page 8 - Out in the Mountains March 4 Films 7:30 pm Auditorium, Cost: 2.00 Contois Burlington. March 5 Workshop: Feminism and Social Change 6:00 pm Free Contois Auditorium, City Hall City Hall Pawnee Sills: An Evening of Blackness A one women show on the herstory of Black Women. 8:00 pm Cost: 54.00 City Hall Auditorium. March 6 Women's Potluck & Poetry/Monologue Readings 6:30 pm Church Street Center, Burlington - Donations March 7 Keynote speaker: Gwedolyn Rodgers - report from Nairobi. l03 Rowell Bldg./UVM 7:30 pm Free Childcare provided. Somebody's Sisters: International Folk Songs, after speaker. March 8 International Women's Day Celebration for Women l0am- 6pm. Contois, Childcare provided. Free. Noon parade: Church Street bring banners/instruments/voices. Peformance by MATRIX, a Balkan Women's Singing Group. WORKSHOPS WORKSHOPS 10am- 6pm. Toshi Reagon black singer and Songwriter from Washington, DC. 8:00 pm Contois $4-$6 Advance $5-$7 Door Sliding scale March 9 Films City Hall 1:00 pm - 5:30pm Contois Auditorium $2.00 re _ .~¥hee_lchair t:a_c_ccssib1c.;ss’-:..*; . vailabie at .» the “Peace, and ..IuSt‘i”c,e” nter, " 186 Cottage St. But'tington;—. V '863~8326.j,Sponsorc’d:. by KWANZA ~ BURLINGTONS .WOM}SN’S; .COUNClL§= WOMEN’S ORGANIZATION AND. Resouxcec. _ ctzwreaz FREED0M,’,’,¥V.BI§MON7 '' _' an .e CENTEZR c — ‘- Schlafly debates ERA from page4 voters support the state ERA. Schlafly, a well-known right wing activist, has for a number of years made her living and her name by opposing equal rights for women. She travels the country telling women to stay home and take care of their husbands and children. According to her, women should not work for money or seek worldly status. Besides earning a great deal of money and establishing a nationwide reputation in the course of her unrelenting campaign against the ERA, Phyllis is married to Fred Schlafly, a millionaire banker and corporate lawyer in Illinois, who also has strong ties to the right wing. In addition to opposing the ERA, Schlafly opposes the civil rights of lesbians and gay men and opposes abortion rights. She ties all these issues together and says that "well-meaning‘ people who support the “vague, general" language of the ERA do not realize what a “Pandora's box of evils" might be opened after the ratification of this amendment. She admits, however, that no matter how an equal rights Lesb1ans meet from page] purpose. Many configurations and suggested. Suggestions included the idea of a loose network of individuals and local groups that works throughout the state on a wide range of projects, or a unified and organized political group that would be active in the legislative arena. Ideas for names included Lesbians of Vermont (LOV's) and Dykes of Vermont (DOV’s). The next meeting is scheduled for Sunday, May 4th, from I to 4 pm at the South Royalton House in South Royalton. Many women will be arriving at ll.30 for brunch at the House, which is enormous, delicious and in the $3 to $5 range. (In the event that the South Royalton House is unavailable on May 4th, the meeting will be on Sunday, June lst). In addition to discussing name, structure and activities, two workshops will take place at the meeting. One will be on organizing for the ERA, and the other will focus on legal issues in our personal lives (wills, insurance and other benefit issues). Come and share your knowledge or learn something new. "We are at the formative stage of something wonderful," said one woman who was at the meeting, "We need lots of ideas and possible activities names, were energy at our next meeting so we may have shape and direction." For more information about previous or upcoming meetings, contact Susan at 234-9589, or Louise at 763~7ll2, or our new liaison, Beth. In the words of one energized lesbian after the meeting, ‘Wow! Sixty lesbians at our first meeting, ‘There ain‘t no stopping us now!" amendment that would benefit women might be worded, she would not support In Burlington’s Memorial Auditorium, Feb. l8, Schlafly debated Sarah Weddington, prominent feminist and lead attorney in Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide. The debate was sponsored by the Student Association’: Speakers Bureau of the University of Vermont, in response to requests from some Vermonters that ‘both sides of the story" be heard. The crowd of more than l,500 in Memorial Auditorium appeared to be overwhelmingly in support of the ERA and opposed to Schlafly. They booed her with some regularity. ‘Ladies Against Women,“ a group of about 50 feminists, parodied Schlafly at every opportunity, gasping in a 'ladylike' fashion whenever Schlafly mentioned sex, abortion, or homosexuality. Schlafly addressed this essentially hostile audience on the basis of ‘reason,’ assuming perhaps that people who oppose her have more intelligence than her supporters. Taking advantage of her opportunity to attack the ERA in Vermont, Schlafly also appeared on a radio talk-show the next morning, presenting “my side of the story" and responding to phone calls from listeners. That night, she again spoke against the ERA in Vermont at the North Avenue Alliance Church in Burlington. On the radio show, she again presented her position as the only ‘reasonable’ one, implying that her only concern is for the welfare of the masses and that she has a mission to let us know what is really good for us, because we're too stupid to understand on her own. At the church that night, she addressed an audience of about l,OO0. most of whom she apparently assumed -- probably correctly -~ to be fundamentalist Christians. She talked a great deal about God and Our Lord being on the side of those who oppose equal rights for women. “God” knows what Schlafly actually believes, but she does know what to say to whom, to try for their support and votes. "God" was not mentioned at Memorial Auditorium or on the radio, perhaps because Schlafly knows that this kind of talk is not likely to influence intelligent. responisble people to vote against the RA. Schlafly pledged during her visit to bring in as much money as possible from both outside and inside Vermont to defeat the state ERA. She did not give her schedule, but we can expect her and other national right wing figures to return. _ Anyone wanting further information and documentation on “what Phyllis and the right wing are really up to" should contact Brenda Adrian, Vermont NOW state coordinator, 20 lntervale Avenue, Apt. #2, Burlington. VT 0540!, 658-2742.