Out in the Mountains

 

UVM Faculty File
Grievance

Continued.from Page 1

A similar case in New York City has
been wending its way through the courts
for several years. A group of teachers
has sued the School Board of the City of
New York, claiming that the policy of
providing health insurance benefits only
to families of married employees, vi-
olates the constitutional and civil rights
of unmarried employees. Lesbian and
gay employees are particularly dis-
advantaged because New York law for-
bids them from marrying. Most recently
in the New York case a state trial judge
ruled that lesbian and gay employees
have a legal right to sue for health in-
surance benefits for their domestic part-
ners. The ruling represents the first time
a state trial judge has upheld a series of
claims alleging sexual orientation and
marital status discrimination for failure
to extend benefits to unmarried domestic

~ partners.

At least two companies in Vennont pro-
vide benefits for domestic partners. Ben
& Jerry’s health plan (Consumer’s Unit-
ed) includes a definition of domestic
partner in its covered categories and Gar-
dener’s Supply of Burlington provides a
mechanism for employees to be re-
imbursed for the cost of purchasing
health coverage for their domestic part-
ner. Nationally, Levi Strauss and Lotus
Development Corporation are among the
larger employers who provide same—sex
domestic partnership benefits. V

MALLAR

FOR

STATE REPRESENTATIVE
CHITTENDEN 7-3 WARD 1 & UVM

0 People First - ProChoice
- Health Care Reform, Universal Access

He'll work for_a_// of us.

 

 

Move to Center of
Presidential Race

Continued from Page 1

Lesbian and gay issues were visible from the
podium as well, as speaker after speaker (in-
cluding Paul Tsongas, Ted Kennedy, Mario
Cuomo, Tom Harkin and Jerry Brown,
among others) included us in their speeches.
Two openly gay or lesbian speakers ap-
peared before the convention. San Francisco
City Supervisor Roberta Achtenberg pre-
sented sections of the platform and included
discrimination, anti—gay violence, family is-
sues and AIDS in her spwch. Bob Hattoy,
the Clinton campaign’s senior environ-
mental advisor, who was recently diagnosed
with AIDS, spoke to a prime time television
audience and told them, “I am a gay man
with AIDS. If there is any honor in having
this disease, it’s the honor of being part of
the gay and lesbian community in America
We have watched our friends and lovers die,
but we have not given up. Gay men and les-
bians created community health clinics, pro-
vided educational materials, opened food
kitchens and held the hands of the dying in
hospitals. The gay and lesbian community is
family in the best sense of the word.” Hat-
toy’s speech and the speech which followed
by Elizabeth Glazer, a woman with AIDS,
brought the restless audience to quiet atten-
tion and moved many to tears.

The final night of the convention marked a
major milestone in American political his-
tory when Bill Clinton’s acceptance speech
included both a pledge to implement the re-
port of the National Commission on AIDS
and the use of the word “gay”, the first ever
in a candidate’s acceptance speech. Clinton
criticized the divisive policies practiced by
the Republicans, saying that they have said,
 what’s really wrong with America is
the rest of us. Them. Them, the minorities,
the people with disabilities. Them, the
gays...But this is America There is no them;
there’s only us...”

The Republican Convention a month later in
Houston was, by contrast, marked by overt
anti—gay sentiment throughout the week
Only two openly gay alternates were in at-
tendance at the convention, and they were
invisible on a convention floor dominated
by right wing and fundamentalist activists.
In Houston, the signs on the convention
floor said “Family Rights Forever/Gay
Rights Never.” The tone for the GOP was
set the opening night of the convention
when Pauick Buchanan lashed out at Clin-
ton’s support of civil rights measures, at-
tacks which were followed by convention
week speakers Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson,
Newt Gringrich and others. Even when
Mary Fisher, a Republican woman living
with HIV, eloquently appealed to delegates
to put aside prejudice and combat AIDS.