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Colonel May Speak in VT

ccording to Vermont Law

School student Amy
Whitehorne, theilgbt Alliance at the
school wants to invite retired
Colonel Grethe Cammermeyer to
speak at its fall conference next
October.

Cammermeyer’s 1994
memoir Serving in Silence brought
the unfair treatment of lesbian and
gay soldiers to the public in a new
way. It was later made into a movie ‘
starring Glenn Close.

When Cammermeyer —
who had been married for 15 years
and bore four sons — came out as a
lesbian to military officials in June
of 1989 during a security-clearance
interview, the Vietnam veteran with
a bronze star and numerous awards
was involuntarily separated from the
service.

On June 11, 1992, she

filed suit in Federal District Court in

Seattle to challenge the ban on
homosexuals in the military and

requested reinstatement. Twenty-five
months later, the judge ruled the pol-

icy was unconstitutional and based
on prejudice. Cammermeyer was
reinstated in the National Guard in
June of 1994 and, after 31 years of
service, retired with full military
privileges three years later.

The Vermont Law School

Alliance is seeking other Vermont or

New England organizations to
schedule Col. Cammermeyer as a
speaker during‘October in order to
reduce the per-organization cost. V‘

Contact Amy Whitehorne, treasurer
of the Vermont Law School Alliance,
for more info:
awliitehorne@vermontlawedu.

CT Is Second

Hartford, CT — As OITM was
going to press, Gov. Jodi Rell

signed the just-passed Civil Union

bill into state law.

Perhaps even more so than
in Vermont, the victory of achieving
legal recognition and rights for
same-sex couples was bittersweet.
Love Makes a Family, a leading gay
rights organization there, had said it
would not support a bill that pro-
duced anything less than marriage,
although it had softened its stance as
the bill approached final passage. It
now views civil unions as a step
toward full legal recognition of mar-
riage for same-sex couples.

The bill also carried two
amendments, one defining marriage
as solely between a man and a
woman, and one limiting civil
unions to partners over age 18, a
higher limit than for marriage.

One report, from the
Stamford, CT Advocate, cited 588
laws, regulations, and court rules
that would be affected by the new
civil union law.

CU State

One aspect of the bill’s
passage that made it unique was that
there was no court ruling requiring
the legislature to act, although sev-
eral couples had filed suit against
the state for denial of marriage
licenses. That suit remains unre-
solved.

The law applies only to
same-sex couples. It is unclear
whether Connecticut couples who
obtained a civil union in Vermont
will be legally recognized under the

’ new law, although the rules pub-

lished in New York’s Gay City News
say that neither partner can be in a
marriage or civil union elsewhere.
Same-sex marriages performed in
other jurisdictions will not be recog-
nized in Connecticut under the new
law.

Demonstrations against
the bill’s ‘passage were planned for
the weekend following its signing.
The law takes effect October 1,
2005. V

It’s a Boy!‘

Ethan Fechter-Leg ett
shows his new birt
certificate from Florida
affirming his sex as male.
It was not an unambiguous
step forward, however: the
transman and graduating
UVM senior was unable to
et his name changed
rom its original, Justin.
After several phone calls,

Fechterg-Le gett was told
that the on y reason the

state would consent to

changing the sex on his
birth certificate without

additional expense and

documentation was that

his birth name was

typically a male name. V

  

Weinstock Earns Volunteer Award

urlington — A table full of

SafeSpace staff and volunteers
were the first to jump up and cheer
before they crowded onto the stage in ‘
the Wyndham Hotel ballroom on April
16 to lavish praise on their nominee
for Volunteer of the Year, Board Chair
Jackie WeinstockL

“I didn’t even know I had been

nominated until halfway through the C
evening. I was very touched,”
Weinstock said two days after receiv-
ing her award. “If I had been on the
committee, I would have voted for the

Translating Identity Conference organ-
izing group, they have had such an
impact.”

Also nominated were Dan» Brink,
board chair of Mountain Pride Media;
Kate Jerman, co-director of. Outright
Vermont, for her work with
TransAction on passing H.478, the
Gender Identity and Expression
Inclusion Act; Jes Kraus of
TransAction; Julia Smith, a 15-year-
old activist with Outright Vermont;
and Bob Wolff, who has volunteered
for R.U.l .2? and Mountain Pride

Media.

The community’s “formal leaders”
do get attention, and these days some
of them actually get paid, Weinstock
agreed in a phone conversation. “What
I like about this award is that‘it’s more
about honoring people doing the work
that needs to be done. It’s wonderful
to highlight every year someone who’s
working in the grassroots, making
time in their lives.”

The Award Committee included
Thorn Fleury,Glo Webel, Connie
Beal, and Peggy Luhrs. Beal and

Luhrs are Americorps Vista workers at
SafeSpace and R.U.l .2? respectively.
Fleury volunteers for a number of
organizations, including delivering
Out in the Mountains.
Numerous speakers focused on the

task of passing H.478, which became a
theme of the evening at the “Lucky 7”

‘annual fundraising dinner for the

R.U.1.2? Queer Community Center.
The capacity crowd of 300 people,

including Faeries, students, activists,
volunteers, lawyers, financial planners,
clergy, legislators, and most - if not all
— of the lgbtq alphabet soup, gave
keynote speaker Eli Clare a standing
ovation for his eloquent evocation of

the “tug” of gender on his various
identities as a tomboy, a butch lesbian,
a disability activist, and a transman.

Entertainment was provided by
hostesses the Sisters LeMay, a well-
known Vermont drag act. Jason
Lorber, a recent arrival to Vermont and
a stand-up comedian elected last
November to the Vermont House, han-
dled the MC duties. Dinner music was
provided by the Andric Severance
Trio.

In addition to the dinner, funds
were raised by the donation of silent
auction items on which the diners
bid. V