VERMONT'S NEWSPAPER FOR LESBIANS, GAY MEN,

Volume V, Number 7

   

  

ND BISEXUALS
 -— ‘ Wéihber;199o

Some people were content to go with
the flow, stand in the lines, and be led along
through the Barre Auditorium, where the
Philip Morris Company began its national
tour of the Bill of Rights. Others assembled
outside to exercise those rights in a manner
perhaps more befitting the documents than
the multi-media blitz offered up by the
sponsor of the tour.

Members of ACT UP (the AIDS Coa-
lition To Unleash Power) and the Vermont
Coalition of Lesbians and Gay Men were
joined by representatives from the Ver-
mont Rainbow Coalition, the Vermont
AIDS Council, the Vermont Consumers’
Campaign for Health, the Vermont chapter
of the American Heart Association, and the
Vermont chapter of the National Lawyers‘
Guild in condemning the Philip Morris
Company for its hypocritical presentation
of the historical document.

Protest in Barre

The protest at the Bill of Rights exhib-
its continues a long-standing expression of
disapproval being voiced by the gay and
lesbian community. Most notable in the
ongoing denunciation of Philip Morris are
the boycotts against Marlboro cigarettes
and Miller beer, both of which are owned
and marketed by the company.

Philip Morris is one of the largest cor-
porate sponsors of Senator Jesse Helms (R-
NC), whose actions in the Senate have run
contrary to the messages contained in the
Bill of Rights. Helms has sought to
strengthen government censorship in the
arts, with gay and lesbian works as his
prime target. He has also voiced strong
opinions against funding for AIDS, the
national Hate Crimes act, and the Ameri-
cans with Disabilities act.

Representatives of Philip Morris claim
that the company does not wholeheartedly

Celebrating the Rhythm

 

Edwina Lee Tyler and A Piece of the World (Pat Hall-Smith, Roberta J . Stokes, and
Linda Thomas Jones) energized the crowd at the Coming Out Day Celebration
concert in Montpelier on October 13. 1990. (Photo courtesy of Pone Mandel)

1

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‘*  n’"la"f"sigrii’fié‘,’anlt‘-c'<3‘ntribt"i‘tor to AIDS-
related research (which, giventhat ambigu-
ous designation, could mean a great num-
ber of things not directly involving the
virus itself).

Regardless of its own stated position,
the company has donated $175,000 to
memorialize Jesse Helms with the con-
struction of the Jesse Helms Citizenship
Center.

In a presentation prior to the opening
of the Bill of Rights exhibit, Keith Goslant,
the Co-liaison to the Governor for the
Vermont Coalition of Lesbians and Gay
Men, referred to the tour as a
"smokescreen" aimed at manufacturing a
positive image for the Philip Morris com-
pany. Other groups drew attention to the
company's heavy lobbying for the tobacco
industry, contrasting that with the nation-
wide figures for the number of deaths
caused each year by smoking.

Though none of the groups was op-
posed to the Bill of Rights tour itself, public
perception fixated on that aspect of the
protests, drawing heavy criticism from
spectators at the opening day celebration on
Wednesday, October 10. Hecklers shouted
homophobic insults at the members of ACT
UP protesting outside the Barre Audito-
rium, while other bystanders voiced their
beliefs that a protest was unwarranted.

Still, the original incentive behind the
protest was to attract attention and stimu-
late discussion, as well as to educate people
about the restrictions of rights being en-
dorsed by Philip Morris's support of Jesse
Helms.

As the Bill of Rights guarantees free-
dom of assembly and freedom of speech,
the opening of the Bill of Rights tour pre-
sented a symbolic opportunity to exercise
those very freedoms, and in so doing re-
mind the public that corporations cannot
and should not be allowed to hide behind
media campaigns such as the Bill of Rights
tour.

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tgé printed on recycled paper