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Volume X, Number 6 September 1995 FREE
Mr. Anderson Goes to Jeffords Introduces ENDA NGA Not NGAY;
Washington: Pa“, One" Vermont hosts National
Vermonter appointed to WASHINGTON Governors‘ Association
P|'eSldehl'S AIDS COUHCII DC/COLCHEST,ER .- Conference
Surrounded by
ChdST°bb°“5 representatives of the Paul Olsen
Human Rights Campaign _ _
BURLINGTON Fund (HRCF), Chet-'5 SOUTH BURLINGTON -- Pre_sident _Bill
.- Early this daughter chastity Bone, Clinton's lunch at Burlington’s Oasis Diner,
Summer. Newt's sister Candace forty—two governors, electric vehicles, syndicated
Vermont Gingrich, and columnist David Broder, TV Nation's Michael
Depallmenl of Massachusetts Senator MOOFC (WI10 CEIIIIC I0 hug each governor), 
Health All_3S Edward Kennedy, CEO Louis Gerstner, children's issues, and
Program Chief Vermont senator James hundreds of journalists are some of what you may
Teljle Anderson Jeffords 1-ecendy have already read about the National Governors
was_ named to intiddneed the Association (NGA) conference held July 29
President Employment through August 1.
Clmions , Non—Discrimination Act
Advisory Council (ENDA) in the United Hosted by Governor Howard Dean, the NGA
on AIDS/HIV. states senate conference included both political and social
With 23 of its 30 events. Working meetings addressed children's
Sl0tS‘ filled. the As introduced, ENDA issues including school-to—work programs,
council had its wouid "prohibit (OITM file photo) welfare, education, and block grants. In separate
(Ph0t0IBennett Law) firs‘ meetings 0“ employment SmJ‘1me5J€J70’d5»(R)V€""0"’ addresses to the NGA, Senate Majority Leader‘
VTD€P'- 0f1f1€a1fh_AID5 July 26 and 27 in discrimination on the Bob Dole and President Bill Clinton discussed
Program Ch'efT"Je “demo” washihgtona D~C- basis of sexual orientation." In an attempt to make the bill their Pf0P0Sed Changes I0 Welfare NGA S0C_l3l
Including politically palatable, ENDA prohibits the use of quotas and €Vem$ Were held at BUTlln8l0"'S Commlmlti’

Anderson, roughly one third of those seats are filled
by openly gay men, a first for any federal
commission. Its mission is to push for an AIDS
agenda which is a true reflection of the epidemic as it
looks today.

The two forerunners to this commission were
initiated in previous administrations, one under
Ronald Reagan, authorized by Congress, the other
authorized independently by Congress during the
Bush administration. Both of those commissions,
according to Anderson, did invaluable work,
researching and highlighting AIDS-related issues,
but had no role in the implementation of
recommendations made to the President. The aim of
the new commission is to do just that: specifically
recommend to President Clinton how he can
address the HIV/AIDS agenda in the country.
"Everything the council is going to be looking at is
the question of what the President can do
personally," says Anderson, "Even though he has
certainly talked about AIDS more than any previous
president, there's a lot more he can do." Anderson
pointed to "the gloves incident," in which the Secret
Service agents donned latex gloves for a White
House visit by gay and lesbian community
representatives, as an example of both Clinton's
ability to exhibit a strong response, as well as for the
need to ensure continued and preemptive leadership
on AIDS related issues.

When asked about the council's relationship to the
gay community, Anderson's response was in tums
both passionate and diplomatic: "There's never been
a federal comrriission that one third of the members
have been openly gay before. It's a recognition that

AIDS has had a huge disproportionate impact on our ‘

community and that the gay community has been at
the front of the leadership in it  [but] this isn't a
council about gay civil rights, it's a council about
AIDS. We need to be able to talk about AIDS in this
country without being afraid to talk about gay men,
and gay men's lives, and I think we've been afraid to
do that to a large extent. As a result, our prevention
efforts have suffered. As a result, people get a false
impression sometimes of what the epidemic is about.
We spend more time talking about babies and AIDS
than we spend talking about gay men and AIDS.
Well, babies deserve a lot of attention. It's a tragedy
when a baby is born with HIV and gets. sick. It's also
a tragedy when a gay man becomes infected with
HIV, and we need to look at exactly how we respond
differently as a society to the different groups of
people who get it. We haveto be unasharned about
talking about what's going on in the gay cornmumty
with AIDS. We have to be willing to highlight the

Continued on page 2

 

preferential treatment based on sexual orientation and does not
apply to the Armed Forces or religious organizations. As a member
of both the Republican majority and the Senate Labor and

Human Resources Committee, Jeffords‘ sponsorship of ENDA is
significant. "It is real important in showing that fairness for gay
men and lesbians is not a partisan issue" said Human Rights
Campaign Fund spokesman Doug Hattaway. "It shows that this bill
can progress in advancement in a Republican controlled Congress."

In calling for passage of the bill, Senator Jeffords said "people who
work hard and perform well should not be kept from leading
productive and responsible lives, from paying their taxes, meeting
their mortgage payments and otherwise contributing to the
economic health of the nation because of irrational, non
work-related prejudice." In a letter written in 1994 outlining his
original decision to cosponsor ENDA, Jeffords wrote "like all other
Americans, gays and lesbians deserve to. be judged at work by their
ability to do the job. The principles of equality and opportunity
should apply to all Americans."

Given the current makeup of the U.S. Senate, the prospects for
passage of the Employment Non—Discrimination Act remain slim.
According to HRCF's Doug Hattaway, "These sorts of things take
time. The bill will pass the day enough Senators and
Representatives hear from enough people at home that it is
important." ‘

In a related story, on June 13 Vermont Representative Bernard
Sanders became the second cosponsor of the Civil Rights
Amendment Act in the U.S. House of Representatives. More
comprehensive than the Employment Non—Discrimination Act, the
Civil Rights Amendment Act would prohibit discrimination on the
basis of sexual orientation in employment, education, housing,
public accommodations, and commerce. V

   
   

Boathouse, Ethan Allen Homestead, Shelbume
Museum, and Shelbume Farms.

Protests were staged throughout the Burlington
area during the course of the NGA conference.
The largest protest was the People's Conference
for Economic Democracy featuring the Bread and
Puppet Theater and speeches by Burlington Mayor
Peter Clavelle and U.S. Representative Bernard
Sanders. Protest themes included. the Republican
"Contract with America," the death sentence of
Pennsylvania journalist Mumia Abu—Jamal, social

Continued on page 8

(Photo: Paul Olsen)
Changing of the NGA Guard: Gov. Howard Dean, (D)
Vermont, with Gov. Tommy Thompson, (R) Wisconsin