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Volume V, Number 8

 Out in the Mountm'1«t.s”}

VERMONT'S NEWSPAPER FOR LESBIANS, GAY MEN,   Ali..S

DEC 6 "

   
   

  

Deeember..1990

Squires Wins Bid for Legislature

Vermont election results were a mixed
bag for the gay/lesbian/bisexual commu-
nity, as well as for the rest of the state. As
Keith Goslant, one of the liaisons to the
Governor for the Coalition of Lesbians and
Gay Men, pointed out, the fact that progres-
sive and conservative candidates were
elected into major offices at the same time
gave the Vermont elections an almost
"schizophrenic" quality.

Of greatest interest to the g/l/b com-
munity were the bids of two openly gay
candidates for office: Ron Squires of Wind-
ham County for a spot in the State House of
Representatives, and Howard Russell of

Chittenden County for a State Senate seat.

Squires, who has also served for five
years as the Vice-Chair of Vermont's
Democratic Party, claimed victory in his
race, turning the tables on his opponent,
who had defeated Squires in the same race
in 1976. Squires will now resume office in
Montpelier with the added honor of being
the first openly gay legislator in the State
House.

Of his victory, Squires told OITM, "It's
going to be exciting. Ican jump from debat-
ing growth hormones for cows and bridge
construction in the morning to discussing
on a first-hand basis gay rights and the
needs of the health department to fight HIV
infection."

Squires commented on the effects his
election will have on the political scene in
Vermont, stating, "We will force some
legislators who may have a stereotyped
image of what it is to be gay or lesbian to
take a second look at that perception or the
assumptions they have." As far as legisla-
tion itself is concerned, Squires feels that
"now that there's an openly gay person in
the legislature, it will be easier to hold state
agencies accountable, and at least to ex-
plain why they are or are not putting money
into life and death problems like AIDS or
HIV infection."

_ "What I'd really like to do," Squires
Said. "and what Out in the Mountains can

do, is to be sure to let people know that if
they have concerns or questions or if they
are getting the runaround from state agen-
cies, that I be viewed as a resoure for the
community."

In his position as Vice-Chair of the
state Democratic party, Squires also distin-
guishes himself as the highest-ranking
openly gay official in the Democratic party
nationwide. He has also served in his
hometown as a Justice of the Peace and
Chairman of the Guilford Bicentennial
Committee.

Despite a very strong and positive
campaign, Howard Russell came in sev-
enth in his bid for State Senate, with 600
votes separating him and the sixth place
fmisher, who will go on to the Senate.

RusseH's campaign, which included
Burlington appearances by noted author
Rite Mae Brown and folksinger Fred
Small, did have the effect of setting a new

record for spending in a legislative cam-

paign. Of the $26,500 spent, Russell notes, P

none was received from political action
committees. Nearly all of the funds came
from the 1300 people who financially as-
sisted his campaign, proof of the strong
support solicited by his grass-roots strate-
gies.

In the gubematorial race, Peter Welch
came closer than anyone had anticipated in
his race against the expected winner, Rich-
ard Snelling. Snelling, a Republican, had
not responded to the pre-election survey
distributed by the Vermont Coalition of
Lesbians and Gay Men on issues of concern
to the g/1/b community. Howard Dean, who
easily won reelection to the post of Lieuten-
ant Governor, did respond to the survey in
a generally positive way.

Perhaps the most noteworthy election
result, certainly for the national audience,
(continued on page 13)

Sanders Speaks to Gay Community

by Hugh Coyle

Prior to his history-making election to
the United States House of Representatives
on Election Day, Bernie Sanders met with
members of SAM (Social Alternatives for
Men) at the Coolidge Hotel in White River
Junction on the night of October 23, 1990.
Though Sanders arrived an hour late for the
gathering (he had been speaking to another
group earlier in the evening in Royalton),
he was quick to get down to business and
speak in honest and direct terms to the
gathering of men. (No women were pres-
ent, though several lesbian groups from the
area had been invited to attend and public
announcements had been made.)

Sanders began the meeting with a brief
campaign pitch, once more emphasizing
that in running for election, he was at1empt-
ing to achieve something that hadn't been
done in the United States since the 1930's:
to be a member of the Congress from out-
side of the two-party system. Sanders

stated that the main goal of his entire cam-
paign was "taking on the two-party sys-
tem."

"The most important issue of this
campaign," Sanders said, "is that the
American people are giving up on the po-
litical process. In this country 2/3 of the
people don't vote; poor people don't vote.
Nothing is going to happen in tenns of
changing the priorities of this
country. ..until we revitalize the democracy
and say to the people ‘Hey, this is your
country. You gotta fight back."'

One of the issues which Sanders felt
strongly about fighting for was national
health care. He described the present sys-
tem in the United States in these terms:
"What you have is a health care system
which is designed not to provide quality
health care at the least possible cost, but to
make as much money as it can. There's no
controlling mechanism which says...you
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