Out in the Mountains

3%

V
SUSAN MCKENZIE MS
ELLEN KIRSCHNER CSW

MARJORIE RoBL1N CSW

announce
tbejotntng of their practices
and the opening of

THE

WoMEN’s

THERAPY CENTER
A Feminist Therapy Practice

V

2 Church Street
Burlington, Vermont

860-7454

 

Sun. March. 1 Mardi Gras
Sponsored by Mansfield Bucks

$3.00 6 p.m.
Fri. March 6 Women ’s Buffet Dance
$5.00 5-9 p.m.
Wed. March 18 Pasta Night-All you can eat
$5 .95 6—9 p.m.

Thur. March 19 Juice Bar - 18 & 0Ider
$3.00 cover 9 p.m.

Smoke and alcohol free
Sat. March 21 Ladies Lounge Dance

$1 .00 7-10 p.m.
Sat. March 28 Men ’s Dance —Buffet

$3.00 7-10 p.m.

Dollar at the door 9:00 - 10:00 PM Friday and Saturday

Pearls
135 Pearl Street - Burlington, Vermont

“Doing What was Best
for Us as a Family”

Sage Russell

Activists aren’t always the people marching in demonstrations,
waving placards or standing on the steps of the Statehouse. Of-
tentimes, activists are quiet people living their own lives and
just doing what they think is right. Beth and Laura, the parents
in Verrnont’s first gay/lesbian second parent adoption, area
good example. They live quietly in rural Vermont, and describe
themselves as “quiet, shy, homebodies.” Yet by doing what
they thought was right for them as a family — having both of
them legally adopt Hannah, the toddlerwho has lived with them
since she was a month old —— they have helped to establish a
stunning legal precedent in Vermont, which will benefit the
many lesbian and gay couples who wish to do the same. They
agreed to talk to OIT M about the adoption, on condition that
their real names not be used, for Hannah’s protection.

Someone meeting them for the first time would probably be
struck by how matter of fact they are about the whole thing.
They feel that they have been a family ever since Hannah came
to live with them; Laura’s adoption of Hannah simply legalizes
a relationship in the eyes of the world that for them existed
from the beginning. As Laura puts it, “She was my daughter
from the time she was born and I didn’t even know what she
looked like.” And they have been treated as a family by their
friends, neighbors and co-workers right from the beginning.
When Beth adopted Harmah, both Beth’s and Laura’s co-
workers gave showers for them.

Certainly there have been changes. These days Laura doesn't
worry as much. She has the security of knowing that she can
make decisions on Harmah’s behalf with school and medical au-
thorities. They know that if something happened to Beth, Laura
would not have to fight for custody while she was grieving.
Laura’s family, her mother in particular, used to think of Han-
nah as Beth’s daughter, and now they are beginning to see Han-
nah as equally Laura’s child. The second adoption became final
on January 20. The changes are still new, and take some getting
used to. Laura retains a lingering fear that something could go
wrong someday and the adoption be declared illegal.

Beth and Laura feel their lives changed more with the original
adoption. They feel that that made them a legitimate family in
the eyes of the world, and made their families, colleagues and
neighbors took their relationship more seriously — after more
than ten years together!

When asked why they think this worked for them, both agree
that they were lucky. They feel lucky to live in Vermont where
“the legal system and the Legislature are very in tune with hu-
man rights” and where they were treated with respect in all
phases of the process. They feel lucky that Laura’s home study
was done by Ann Clark of Vermont Children’s Aid, who was
“very open and realized that the security, the equalness, the va-
lidity of this relationship is the same as a heterosexual re-
lationship.” They feel especially lucky that their lawyer was Su-
san Murray and the judge was Chet Ketcham.

Susan Murray worked extremely hard on their behalf, spending
hours tracking down the handful of second-parent adoptions in
this country and researching the legal issues. She kept them in-
formed of every step in the process and send them lots of docu-
ments, to the extent that Laura in particular became quite fas-
cinated with the legal issues in the case. Beth says, “She