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Out in the Mountains

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

 

Volume IX, Number 1

March, 1994

BACK TO THE ROOTS: U. , -,_-__._,N_
Burlington City Councilor Donna Bailey “ “"‘”Ffé"alth Awards
Moving, But Not Leaving

Fred Kuhr

“Move over Howard Dean,” is how
openly lesbian Burlington City Council-
or Donna Bailey jokingly sums up her
next political move. She stunned mem-
bers of her party, the Progressive Co-
alition, the press, and gays and lesbians
around the state when she announced on
January 25 that she would not be seeking
a second term as representative from
Burlington’s second ward. Instead, she
is moving to Lincoln with someone she
refers to only as her “sweetheart”.

In response to Burlington Free Press re-
porter Sam Hemingway, who described
her decision not run as “abrupt”, Bailey
responded, “It’s a shock within the party
and within the city, but I don’t feel it
was abrupt in my personal life.” She ex-
plained in a recent phone interview that
in order to fulfill the duties of a city
councilor and perform them well, “you
give up a lot of your own time...I don’t
want to burn out.”

Although many fear that this move sig-
nals her desire to end her political career,
she responded, “Politics are in my
blood...I’m not leaving politics.” She

VT Department of

HIV/AIDS Prevention

MAR 3 1994Grants to Community

also said that she is “sti "ddEi"cated~.t”6 tllfifi
Progressive movement.
the Progressives.”

Bailey, now 27, moved to Burlington to
attend the University of Vermont when
she was 18. Growing up as what she
calls a “military brat”, she did‘ not have
any ‘‘nostalgia“ for either the Democrat
or Republican Party. She stated that she
was inspired by the work of former Bur-
lington mayor, Bernie Sanders, who
helped form the Progressive Coalition in
the early 1980’s. She said he “changed
the tone of politics in Burlington...(by)
involving the poor, the minorities, the
disenfranchised.” This, of course, in-
cluded issues pertaining to lesbians and
gay men. Bailey stated that those issues
were and are “always talked about, not
hidden.” She said that an acceptance ex-
ists within her party that “those issues
are real and need to be heard.” The Pro-
gressive Coalition “ties them all togeth-

9”

er, hence the word ‘coalition .

In terms of Bailey’s next move polit-
ically, she wants to “spend a lot of time
on gay/lesbian/bisexual issues and

Continued on page 10

  

ingot‘ 

 

Qr anizations

AIDS Program of the Vermont De-
partment of Health has awarded
$160,000 in 1994 HIV/AIDS prevention
grants to 19 different community—based
organizations around the state. These
grants, targeted at communities and in-
dividuals at increased risk of infection
and hard to reach populations, represent
the largest amount ever awarded through
the AIDS program. Said Terje Anderson,
AIDS Program Chief for the Health De-
partment, “We recognize that effective
education needs to be done at the com-
munity level, by those who know the
community best. That is why we’re
strengthening our commitment to fund-
ing for grassroots prevention efforts.”

Of the 19 awards, four grants totaling I

$66,000 specifically target gay and bi-
sexual men. The grant is $33,000 for the
Vermont C.A.R.E.S. Men’s Health Pro-
ject, a series of activities designed to
reach gay and bisexual men in the four
counties the organization serves, with a
special emphasis on the underserved ar-
eas outside of Chittenden County (Addi-
son, Rutland and Washington Counties).
Also receiving funding were: Outright
Vermont ($15,000) for statewide activ-
ities for gay, bisexual and questioning
youth; the Brattleboro Area AIDS Pro-
ject ($13,000) for outreach efforts for
men who have sex with men in Wind-
ham County; and the AIDS Community

Awareness Project of St. Johnsbury, .

whichreceives $5,000 for a workshop
series for gay/bisexual men in the North-

east Kingdom.

Continued on page 4