Hate Has No Boundaries
I live in Delaware, close to the
Dover Air Force Base where
Fred Phelps and his family of
protesters came to voice their
opinions on gays and the war in
Iraq. [See
www.delawareonline.corn/apps/p
bcs .dll/ article ?AID=/ 200507 1 8/
NEWS01/5077180321/1006/NE
WS for a report.]
Although I did not

attend this gathering, I was dis-

gusted by his presence there.

Thinking his was a
“Nazi” type of Baptist religion, I
was about to have a real fit. I
looked this church up on the
Internet and found out that he
and his followers are not wel-
comed by most of you, either!
Phew!! .
V I really don't understand
how people become so mean and
hateful, do you?

Thank you for having a
web site, it saved me from hav-
ing my blood pressure go up. 2 '

Karen Jordan
Newark, DE

Pride in Vermont

Let's face it: Pride Day in
Vermont simply isn't what it
used to be. Not only are the
crowds smaller (made worse this

year by the horrible weather on '

July 9), but the sense of a need

for a Pride Day here is indeed
waning. 9

As I see it, there is one
overriding reason for this -
Vermont's unique demographics.
The Green Mountain State's
LGBT community is unlike any
other in the U.S. Vermont cer-
tainly isn't a "red state." But it
doesn't have a "queer ghetto"
like San Francisco, Boston or
New York, either.

Outside the Greater
Burlington area, Vermont is a
predominantly rural state — the

‘ most rural in the Northeast.
Many LGBT Vermonters, myself
included, moved to Vermont to
escape the big-city rat race. It's
also no accident that Vermont is
one of the few places in the
country where lesbians outnum-
ber gay men, according to the
2000 Census. In the big cities,
it's the other way around.

Consequently, LGBT
Vermonters are older and grayer

‘; per‘capita,ahd‘te'nd;to be more 5
mainstream—oriented culturally
and more moderate politically
than their urban peers.

Put another way, what
works in Montreal may not work
in Burlington. What's OK in
Boston may not be OK in
_Brattleboro. And .what's normal
in New York's West Village may
be completely out of place in '
Bennington.

 

At Witt’s End

If LGBT Vermonters
desire to enjoy at Pride celebra-
tion with all the trappings of a
big—city Pride, they can easily
travel to Boston, New York or
Montreal — And, in fact, many
do. »

For Pride to be success-
ful in Vermont, it has to be a
decidedly Verrnont—oriented
Pride.

Skeeter Sanders
Shelbume, VT

Mock’s Apologies

First of all, I am grateful for the
interest and article that Euan
Bear wrote regarding my good
fortunes in having been selected

“as one of this year’s recipients

for the Robert Wood Johnson
Community Health Leadership
Award. ‘

I was very concerned to

V see a quote in her article that I

had not expected would be for
public consumption. When Euan-
Bear and I were initially speak-
ing by phone and catching up,
we were joking and reviewing
old history before moving onto
the RWJ award story. The quote
from the story I am referring to
was, “If you believe in Karma,
you could look at it this way:

Kurt Kleier got fired and I got a '

national award.” This statement
seems “small,” inappropriate and

 

not at all professional.

I would like to apologize to any-
one who may have been offend-

ed by this statement. I particular-
ly want to apologize to Kurt and

‘ all of the staff at the Vermont

Department of Health who had
to make difficult funding deci-
sions this past year for HIV pre-
vention programming and serv-
ices statewide. This statement
standing alone and out of con-
text appears shallow and
attempts to summarize a com-
plex process in an over—simpli—
fied manner.

Thomas Mock
Executive Director, ACORN

I disagree that the phrase was
‘taken out of context. ACoRN’s
drastic change in fortunes was
the point of departure for the
story. And at no time did Tom
Mock say that any part of our
conversation was “ofi the
record. ”- Euan Bear

Connecting the Dots

In the days and weeks to come
Vermont and the country will be
focusing on the future of repro-
ductive health and a women’s
right to choose. Roe represents
an important keystone and its
importance has to be understood
in context. The Supreme Court
decision recognized that patients

 

Leah Wittenberg

  

 

Gar Wino’?

ought to be expert in making
health care decisions, not gov-
ernment.

This principle should
apply across all facets of deci-
sion making with respect to
medical care. That is why it was
extremely disappointing to see
the [Vermont] House and Senate
Democrats only dicker around
the edges with changes to living
wills and power of attorney.

This Democratic legis-
lature had a real opportunity this
year to consider Death with
Dignity legislation pending
before the House Human
Services committee in a concert-
ed and thoughtful way. Instead,
the leadership granted this
important matter a courtesy
hearing, totally less than three
hours of testimony in total.

It is my sincere hope
that H. 168 is given an opportu-
nity to be fully aired in the sec-
ond half of this legislative term.

Steve May
Bolton

Steve May is  Progressive Party
member exploring a run for a
Vermont Senate seat from
Chittenden County. V