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

 
 

Volume Vlll,. Number 9

December 1993

Democrats Appoint

Record Numbers to Party Positions

The Democratic National Committee,
meeting in Washington, D.C. October 9th,
elected a record number of openly lesbian
and gay Democrats to high party posi-
tions, including the first openly lesbian or
gay person to serve on a major national
party’s executive committee.

Jean O’Lea1y, a prominent Los Angeles
lesbian activist, was named to the party’s
executive council by national Chair David
Wilhelm. In addition, the Committee ap-
proved the selection of two additional les-
bian/gay at-large appointments to the par-
ty’s national committee. Nadine Smith, a
lesbian from Tampa, FL who served as
co—chair of the March on Washington and
who is currently heading the campaign to
defeat next year’s anti—gay referendum in
Florida, and New York activist Fred

Hochberg, were named to join the five
already serving openly gay committee
members. -

The party also named members of three
standing committees, and gay men were
named to the two most important ones.
Vermonter Terje Anderson was named
to the Resolutions Committee and
Minnesota Democratic State Chair Rick
Stafford to the Rules Committee.

“I think these appointments are just one
more piece of proof that the Democratic
Party is committed to lesbian and gay in-
clusion in the political process,” said An-
derson. “While the Republican National
Committee has come under the control
of the Christian Coalition and their far
right ideas, lesbians and gay men are ful-
ly accepted as part of the Democratic
Party family.” V

Governor Meets

With Democratic Party Activists

Carrie Coy

Governor Howard Dean pledged to
support domestic partner benefits for
state employees and oppose any
legislation that prohibits same—sex
couples from adopting children at a
recent meeting with a group of gay and
lesbian activists.

The. governor met for over an hour with
twelve members of the Vermont
Democratic Party to discuss gay, lesbian
and. bisexual concerns at Party Chair
Maida Townsend's home on November
7th. Addressing issues identified at a
previous meeting of the group, the
governor said he expected little political
backlash for his position on domestic
partner benefits. “I think we can make
some big major leap progress as long as

I’ve got your support [to extend benefits
to unmarried heterosexual couples],”
Governor Dean said. “It irks me that
health care benefits can only be gained
by getting married.” He encouraged the
state employee’s union, VSEA, to put
the issue on the table in upcoming
contract negotiations and said he
believed benefits would in place by July
1, 1994.

The governor's support for legal
recognition of same—sex relationships
was less firm. “It’s a political
minefield,” Dean said, “and I haven’t
given it a lot of philosophical thought.
Asking what the gay community meant
by "recognition”, Dean said “if it’s a
Continued on page 16

Ballot Losses in
Three States

Terje Anderson

Voters in three cities, including two in
New England, voted against lesbian and
gay equal rights in referenda held No-
vember 2nd. The defeats in Portsmouth,

.NH, Lewiston, Maine, and Cincinnati,

Ohio raise serious concerns about next

_year’s elections, when radical right wing

groups are expected to place anti—gay in-
itiatives on as many as 13 state ballots.

— Each of this year’s elections was slightly

different.

In Cincinnati, a traditionally Republican
city, 62% of voters supported a measure
repealing civil rights Protections passsed
earlier by the City Council. The cam-
paign was the most expensive and heated
of any this year, as anti—gay groups mod-
eled their strategy on previous referenda
in Colorado, Oregon and Tampa, Flor-
ida. Several groups, including the Amer-
ican Library Association, have already
announced their plans to cancel confer-
ences scheduled for the city.

Although advocates had hoped that Le—'

wiston would provide a victory, voters
there repealed that city’s civil rights
measure by a 2-1 margin. Initial op-
timism was based on last year’s ref-
erendum victory in Protland, Maine’,s
largest city, and the active support of
much of Lewiston’s straight lead-
ership. Lewiston’s police chief, Laur-
ent Gilbert, campaigned vigourously
against repeal, vividly recounting the
gaybashing of his nephew, Despit such
support, traditionally conservative vot-
ers in this heavily Catholic and French-
Canadian, declining industrial town,
voted against equal rights.

After Portsmouth’s City Council ear-

lier this year refused to pass a city law
prohibiting discrimination in city em-

Continued on Page 3