BUILDING COMMUNITY .

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Queer Town Meeting: Q

Building Community in Southern Vermont

BY LINDSAY COBB

n edgy hustle-bustle
permeated Brattle-
boro’s American

Legion Hall in the half-hour
before Queer Town Meeting
was to begin. The tables were
set with plastic-ware, ques-
tionnaires, butcher paper, and
crayons. The penne pasta,
tomato sauce, salad, cook-
ies, coffee, seltzer - all either
donated by local businesses
or provided and prepared by
volunteers from Windham
County's Queer Community
Project - sat waiting on side
tables. The easels, the micro-
phones, all were ready. But
would anyone show up‘?

The answer soon became
abundantly_clear. Certainly
you recall that line from the
film Field of Dreams: “If
you build it, they will come.”

It was better than that. They
came, about 100 strong, and
began the work of building
GLBT community together.

Queer Town Meeting was
the brainchild of the Queer
Community Project, a yearlong
fact-finding venture fimded with
grant money from The Unity
Project. Under the direction of
an advisory board headed by 10-
cal massage therapist Adrienne
deGuevara, QCP has hosted
house parties and other meet-
ings with local GLBT folk in
order to discern their needs and
develop programs and services
to meet those needs. Queer
Town Meeting was a culmina-
tion of these smaller meetings.

As Mark Melchior, a mem-
ber of the advisory board,
explained to the crowd in
some introductory comments,
“We wanted to get together
with a large group to talk
about some of the things we
learned in small group discus-
sions, and to maybe, in a big
groupthink, come up with
some definitive points of de-
parture for the next stage,”

_ Melchior introduced deGua-
vara, who detailed concerns
that people voiced in previous

small-group meetings: isolation

from the community, support
for GLBT parents, fostering
diversity, co—sponsoring events
with non—queer groups, mentor-
ing youth, claiming a cultural
presence, educational outreach,
accessibility to seniors and dif-
ferently challenged people, and

the need for a resource center
for legal and health referrals.
Zeeb, another member of
the advisory board, explained
the various questionnaires: one
survey for demographics,- one
to list various interests and pro-
grams that individuals would
like to see sponsored, and a
third to be used as a contact
and pledge card. “Our vision,”
she explained, “is this is going
to be community-supported
with volunteers and maybe .

seemed particularly desirous of
a drop-in center, a safe space
to hang out Without fear. Other
folks cautioned that a physi-
cal space would be difficult to
maintain until other elements,
like volunteers and fimding,
were firmly in place; although,
when it came to obtaining
money, granting agencies

were more likely to help fund
a physical space for youth.

DeGuavera stressed the

need to organize and work «

One of the prime topics was the T
purchase and maintenance.of a
physical space and drop-in center,

. a place to hold events and for

housing resources and archives.
Youth seemed particularly desirous
of a drop-in center, a’ safe space _
to...han.g,out without fear.

some funds, and so this is an
opportunity for you to tell us
what you are prepared to do to
help move this vision forward.”
Zeeb explained the proposed
budgets, ranging from a bare-
bones minimum of $10,000 a

fora center and meeting space.
After people had a chance

0 to eat, socialize, flirt, and dis-

cuss the issues that QCP had
put before them, it was time

to reconvene to hear people’s
suggestions and concerns. The
format was done “Oprah style,”
as people around the func-
tion hall spoke into a portable
microphone. This turned out
to be the most fruitful part of
the evening, as people tossed
out ideas and wrestled with
issues. Suggestions included
developing a carpool for events,
organizing a joint Brattle-
boro-Bennington festival, and
fundraising for sign-language
interpreters at events (one
was, in fact, present at Queer
Town Meeting). Talk was
punctuated by much encourag:
ing applause and laughter.

One of the prime topics

was the purchase and main-
tenance of a physical space
and drop-in center, a place to
hold events and for housing
resources and archives. Youth

to make these things happen.
“We don’t have any funding,
we don’t have a grant writer,
the initial grant from the Unity
Project is getting smaller, and
the need to organize funding

V’  and people to do the work ,
year, to more than double that

is important,” she said.

As for an alternative name
for Queer Community Proj-
ect - one that doesn’t include
the word “queer" - sentiment
seemed to be divided. Zeeb
said that QCP would address
the issue at a later date. Sug-
gested alternatives included
names using words like “pride”
or “gay.” (This reporter’s per-
sonal favorite, suggested by
a woman at his table, was
Friends of “Tinky Wmky. ”)

As the evening drew to a
close, Melchior and Zeeb ex-
plained that the next task for
QCP’s advisory board was to
collate the information they
received that evening, and
then contact people, connect
them with one another, irnple—
ment the suggested events,
programs, and fimdraising,
and continue the Work of
building queer community.V

Lindsay Cobb serves on
the advisory board of the
Queer Community Project
in Brattleboro.

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