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Civil Disobedience at Supreme Court

At least ten Vermonters were arrested
on October 13th during the civil
disobedience protest at the Supreme Court,
according to information released by the
March on Washington organization.

A dozen or so of the protesters who
pleaded "not guilty" after being arrested
during the civil disobedience action at the
Supreme Court on October 13th are likely
to go on trial this month in Washington,
D.C.

The event with possibly the most
far-reaching consequences of the entire
March weekend happened after most
Vermonters had already gone home. As
was widely reported in the mainstream press,
between 650 and 850 lesbians, gay men and

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their supporters were arrested on October
13th. The action was intended to protest the
Court’s decision upholding state sodomy laws

‘and to demand justice for gays and lesbians

everywhere.

Five thousand people took part in the
disobedience action. Approximately half of
those arrested were released on the day of
the action after posting $100 bail. Most of
the remaining protestors refused to pay the
collateral and pleaded guilty to "failure to
quit" protesting after the police ordered
them to leave. The sentence handed down
to those who pleaded guilty was a fine of
$50 or three days in jail. Approximately 50
protestors opted for the three-days in jail
sentence and were released at 3 a.m. on
October 15.

Two of the arrested were David
Hylander and Ahdih Fostre, both of Hyde
Park, Vermont. They were released at
midnight on October 13th after paying fines
of $60 and $50. Hylander, who has
participated in various Central America and
anti-nuclear protests, said he hoped the
action would spur activists from other
movements to become more_ involved.

Charges of abuse by police abound.
According to demonstration organizer Jessica
Shubow, one person with AIDS was forced
to lick his medication off the floor, three
people suffered nerve damage to their hands
because of excessively tight handcuffs and
one man with AIDS was dragged to a bus
and dropped three times. In addition,
people arrested were not given food by
authorities for at least 18 hours, said
Shubow.

Terry Sutton, a man with AIDS from
San Francisco, is attempting to document

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abuse, possibly for a class action suit.
Sutton has collected stories about a deaf
woman who was tightly handcuffed for
nearly four hours, making it impossible for
her to communicate with anyone -- she fears
nerve damage to her hands; 42 women who
were held overnight in a large room with
only one bench, toilets and showers in it --
many slept in the showers; lesbians and gay
men who were threatened by police with
rape and violence; and a woman who was
having difficulty breathing who was denied a
respirator.

The arraignment process was not
completed until 10 p.m. on October 14.
Many observers were brought ,to tears as
protestors told judges the reasons for their
actions at the Supreme Court. "I lost
custody of my children ten years ago
because it is a crime to be a lesbian," said
lesbian activist Minnie Bruce Pratt.
"Women are losing custody rights because of
the Hardwick decision [which upheld
Georgia's anti-sodomy law], I want the
Supreme Court decision reversed and [for all
of us to be] considered full human beings
without regard to who we love."

While many demonstrators hoped to
serve time doing community service instead
of paying a fine, only one person was
successful in receiving an alternative
sentence. Instead of giving money to the
court system, Terry Sutton will make a $50
check out to Open Hand, a San Francisco
organization that provides meals for persons
with AIDS. According to Sutton, he told a
judge how poorly people had been treated
by the police, he implored her to allow him
to give the money to Open Hand as a
symbol of her belief that lesbian and gay
men have the right to love as they choose.