VERMONT'S NEWSPAPER FOR LESBIANS, GAY MEN, AND BISEXUALS

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Volume VIII, Number 6 - _

September 1993

Vermont Supreme Cour
Upholds Hate Crime Law

In a long—awaited ruling, the Vermont Supreme Court rejected a constitutional challenge
to Vermont’s hate crimes law brought by a man convicted of assaulting a gay man near
a Burlington, Vermont gay bar in 1990. The Court’s July 1st ruling held that Vermont’s
law — which enhances penalties for people convicted of committing crimes motivated by
a victim’s actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, age, Vet-
eran status, handicap, or sexual orientation, does not violate a defendant’s First Amend-
ment right to free expression.

The Court followed the United‘ States Supreme Court’s recent decision in Wisconsin v.
Mitchell upholding Wisconsin’s penalty enhancement statute against similar constitu-
tional challenges. Like the U.S. Supreme Court in Mitchell, the Vermont Court held that
the law, passed by Vermont’s legislature to “protect the right of every person to enjoy
the public peace” did not unconstitutionally chill a defendant’s ability to express big-
oted thoughts. Rather, the Vermont Court recognized that the penalty enhancement stat-
ute aimed to prohibit conduct not protected by the First Amendment.

In addition, the Court rejected the defendant’s argument that the statute privileged some
people over others by noting that the statute protects all victims targeted for hate-
motivated crimes regardless of whether they are minority or majority members of a pro-
tected class.

“The Court’s ruling underscores the basic truth that bias-motivated violence against
lesbians, gay men, and others harms an entire society,” commented Lambda Staff At-
torney Suzanne Goldberg who, along with New York attorney Theodore R. Bohn,
filed Lambda’s amicus brief in the case. “For legislators, the Court’s ruling is an af-
firmation that by condemning hate-motivated violence they are acting properly to en-
hance social welfare,” Goldberg added.

The Vermont law is one of forty-six similar penalty enhancement statutes that have
been adopted by states around the country. V

Ben & Jerry’s Grants to Gay Groups

Ben & Jerry’s announced four lesbian and gay groups among recipients of its grant mak-
ing branch this summer. Among other grant recipients were AIDS service organizations,
including the Brattleboro Area AIDS Project, and the National Breast Cancer Coalition.

Outright VT, serving gay and lesbians youth in Vermont, received $5,000 for its ouueach
Programs to schools and the development of a booklet entitled Coming Out, Coming
Home. Other gay groups receiving grants were the African American Gay and Lesbian
Studies in Los Angeles, the Lesbian Community Education Project of Portland, OR and
the Santa Cruz Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Center.

The Schoolhouse, an orgainzation working to “infuse a Multicultural/anti-bias perspective
into Vennont school curriculums” also received a grant of $10,000. V

M

Vermont Scouts
May Lose Funding

Carol

The United Way of Upper Valley, based in
Lebanon, NH, funds agencies in Vermont
as well as New Hampshire. It has been in
the spotlight recently because of the con-
troversy surrounding its funding of the
Green Mountain Council, the Vermont
Chapter of the Boy Scouts of America. The

source of the controversy s the Green '

Mountain Council’s refusal to admit les-
bians and gays, and the fact that the Upper
Valley United Way funded the organiza-
tion this year in the amount of $10,500.

John G. Crane, a gay man who grew up
in St. Johnsbury and now lives in West
Hartford, told OITM that the Boy Scout
tradition runs deep in the Crane family.
He and his four brothers all became Ea-
gle Scouts in the Green Mountain Coun-
cil, which was an important part of their
lives. The Council’s open discrimination
against homosexuals was for Crane, “one
of several nails that kept the closet door
shut,” for a time.

Dartmouth College, like many organiza-
tions, offers to its employees the option
of contribution to the United Way in the
form of payroll deduction. The college,
which funds an office and part time staff
person for that effort, became involved
in the United Way issue last fall. In an
effort to pry loose one of those nails
from the closet door, John Crane, Ad-
ministrative Services Librarian, and Su-
san Ackerman, Assistant Professor of re-
ligion, became co-convenors of the
Coalition for Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual
Concerns at Dartmouth College. The C0-
alition had four main concerns:

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