s nutln the mountains I DEC.2006/JAN.2007 l MOUNTAINPRIDEMEDIAORG FROM TH E PAST //////1.’////////////////////flWWWflflflw/flflflflflflfl/W/MW/flflflfl/flflflflfl/WWWW//MW/flflflflfl/WWW OITM Celebrates Fifth Birthday A Look Back-at .the~Paper's H'istory wees sets iegeey You're the kind of person who wants to make a _ difference during your lifetime. " You can crisoimake a difference after yams gene." 7Samar_a is a communltyzfoundatlon ‘— a public charity - createdi by and for people who sharea common - ' I _ * ; _concern: to Improve the quality of life.-ln th.eir-.(;ommunity.~* iouricissllori of vermen: place to make charrtabie gifts specifically to strengthen ' Vermont's LGBT community — both now,.through annual ‘ giving, and In the future, through their wills and other ‘ estate plans. Samara links community capital and resources to social action. Throughthe generosity of our donors and other partners, ' T since, 1992 wefve been able to convey; throughugrants and. g ' scholarships. more than $500,000 to improve the quality of life.’ for;Vermont's LGBT citizens. And that's Justthe beginning. . .‘ PO Box 1263 90 Main Street A l . Good legal advice can make all the difference. V Langrock Sperry 86 Wool offers the services of 24 lawyers with over 300 years combined experience in all areas of the law — including two lesbian attorneys with special expertise serving the legal needs of the g/ 1/ b/ t/ q community. SUSAN MURRAY & BETH ROBINSON With offices in Middlebury and Burlington Middlebury (802) 388-6356‘ Burlington (802) 864-0217 ' smurray@langrock.com brobinson@langrock.com Call us or visit out it website for more ' information. Burlington VT 05402 802 860.6236‘ 802 861-2767 (1) 0 ,. "' 0‘ In1o@samoro1oundot|on.org www.somorofoundotlon.org T Langrock Sperry &piWool, LLP ATTORNEYS AT LAW of 1985 when the idea of a‘ . gay and lesbian newspaper for Vermont started to gain momentum. As Philip Roberts wrote in an article celebrating the second anniversary of Out in the Mountains in February, 1988, the now‘ defunct Vermont- ers for Lesbian and Gay Rights (VLGR) felt that “a vehicle was needed to help the lesbian/gay community develop a method ' remember back in the fall ‘ = of sharing what was happening in our political, social, and per-. sonal lives.” Late November of that year, a meeting was held at the Peace and Justice Cen- ter in Burlington to start up such a paper. Representa- tives from VLGR and inter- ested community members such as myself attended the meeting. We discussed the contents of the paper and the name of it (Out in the Mann- tains waschosen based on past gay pride logos of New Hampshire and Vermont). To finance the enterprise, we applied for a grant from the Haymarket People's Fund of Boston for start-up money. The grant from the Hay- market People's fundcame through for $2,000 to get the paper going. Several meetings were later held, and the next February, the first issue of Out in the Mountains appeared. Carrie Coyjoined OHM after moving to Burlington in February of 1986. She remem- bers that it was exciting for her to work on the paper. A small handful of people would meet at the beginning of each month to plan the next month’s issues and then would meet later to read over and edit whatever stories and press ‘ releases came into the office, which at that time was rented space from the Peace and Justice ._Center. As OI TM was not yet computerized, all of the layout was done by hand. Once the paper was printed up, the collective members v _ would then collate it and get » it ready to mail to subscribers the emphasis being on free dis- tribution around the Burlington A _ BY .Mr‘KI THOMAS T _. . , ' in *Sjamara‘s case, the community is Vermont's lesbian. . - I - ‘ ' _ V ‘gay’. blsefxucl and flung-gender cmzens' - . I The following is a reprint . and distribute around town. as Carrie Coy put it, “we could . . ° * - « ' r of theicover story for the There were only fifty to sixty scare up people to help out.” The Samara Foundation of Vermont gives -individuals a H‘ . Febmam 1991 issue of OITM Subscribers at that point, with , An insert was put mo the January 1990 issue with the ominous declaration that “This area. The only other areas to r receive OI TM . - - were Montpe- Out in the Mountains lier, where a man distrib- uted 200 copies, WW‘ _ and Bmttle_ mo“ “mm Celebrates Fifth Birthday bow’ where vapors Hmory ..;..22"‘..Z“'.’;.‘..‘I“v‘l’n'S‘.‘W..a“".I’a copies were Wm r W sent off to C01- ors, one of the town’s gay bars. Over the next four years, 01 TM began to gain power as the mouthpiece of Vermont’s gay and lesbian communities. A case in point is the political polling often done. When VLGR would poll candidates before the November elec- tions regarding their stands on issues of interest to the gay V and lesbian communities, it received little response. How- ever, when OI TM conducted a similar poll in 1986, almost all of the candidates responded ’ when it was made clear that the results would be published. OI TM covered major stories as well. The first issue of OITM covered legislation that would ban discrimination against those who are HIV+. Since then, OI TM has covered the Pride parades, the 1986 ERA campaign, the Gay Rights Bill hearings of 1987 and 1988, and the 1987 March on Washington. Membership, however, did not grow during that period. A handful of people were still do- ing the jobs of writing, typing, laying out, and distributing the paper. By 1989, key people had left and new ones hadn’t come in. The collective had dwindled to four people. One member was going to leave the area the following summer, and the other three had all reached the burnout point. This would have been the end of OITM unless, 4¢u<£'kIxn)I ?«mo‘siwosu win ramp in “$5: mm mm the lhéuuw mv~'«vw.«eausuasx me». me: am! '.'uI3e(3J,7»-walG1'|Ilmtowv'¢:¢ wllwuwa to N-waver Iva!» , Vuaum. In udanadat Ipoml m N'n§’n(mt~séu um tmoy. own my sharia ‘ism-s. 0&1: lax hm.’ amt. that M mm: 6141;’ v."(iso‘.nuip)v.o1p.=.. van is OI TM’s last issue." The insert had one ray of hope — it also said that a meeting would be held the next month to dis- cuss whether OI TM should be kept alive or. be allowed to die a dignified death. On February 17, 1990 over forty people from all over Vermont met at the Fletcher Free Library in Burlington. Local media showed up as well, and the meeting was covered on WCAX News that night and the Burlington Free Press the following mom- ing. The consensus was that OI TM served a vital role in the lives of gay and lesbian Vermonters and their friends. For Carrie Coy, however, even this positive reaction left her a bit skeptical: “I wasn’t - sure if the group was willing - to put the work into it.” But now, she’ says, “It’s wonder- ful to see the paper thrive." Since that February meeting, ‘ a group of fifteen or so indi- viduals has met regularly to put the paper out on a monthly ba- sis and to live up to the purpose as it was stated in the very first issue five years-ago and as it continues to‘ be stated today}