WILB HQ? .09'7§ Out in the Mountains VERMONT’S FORUM FOR LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENDER ISSUES November 1996 FREE Volume XI, Number 8 p ’ , ’ ‘BAr“L£év7/ Ho. LIBRAF-av NOV 15 i996 . Chiltern Club Literally 0UTin the Mountains Over twenty people (and a quartet of canines) hiked a portion of the Long Trail late last . September with the newly-formed Vermont chapter of the Chiltern Mountain Club. A potluck dinner followed the outing. For more details on how to contact the club, check V the Resource Guide listing on the back page. (photo by Hugh Coyle) Surveys Focus on Same-Sex Marriage and Values MONTPELIER — Hot on the heels of the passage of the so-called “Defense of Marriage Act,” a poll conducted for the Rutland Herald, the Barre-Montpelier Times Argus, and WPTZ showed Vermont- ers currently are slightly opposed to the idea of same—sex marriages. 54% of those questioned said that the A state should not recognize such unions, while 35% believed they should be recog- nized. The remaining eleven percent ex- pressed no strong opinion either way. The poll was conducted by Mason Dixon Political Research, Inc., a firm based in Columbia, Maryland. The com- pany based its results on the responses of 635 politically active Vermont residents. In the same poll, subjects were asked whether they favored federal prohibition of employment discrimination against gay and lesbian people. Here, a majority (59%) expressed their support for such a ban, with only 33% opposed. The Employment Non-Discrimina- tion Act (ENDA), which would have pro- vided such governmental safeguards, was recently defeated by one vote in the U.S. Senate. The bill was co—sponsored by Re— . publican Senator James Jeffords of Ver- mont. - V Both Jeffords and his Senatorial coun- terpart, Democrat Patrick Leahy, voted in favor of ENDA. However, both also voted to uphold the one—man/one—woman defi- nition of marriage by supporting DOMA on the Senate floor. ' Meanwhile, three other recent polls took the pulse of the nation on diverse is- sues and showed either forward movement or indifference toward gay, lesbian, bi- sexual, and transgendered issues. The Chicago-based National Opinion Research Center (NORC) questioned nearly 3,000 people in its annual survey and asked, among other things, whether respondents believed that homosexuality was wrong. Sixty-one percent answered in the affirmative, a number that has dwindled by more than 10% in the past twenty years. Another poll of college students showed that our nation’s young academ- ics aren’t much interested in gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered issues at all. Only 3.2% described civil rights for gay and lesbian‘ people as an “important issue.” A similarly small number, 8.4%, saw minority rights as an important issue in the poll, which was sponsored by the shoe company Converse. Highest ratings in the poll went to education and the economy. Nearly 1200 students from 25 colleges nationwide were included in the poll. A survey sponsored by the National Parenting Association found that not one of the 500 mothers and fathers questioned raised homosexuality as a major family concern in their households. A summary of the poll found the parents “noticeably disinterested in the so-called ‘family val- ues’ agenda.” V " , appreciate raunchy lesbian Activist Torie Osborn Comes “Home” to Vermont by Paul Olsen D BURLINGTON — Torie Osborn recently. came home to Vermont to promote her new book Coming Home to America: A Roadmap to Gay & Lesbian Empower- ment. Osborn is a graduate of Middlebury College and the fonner Executive Direc- tor of both the Los Angeles Gay and Les- bian Community Services Center and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. An activist for more than thirty years, Osborn has also been a columnist for The Advo- cate and currently works as a management consultant, trainer, and writer based in Washington, D.C. In Coming Home to America, Osborn discusses the American journey of gay men and lesbians from deep in the closet to increased visibility resulting from the AIDS crisis and, most recently, national debates about gays in the military and gay marriage. Effectively integrating personal stories _drawn from her years as a leader in the struggle for gay and lesbian civil rights, Osborn highlights the courage, commit- ment, social responsibility and family val- ues exhibited by gay men and lesbians na- tionwide. Individuals profiled in the book in- clude AIDS activist and singer Michael Callen, California state assembly member Sheila James Kuehl, a sixteen—year-old named Ben who was thrown out of his parent's home for being gay, and count- less other g/l/b/t activists and allies mak- ing a difference in their respective com- munities. Other issues cov- Osborn concludes Coming Home to America arguing that gay men and lesbi- ans can teach America new positive val- ues and a vision needed in the next cen- tury. “Together, gay men and lesbians have camp, creativity, gentleness, great courage, and a passion for social reform,” Osborn writes. “America needs to heed our ex- ample and learn from us if this country is truly to begin a much—needed, widespread process of repairing its broken spirit.” Osborn met with Out in the Mountains to discuss Coming Home to America and her Vermont visit. Here are some excerpts from the interview: OITM: How does it feel to be back in Ver- mont? Osborn: It really has been fun. There have been a number of things that have been particularly touching. Since 1976 I've only been back to Vermont three times. On this trip everything kind of came together be- cause at both my reading in Burlington and at my lecture at Middlebury there were ' straight people and gay people from dif- ferent parts of my time in Vermont. My. time in Vermont spanned my coming out and a period of time when I was closeted. So there was this tremendous sense of con- tinuity andlcoming together of pieces of my Vermont life. There will never be any better place than the place you came out; there’s always a sense of homecoming. It has felt too short, really wonderful, and very gratifying. . (continued on page 6) ered in the book include the historical split between gay men and lesbians (“We thought gay men were elit- ist and obsessed with sex; they thought we were hu- morless and anti-sex”), the . positive influence the AIDS pandemic has had on gay men and ‘lesbians working together politi- cally (“Today, lesbians can chortle with pleasure at the campyr drag antics in "Priscilla: Queen of the Desert," and gay men can comedians and powerful lesbian leaders”), the na- tional g/l/b “gaby boom,” the importance of gay and lesbian community centers and coalition building, and the role of gay men and les- bians in America’s future. Activist and Former Vermont resident Torie Osborn appeared in Middlebury and Burlington as part of a nationwide tour to promote her new book, Coming Home to America: A Roadmap to Gay and Lesbian Empowerment. (Photo by Judy G. Rolfe)