Out in the Mountains

OITM Roundu :

State, National an

compiled by Kip Roberson

Vermont CARES
Announces Program
Expansion

BURLINGTON -- The Men’s Health
Project is a program funded by the VT
Department of Health to stop the spread of
HIV infection among men who have sex
with other men (MSM). Vermont CARES
has recently hired Tom Aloisi of
Burlington to coordinate the program.

“The MSM community is still very much
at risk for HIV infection,” said Aloisi.
“Many other communities have become
involved with fighting HIV/AJDS, but
unfortunately, we [MSM] are still on the
front lines of the epidemic.”

The program includes safer sex education
in a variety, of ways, including large social
events, small group gatherings, and
outreach at places where men meet other
men. Most men who see themselves as
gay or bisexual have learned the basics of
safer sex at some point,” says Aloisi. “Our
goal is to create opportunities where men

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can talk about safer sex in comfortable
settings. Some of our work ‘may be
controversial, but we are not the sex
police. We need to educate as many people
as possible to combat this disease, through
knowledge, education, and skills training."

The Men’s Health Project will be sponsoring
a variety of programs throughout Chittenden,
Addison, Washington, and Rutland counties,
all of them designed to be fun as well as
educational. “Last month’s tea dance is a
good example of how an educational
program can be a lot of fun,” said John
Olson, I-IIV/AIDS Education Coordinator at
Vermont CARES. “We need to develop a
community where men are corrrfortable
discussing safer sex with each other. A little
levity helps make a potentially embarrassing
situation more comfortable to talk about.”

The MHP will be sponsoring a free course
in peer education about safer sex on
October 15th. To register for this course or
to find out about volunteer opportunities in
the MHP, please call (802)863-2437.

More Heterosexual
Couples Sign Up for State
Benefits

MONTPELIER -- Almost 140 Vermont
state employees signed their unmarried
partners up for health benefits in July
during an open enrollment period.

Heterosexual couples outnumbered gay
couples by a ratio of seven to one. Of the
136 unmarried couples, 119 were
heterosexual and the other 17 were
homosexual. “It’s not out of the realm of
what we expect ,” said state Personnel
Commissioner Thomas Torti. The new
coverage went into effect August 1.

Vermont is the first state in the nation to
offer “domestic partner” benefits to its
employees. The decision to extend benefits
was made in June to settle a grievance
filed by a state worker who challenged a
ruling that sarne—sex partners would not be
eligible.

The question of whether to extend benefits
to domestic partners has been viewed as a
gay and lesbian issue.

To qualify for the state benefits, workers
must sign an affidavit stating they have
lived with their partner for at least six
months and that the couple is involved in
an “exclusive (and) enduring” relationship.

The cost to the state of extending the
benefits has not been calculated yet. Initial
estimates put the cost at $75,000, although
it should be higher because about a third
more couples signed up than anticipated.
(Burlington Free Press)

Gay Elite Is a Myth

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- An independent
study at the University of Maryland at
College Park on the impact of anti—gay job
discrimination has found that gay men and
lesbians earn less than their non—gay
counterparts with sirrrilar education,
training and occupations. The findings
refute the stereotype of gay people as an
“affluent elite” unworthy of equal rights
under the law. Federal civil rights laws do
not protect Americans from being fired,
refused work, paid less or otherwise
treated unfairly in the job market solely
because of their sexual orientation.

The study, “Economic Evidence of Sexual
Orientation Discrimination,” marks the
first scientific economic research

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