” 7