Ill nutln the mountains I AUGUST 2006 l MOUNTAINPRIDEMEDIAORG Double Your Donation! The Samara Foundation has generously ‘pledged to match all donationsto OITM/MPM up to $4000 until August 31, 2006. So what are you waiting for? Every check from $10 to $4000 will help us continue to keep Vermont talking about LGBT issues. Donate online at mountainpridemediaorg Inthe TIIIIIIIITIIIIIS VEl?MON'-‘S VOICE For THE LESBIAN. GAY. BISEXUAL A TRANSGENDER COMMUNPY SINCE was or send a tax—deductible' check to: Mountain Pride Media, Inc. PO Box 1122 Burlington, VT 05402-1122 IF YOU'VE NEVER BEEN TESTED, OR IF YOU'VE HAD UNPROTECTED SEX_0R SHARED A N It's bent to Imow YIIII BAN EETIIEAITII GARE MID TREATMENT IF Yflll TEST PIISITIVE. For information on HIV testing: I call toll-free from in Vermont 800-332-AIDS (800-882-2437)* - for hearing impaired TTY access 800-319-3141* I or visit us on-line at http://wwwhealthyvermonters.info * The Vermont AIDS Hotline is open weekdays. 8:30-4:30. (For information 24/7.ca1l the National AIDS Hotline 800-342-2437.) Take the TEST. Ialie CONTROL. /<~.\/ETRMONT DEPAIITCMENNT or HEALTH all 110 ‘KJSJSSJ. N338 I-ISASN 3A.flO.& :l’l ‘.I.SEl.I. AIH NV IEO OJ. ENLI. 3}-IJ. SI MON ‘$33.1. J.S YOU'VE HAD UNPROTECTED SEX OR SHARED A NEEDLE SINCE YOUR LAST TEST. NOW IS THE TIME TO GET AN HIV TEST. IF YOU'VE N-EVER BEE! TESTED, 01.-HF YOU-VB HAD UNpg_oT V'I HIIOI. ZDNIS EITGEIZN V Cl:-IHVHS HO XES ClE(.l.')E.I.O}IdNfl ("NH 3/\.flOIt ail HO '(I3.LS3.L N338 HHAEIN 31\.{l0A :11 '.LS£I.L All-I NV .I.fEl'.) OJ. Iil"Il.L EH1 SI MON ‘-LS3}. .l.SV'I HIIOA HONIS 31033 ACT IVISM # Sherry Corbin: Changing People’s Lives BY BENNETT LAW t the 8th Annual Queer Community A Dinner in May, Sherry Corbin of South Hero was named the 2006 Volun- teer of the Year. Sherry was recognized for her leadership with the Vermont Freedom to Marry Task Force and with ’I‘ransAction, a group advocating for an end to discrimination based on gender identity and expression. Sherry’s path to this recognition began in PHOTO BY LYNN MCNICOL erry ‘bin 1999, While volunteering for Champlain Islanders Developing Essential Resources (CIDER, Inc.), which promotes independent living for seniors in Grand Isle County. Her interest there was in changing people's lives, and Sherry quickly found a new opportunity to do just that when she vol- unteered to serve as a county coordinator for the Vermont Freedom to Marry Task Force (VFMTF). I The timing was fortuitous: just a year later the entire state was involved in the debate about same-sex marriage that precipitated Vermont’s civil union law. Sherry spent long hours going door-to-door in Grand Isle County - not one of Verrnont’s more progressive areas - to educate people about the substantive issues motivating the drive for same-sex marriage. As county coordina- tor, Sheny made sure that at least three letters in support of maniage equality appeared in the local newspapers every week, and set up speaking engagements for same-sex couples and their fami- lies. She also kept the Task Force board aware of upcoming community events in Grand Isle County. It was her experience in public education that Sherry was able to contribute to 'I‘ransAction. Sherry joined TransAcu'on as a representative of the VFMTF, eager to share her experience Er speaker's training and at the Statehouse during the civil union debates in 2000_. While both the Freedom to Marry movement and the drive to end discrimination based on ‘ gender identity are fundamentally about fairness, Sherry sees these two issues at very different positions in the maturity of the movement. “The trans work that is happening right now is about securing the protections of being des- ignated a protected class," Sherry said. “This simply reflects where our culture is today. Ending discrimination is hard because you can only advance as fast as the majority — the masses - can handle. It takes time. As with mar- riage, progress will be made in single steps.” While 'Ira.nsAction is at just the first step in along path to fairness, the marriage move- ment is further evolved. “We've been doing education about marriage for the past 10 years," Sherry said. “It's actually been very hard for us at T‘ransAction because the queer community is used to being further along. This experience feels somewhat out of step with the rest of the movement. We believe that ending discrimina- tion in gender identity should be a no—brainer, so to see the discomfort the general public has with this issue has been difficult. We don't really g I Sherry remembers when talking about being gay in Grand Isle County was almost impossibly hard, and so she remains optimistic about the evolution of acceptance of transgender Vermonters. encounter this same awkwardness in conver- sations about sexual orientation anymore.” Sherry remembers when talking about being gay in Grand Isle County was almost impos- sibly hard, and so she remains optimistic about ~ the evolution of acceptance of transgender Vermonters. “So many of us - particularly those who came to Vermont after passage of the civil _ union law — don’t remember what rural Vermont was like before the civil union stuff. For those of us working as advocates for gender iden- tity, it remains pre-2000 in rural Vermont." The work that remains ahead for Trans- Action was made resoundingly clear by the Govemor’s veto of the gender identity non- - discrimination bill earlier this surmner. “It’s unbearable that the governor vetoed this law — but in his own way he made our point for us: we still have to educate people that its not OK to discriminate,” Sherry said. So while there’s Work ahead. for TransAction, marriage equality remains a crucial concern for _ Sherry. “Our seniors in the queer community are in trouble financially because we don't have ac- cess to the rights that others do. We don’t have access to Social Security, which imposes an unacceptable hardship on people when they are most vulnerable, such as at the death of a part- ner. We don't have access to immigration rights. A We don’t have access to government spousal pensions or tax—£ree inheritance rights, because * all of these benefits depend on marriage." This work clearly energizes Sherry. “The marriage movement has been fun," she said. “We are making monumental change. We are changing people's lives, and that’s what I’ve always wanted to do.”V' I Bennett Law lives in Bethel, and serves with Sherry Corbin on the board of the Vermont Freedom to Marry Task Force.