page 4 - Out in the Mountains

A celebration is born

by Leah Wittenberg

"Water won't run
neither will we."

As I recall it, I was eating dinner
with Laurie Larsun and Lucy Gluck at
their Monroe Street apartment one
evening in April or May of l983 when
in the course of conversation it became
strikingly obvious that Burlington ought
to have its own Lesbian and Gay Pride
Day -- that we never celebrated
ourselves as queers publicly in
Burlington, although we did march and
demonstrate for every other radical and
progressive cause. Right then and there
we set a date for the First Vermont
Lesbian and Gay Pride Day, assigned
some immediate priorities, and finished
dinner.

I love this amazing way that
politics can work here in Vermont -- to
move from an idea, a wish, a need, to
an effective action; to start at the
kitchen table, move out into the streets,
and end up back at the kitchen table
again (which is where I am right now).

Battle against

COILIIENTARY by Warren T-

In ancient times a stigma was a
branded mark burnt or cut into the
flesh of slaves and prisoners as a
permanent identification mark. In
more recent times it has been an
attitude, belief, strategy or a
promulgation used to detract from the
character and reputation of any
individual or group. It is a mark of
infamy, disgrace, a blemish on one’s
character or a blot on one's good name.
It is a way to gain some measure of
social control over a person, people or a
people.

In some situations as in the use of
gossip as a political strategy,
stigmatizing can be used to ruin
another person’s reputation to gain
some apparent social advantage. Such
stigmatization can be malicious and
vicious to the individuals -.,,i,nvolved and
may be Machivellian in nature. In
these situations the individual may
fight back and sometimes win over the
stigmatist. This form of stigmatization
is often seen in power struggles on the
job and in the political arena. The
Watergate scandal is an example of
using stigma to gain an unfair
advantage over political candidates. It
was the strategy of Tricky Dick to use
stigmas to steal power away from his
opponent and to gain power over the
people through deception. These
situations are mild compared to the
effect of stigmatizations promulgated on
the basis of belief.

The word promulgate means to
spread the word, to publish or make
known officially as in a decree or
church dogma. In this way stigmatists
can provoke the passage of laws that
favor their bias or bigotry and cause
the members of the stigmatized group

straight and

Truly grassroots.

Now as we approach our fourth
Pride Day (already a tradition), I
remember what it was like to be
planning a celebration and not know if
anyone was coming. Many of us had
marched in N.Y.C., Boston, and San
Francisco, anonymous in crowds of tens
of thousands. We had no idea how
many would march in Burlington or
what the public reaction would be, or
what shock waves being so out, so
visible, would have on our lives. This
was our first coming out, and like most
coming outs was filled with intense
fears and excitement, and a lot of
reactions both negative and positive.

Our first negative reaction was
from the police department who said no
to a street permit for the march. It
was hard to envision celebrating with
pride on the sidewalks, and as it
turned out, the police had no right to
refuse us a permit. With help from the
city attorney we were offered a verbal

igotry

.to line in fear and terror or with guilt.

The Moral Majority and other religious
conservatives want to deal with
abortion in this way. It has been their
way in the past.

The ultimate effect of such group
stigmatization is the loss of franchise.
People in this position lose any recourse
in the courts of the land for any
crimes committed agains them. The
Jews were a disenfranchised minority
in Europe for centuries. It was open
season on them. Anyone could rob,
beat or murder a Jew with impunity.
The same had been true for the Black
citizens of this country for one
hundred years since their enslavement
ended. They are not yet fully
franchised. Women have been
disenfranchised for centuries and have
been the slaves of men until they
began to make changes in this century.

Homosexuals, except when married or
tightly closeted, have been a
disenfranchised group for centuries, and
when they were caught outside the
closets were robbed, beaten or murdered
with impunity and if they were
suspected, they were subject to unfair
discrimination. Today their franchise
is only partially acknowledged as
evinced by the way the courts act on
gay rights cases.

It makes me feel angry and sad
when I hear any person from any
group, that is or has been
disenfranchised, stigmatizing anyone. We
shall be much more successful in the
battle for civil rights, I believe, by
taking a stand against all
stigmatizations and hence against the
minimizing of all people's rights and
dignity. The battle against bigotry is
not best served by bigots.

go-ahead but refused written P¢|'mi55i°“

—- an official police escort, but nothing
in writing.

In 1983, the Burlington Board of
Aldermen officially proclaimed June 25
Lesbian and Gay Pride Day. This was
an incredible precedent for Burlington,
and it felt like the times were really
changing. Sadly, even with some
wonderful support, the aldermen in the
following years have not stuck with
this brave example, preferring to hem
and haw and proclaim their support for
our civil rights but not to encourage
our celebration of pride. Vermont
lesbians and gay men should remember
with the election for governor upcoming
that Bernie Sanders did not in that
first year or in any year following
come out in support of our celebration.

What emerged in the organizing of
this event were many firsts for the
Burlington area. While women did all
of the work in the early stages of
planning, several men later joined the
organizing group. This was the first
time outside of the UVM Gay Student
Union that I'd seen gay men involved
politically. I believe this was the spark
for what has become a visible and
active involvement by men in local gay
politics, e.g. Vermonters for Lesbian
and Gay Rights, current Lesbian and
Gay Pride organizing, and "Out in the
Mountains."

In 1983 we asked for and received
support in numbers from the straight
community. This support felt critical to
our lives and our safety. So it will
again this year as AIDS and the ERA
become banners the right wing waves
as reasons to oppress us. We who would
not choose any other way, who will not
turn back, need to feel the active
support of members of the progressive
political community who pledge their
resistance so fervently in solidarity
with struggles many miles from their
own homes.

The first Lesbian and Gay Pride
Day was a celebration and it was this
aspect of the day, complete with two
colors of purple balloons, which set the
tone for the following years. As queers
we have plenty of confrontation in our
lives, facing daily our internal and
external closets, but celebration -- ah,
that one day in 365 of being completely
out -- that’s pain, and pleasure, and
pride and hope.

There is no turning back. Nostalgia
has very little to offer queers. This
year let's step out even of our own
traditions, celebrate as never before,
turn it around, turn it over, turn it
inside out.

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Best wishes go to Harry Russell
and Brian Fisher who will be
celebrating their fourth anniversary on
June 21.

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