Out in the Mountains

Editorial

Our focus this month is the push to lobby
for our civil rights; passage of H-162 and
S-131; bills to add sexual orientation to
the categories covered under 15 Vermont
statutes that protect citizens against dis-
crimination in the areas of employment,
housing, public accommodations, educa-
tion, credit, and insurance.

The gay, lesbian, and bisexual community
has been working since 1986 to try and
pass some version of this bill and as Keith
Goslant writes in this month’s cover story,
the time is now. Whether it is the more
blatant discrimination in hiring and firing
that keeps many of us closeted, especially
those working in the fields of education
and child care, or the more subtle things
we don’t think about until they arise, such
as insurance or credit, we all suffer from
the denial of our rights.

Passage of H-162 and S-131 will not right
all the civil wrongs we live with, but it is
an important start. With legislation in
place, successful legal challenges to dis-
crimination can create fundamental case
law necessary for the protection of our
rights. (Read in the National News section
this issue about the successful case in
Massachusetts, prosecuted by the Mas-
sachusetts Human Rights Commission).

In addition, the current bills do not include
changes to statutes regarding family law/
child custody, a topic that was felt too
controversial by the sponsors. We still
have a long way to go both nationally and
on the state level to make it possible for
our families to receive the same civil
rights as any other Vermont family.

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Paula Ettelbrick of the Lambda Legal De-
fense Fund likens our situation today to
that of blacks and women in the early
70’s. We are just beginning to see leg-
islative and case law changes that protect
our civil liberties. While we have seen
how hard it has been to move from leg-
islation to real changes, we need the leg-
islation as a starting point. In New York
City teachers are suing the New York
City Board of Education for the right to
include partners in health benefit plans.
This challenge comes five years after the
passage of New York State’s gay rights
legislation. This past summer, the judge
rifled favorably in the first step in that
case, saying that the teachers claim of dis-
crimination on the basis of marital status
and sexual orientation had merit. (Et-
tlebrick points out that health care is gen-
erally a sizable portion of many em-
ployees benefit package and that denial of
coverage to those who can’t marry their
partners is not only discrimination but
also an equal pay for equal work issue.)

Keith Goslant says it best in the close of
his article urging all of us to work for the
passage of H-162 and S-131, “As les-
bians, gay men and bisexuals we have
made lasting contributions to the di-
versity, creativity and unique quality that
is Vermont. It is time for our contribu-
tions to be acknowledged and our voices
heard. The time for our full civil rights is
now!”

Deborah Laehman V

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