Another Year, Another Hearing

by Dot

By 7pm on Tuesday April 1 1, over 600
people had arrived at the State House
inMontpelier. They came from all over
Vermont to attend the 3rd annual public
hearing on the possible inclusion of “sexual
orientation” in existing civil rights legisla-
tion.

Some had come to testify. Some had
come to watch. Nine of the Judiciary
Committee’s eleven members attended:
Amy Davenport, Chair (D-Montpelier),
Robert Paolini, Vice Chair (D-Waterbury),
Pamela Crispe (R-Brattleboro), George
Dunsmore (R-Georgia), Sally Fox (D-
Essex Junction), Micque Glitman (D-
Burlington), Ruth Stokes (R-Williston),
Elmer Faris (R-Bamet), Richard Westrnan
(R—Cambridge).

The well of the House was jammed
with people. Extra chairs were brought in
and scores of people sat on the floor,
squeezing in behind the circular rows of
seats. The crowd far exceeded the room
capacity of 350 people. Dozens of people
flowed into the hallway where they could
not see but they listened through a speaker
system.

The crowd was tense. Supporters of
H211 wore pins with pink triangles
stating,"Support the Rights of All Vermon-
ters.” The oponents had made 3" round
stickers, proclaiming simply, “PRO FAM-
ILY.” Supporters of the bill were able to get
some of the stickers. Many Gays then wore
the stickers next to theirpins throughout the
evening.

Why all the fuss? Davenport said, “It
is not a very complicated bill.” She de-
scribed the two sides of the argument as
either believing that gays represent a mi-
nority group, needing the special protec-
tion of civil rights legislation, or not.

This fundamental issue attracted a
fundamentalist crowd to wage a holy war
against homosexuals. By 7:15 the gavel
struck and the 5-1/2 hour march of altemat-
ing pro-con 2-minute testimony, began.

The room was oppressively hot for the
first few hours. By 8:30, Davenport called
a break, informing thecrowd that we had a
long evening ahead of us since we were
only 3/4 of the way down the 1st of 5 pages.

Several times eruptions of applause or
laughter from the crowd interrupted the
hearing. Each time, Davenport rapped her
gavel and reminded the crowd that the hear-
ing wouldbe called if it was not allowed to
proceed in an orderly fashion.

As time passed the room emptied out

8

unaware that this phrase was added to the

a bit more until by midnight only 100 or so
remained.

At 1:45, the last testimony had been
delivered, the gavel fell one last time, and
the handful exhausted people left could go
home. The remaining Gays left knowing
that the last three people testified my the
bill.

Davenport believes the hearings are
important. When asked to comment on the
size of the hearing, she said, “I think the size
 reflects the importance of this bill. I think
it’s an issue that the legislature has to deal
with.”

She acknowledged that the hearings
are a painful process, saying, “It can’t be
easy to be a homosexual and hear the kinds
of things that people say. “But she insisted
that the hearings are an important public
education process and they are an essential
exercise of First Amendment rights. She
said, “ a bill that people feel this strongly
about cannot be dealt with without giving
people a chance to say what their feelings
are.”She acknowledged that “some testi-
mony ends up not addressing the bill and
this is not productive, but the first amend-
ment right to free speech is what a public
hearing is all about.”

When asked to comment on Ronnie
Bancroft, who has been followed, threat-
ened and her house has been burglarized
since the hearing, she said simply that the
committee is aware of it and will be follow-
ing the investigation.

Davenport a veteran of all three hear-
ings was on the Judiciary Committee in
1987, the 1st year the bill was introduced.
She feels the bill has made progress, that
house membersfeel it is important to get it
to the floor, and that it will get more votes
this year than it would have in the previous
two years. Sheended though, by acknowl-
edging, “It’s a long, slow process.”

The committee held a closed hearing
with testimony from representatives of the
business community that might be effected
by this bill on Wednesday, April 19. Soon
after, they could be voting on whether or
not to send the bill to the house floor for a
vote.

Many of the testimonies against the
bill were the same scriptual readings and
misinterpretations of the story of Sodom.
Homosexual behavior was called “sterile
activity in terms of positive biology.” Gays
were called immoral, decadent, perverse.
One fervent historian reminded usthat we
are “One Nation Under God” obviously-

pledge during the red scare of the 50's.

One person angrily stated that his
“taxdollars were being wasted on such
foolishness, you people (the legislators)
should get back to the business of rimning
this State.”Several people told lmpag.
sioned stories about nieces who were me
lested by homosexuals. Still other called
Gay lifestyle one that is ”centered around
unrestrained lust,” or cited statistics stating
that Gay men have up to 20 sexual partners
per night and up to 200 in their life time.

The two most remarkable testimonies
against the bill were from a Professor ofA-
natomy from Norwich University and an
owner of a bed and breakfast. The profes-
sor coughed and sputtered over the precise
tenns for the tissues present in the vagina,
stratified squemous epithelium, vs simple
columnar epithelium and how the rectum
unlike thevagina is easily abraded, expos-
ing to infection. After totally embarassing
himself, he exploded, “ A God who is indif-
ferent would not have made us that way.”
Lauri Larsen, who followed him was in-
spired to say, “I’m worried too about the
people who are teaching in ourschools.”
The bed and breakfast owner was terribly
afraid that his wife and daughter changing
the sheets would catch some deadly disease
if he was not pennitted to discriminate
against Gay men as guests in his business, M

Some especially telling one-liners fol- 1
low: .

‘‘I do not support irrational bigotry.”

“Nazis and fascists, indeed many I
ofHitler’s top offrcers were homosexuals.
notChristians.” i

“If I am wrong, I go in the ground.
Ifyou’re wrong, you go to Hell.” _

After Laurie Larsen ended her tesI1- ‘
mony with “Heterosexuality is a learned
behavior and can be helped,” applause and
laughter erupted. Davenport rapped ll?
gavel and reminded the crowd of her previ-
ous warning. _ I

As in past years the Gay communlll» .
their parents and friends produced a W169 ]
variety of testimony that they could all be
proud of.

Gerry Martinez explained that Gals
areone of three groups currently not pr‘? 1
tectedbythe law from cases of domestic 1
abuse. ‘

Keith Goslant spoke of the verbal l
harassment and physical abuse he has W‘
subjected to and the personal strenglll l,'°
feels from being silent no longer. 53$ ,
“If need be I’ll come back and sayl ‘

(Co  l