Out in the Mountains

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“How dare you discriminate against
us?” thundered Scondras. He proceeded to
engage in a fist-shaking verbal confronta-
tion with forrner House Speaker Thomas
McGee (D-Lynn) who leaned over a bal-
cony rail screaming, “Gay rights never!”
McGee had filed legislation earlier this
year proposing an investigation of funding
for an explicit safer sex brochure distrib-
uted by the AIDS Action Committee.

Arline Isaacson, co-chair of the Mass.
Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus, first
drew boos and hisses, apparently in re-
sponse to her earlier public statements criti-
cizing direct political activism, but she
soon swayed much of the crowd with
stormy rhetoric.

“I told the senators,” Isaacson shouted,
“that these people, you and me, have every
damn right to be here, every damn right to
be angry, every damn right to demand our
rights! They want us to go away but we
won’t go away..We’11 be back again and
again...”

Isaacson said the gay rights bill has
already been reintroduced into the 1988
legislative session which began on Jan. 6.
Gay rights supporters are already strate-

gizing about how to pass the bill this year.
Continued on a e 15

   

El $20 Individual
Name

D3330 Joint

Easy Lobbying Suggestions

Here are some facts that have been com-
piled by The Vermont Statewide Coalition
of Lesbians and Gay Men (The Coalition)
to help you talk to your legislator about
S.278.

-Discrimination is a problem in Ver-
mont. The point is not whether one’s sexual
or affectional orientation is right, but
whether discrimination is tolerable! No
person should be denied a job, a home, an
education, or the use of a public place
because of her or his sexual orientation.

-This bill does not advocate homosexu-
ality.
-Over 90% of all sexual offenses in-
volving children are committed by adult
male heterosexuals. There are laws, regula-
tions and rules that cover misconduct by all
persons, homosexual or heterosexual, in-
cluding criminal laws against child moles-
tation. This bill would not change any such
laws.

-Defending this bill is not a political
liability. No legislator who has supported
civil rights for lesbians and gay men has
been defeated on this ground alone. In
1983, the Wisconsin State Assembly
passed such a bill. No one who voted for it

Support the Organization that Supports Your Freedom 1

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AMERICAN CIVIL LIBEHTIES UNION

was defeated for re-election. Two assem
blymen who opposed it WERE defeated.

-Verrnont has a long tradition of pro
tecting equality. It constitutionally prohib
ited slavery before any other state. On
quest is no different from the battle agaim
ignorance and bigotry that blacks foughti
the south.

-Remember: most people do not kIl0l
that rights for lesbians and gay men ill
unprotected. Contact your senator (see th
list of legislators in this issue.) Ask yo:
friends, family, co-workers to call or writ
their senators. Write letters to the editorr
your local newspaper in support of the bil
Ask your church, labor, social, profer
sional, or charitable group to join the grow
ing list of Vermont organizations that sup
port lesbian and gay civil rights.

-For a complete list of organization
that support lesbian and gay rights in Va
mont and nationally, and for more fun fail
to know and tell, send for a fact sheet. Mi
to:

The Vermont Statewide Coalition of

Lesbians and Gay Men (The Coalition

P.O. Box 1125

Montpelier, VT 05602

 
 

 
  
   

 

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