Out in the Mountains

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 Retrospectivefirompage one)

areas to receive OITM were Montpelier,
where a man distributed 200 copies, and
Brattleboro, where copies were sent off to
Colors, one of the town's gay bars.

Over the next four years, OIT M began
to gain power as the mouthpiece of Ver-
mont’s gay and lesbian communities. A
case in point is the political polling often
done. When VLGR would poll candidates
before the November elections regarding
their stands on issues of interest to the gay
and lesbian communities, it received little
response. However, when OIT M con-
ducted a similar poll in 1986, almost all of
the candidates responded when it was made
clear that the results would be published.

OITM covered major stories as well.
The first issue of OITM covered legislation

_ that would ban discrimination against those

who are HIV+. Since then, OITM has cov-
ered the Pride parades, the 1986 ERA
campaign, the Gay Rights Bill hearings of
1987 and 1988. and the 1987 March on
Washington.

Membership, however, did not grow
during that period. A handful of people
were still doing the jobs of writing, typing,
laying out, and distributing the paper. By
1989, key people had left and new ones
hadn’t come in. The collective had
dwindled to four people. One member was
going to leave the area the following sum-

 

mer, and the other three had all reached the
burnout point. This would have been the
end of 017‘ M unless, as Carrie Coy put it,
“we could scare up people to help out.”

An insert was put into the January
1990 issue with the ominous declaration
that “This is OIT M ’s last issue.” The insert
had one ray of hope - it also said that a
meeting would be held the next month to
discuss whether OIT M should be kept alive
or be allowed to die a dignified death.

/On February 17, 1990, over forty
people from all over Vermont met at the
Fletcher Free Library in Burlington. Local
media showed up as well, and the meeting
was covered on WCAX News that night
and the Burlington Free Press the follow-
ing morning. The consensus was that OITM
needed to be kept alive, for OIT M served a
vital role in the lives of gay and lesbian
Vermonters and their friends.

For Carrie Coy, however, even this
positive reaction left her a bit skeptical: “I
wasn't sure if the group was willing to put
the work into it.” But now, she says, “It’s
wonderful to see the paper thrive.”

Since that February meeting, a group
of fifteen or so individuals has met regulary
to put the paper out on a monthly basis and

' to live up to the purpose as it was stated in

the very first issue five years ago and as it
continues to be stated today.

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