Out in the Mountains

Volume VII, Number 6

  

 

July/August 1992

Pride Daycelebrated é 1992

in Montpelier

A crowd of 350 celebrated Verrnont’s
9th annual Pride Day June 6th, with a
march through Montpelier, followed by
a rally in City Hall and a dance that
night. Unlike two years ago, when
marchers had to contend with a tor-
rential downpour, the rain stopped as
marchers stepped off from the State-
house. The atmosphere was upbeat and
the reception from onlookers positive.

    

Sue Hyde of the National Gay and Les-
bian Task Force (NGLTF) was the lead
speaker at the rally. Other speakers in-
cluded Holly Perdue and Keith Goslant,
Co-Chairs of the Vermont Coalition of
Lesbians and Gay Men; John Olsen of
the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual _Community
Center; Gene Barfield, Vermont Gay
Veterans; and Howdy Russell, state Sen-
ate candidate from Chittenden County. V

Human Rights Campaign Fund
Endorses Clinton

Deborah Lashman

On June 1st, the Human Rights Cam-
paign Fund (HCRF) announced its en-
dorsement of Arkansas Governor Bill
Clinton for President of the U.S. This is
the first time in its eleven year history
that the organization has endorsed a pres-
idential candidate. “Govemor Clinton
has made it clear that he will fight to end
discrimination against lesbian and gay
Americans and will push to secure fund-
ing for our health care concerns,” said
Laura Altschul, Co-Chair of the HRCF
Board of Directors. Clinton was among
the first candidates to answer a detailed
questionnaire on lesbian and gay issues
earlier this year. Among his responses,
Clinton addressed the issues of military
Service, “Americans should have the
right to serve...without regard to sexual
or affectual orientation”; employment
discrimination “It is imperative that the
U_.S. government work actively to end
discrimination. (Discrimination) in feder-
al hiring and contracting would be
banned by executive order in my ad-
inrnistration”; and mandatory HIV test-
mg, “While testing and early detection

are a vital component in the fight against
AIDS, I believe we must act vigilantly to
protect the individual’s right to privacy.”

Clinton issued a statement on May 20th
stating he will ask the Arkansas leg-
islature to repeal the state’s sodomy law.
Arkansas’ sodomy law, passed in 1977
when Clinton was state attorney general,
outlaws sodomy only between persons of
the same sex. The announcement came
days after he delivered a widely pub-
licized speech in Los Angeles before an
overflow crowd of 600 lesbian and gay
activists and his issuance of a new policy
statement on AIDS. He also has ex-
pressed his support of Rep. Pat Schroed-
er’s (D-Colo.) bill to repeal the. Pen-
tagon’s ban on lesbians and gays in_the
military. In Los Angeles, Clinton praised
the gay community for its work in AIDS
and denounced discrimination saying
“Every day that we discriminate, that we
hate, that we refuse to avail ourselves of
the potential of any group of Americans,
we are all less than we ought to be.” V

Gays to Represent
VT at Democratic
National Convention

Gay people will have a highly visible role in
Vermont’s delegation to the 1992 Dem-
ocratic Convention in New York. For the
second time in a row, the delegation will be
the only one in the country chaired by an
openly gay person.

Democratic National Comrnitreeman Teije
Anderson of North Hero, a convention “su—
perdelegate,” was elected to lead the delega-
tion, which is split three ways among
Brown, Clinton, and uncommitted del-
egates. Anderson, who backs Jerry Brown,
was supported by all three factions in a
unanimous vote of the delegation He attrib-
uted his selection to his “long history of
worlcingwithallpar1softheparty,arep-
utation for fairness, and experience gained

attending the last three national conven- ‘

tions.”

Openly gay state representative Ron Squires
(Giiilford) will also be part of the delegation
as Vermorit’s member of the national Plat-
form Committee. The situation is a reverse
of 1988, when Squires was delegation chair
and Anderson was Platform Committee
member.

Vermont is the only state ever to elect an
openly gay delegation chair, and has sent an
openly gay Platform Committee member
since 1984. (Squires in 1992, and Anderson
in 1988 and 1984.)

“IthinkitisgreatthatRonandIaregoing
agaimandwecanbeproudofourhighrate
of openly gay representation,” says Ander-
son, “but I hope we’ll be able to broaden

that and see some new faces as openly gay“

delegates to future conventions. I’d especial-
ly like to see more lesbians involved. Ron
and I have proved that being gay won’t stop
anyone from being elected in the Vermont
Democratic Party. Now we need more peo-
ple to come into the system to take ad-

vantage of that.” ’

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