Y Letters to the Editor

Support For Ankeney

Dear OITM:

I’d like to publicly voice my support for the
re-election of Senator Jean Ankeney to the
Vermont Senate, representing Chittenden County.

Senator Ankeney has a stellar record in the
support of Gay and Lesbian concerns, as well as
all Human Rights issues. She is deeply concerned
about the welfare of all people, especially those
who are economically disadvantaged. She has
worked diligently to make equality in education a
top priority of state government. She cares deeply
about children, single parents, elders, and those
for whom making a living and raising a family in
Vermont is a constant economic struggle. She is a
caring and compassionate person, and she
deserves our support.

I’m asking that the Gay and Lesbian Commu-
nity in Chittenden County, as well as our friends,
families, and allies support Jean Ankeney with
our votes on Election Day.

Richard Thomgren
South Burlington

Connected in Connecticut

Dear OITM:

Just wanted to say hello to all who work so
hard to produce Out in the Mountains. As one
who has fallen in love with Vermont, and espe-
cially with Burlington, I was very happy to
discover OITM on the Internet recently (http://
members.aol.co1n/oitm/).

I first visited Vermont five years ago as I
accompanied a friend who was visiting the local
Dignity Chapter. That visit made me wonder why
I had waited so long to see Vermont. 1 not only
think Vermont is the most beautiful state I have
visited, but I was most impressed with the l
LesBiGay community I met as well. I have many
good memories of the wonderful people I have
come to know in Vermont. I would be remiss if I
did not mention Bruce Howden by name, as we
usually stayed at his cozy bed & breakfast when
we visited Burlington.

My lover and I have been to Vermont at least
4 times this year - twice to Weston, to visit the
Monks at the Priory, and twice to visit Burlington
and surrounding places of interest to us. As
ecumenical Franciscan Brothers who are also
Gay, we visited with the folks from both the
Episcopal and Roman Cathedral churches while
in Burlington. We also made it over to St. Anne’s
Shrine for a brief visit. . _

The weather, this last time, was just beautiful
and we had a great visit. We hope to return again

   
 

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in the Spring of 97 to Burlington. I am sure that
we’ll be up to Weston Priory again real soon.
As the founder of the Ecumenical Order of
St. Francis, it is my hope that someday we’ll
have a Community in Vermont. We are an
independant Franciscan religious order of
Christian men and women. Our members come
from many Christian denominations. We are
inclusive to people from all walks of life.
Clearly, we wish to extend a particular welcome
to Christians who are “traditionally” excluded
from mainline religious orders due to the matter
of their sexual orientation, age, gender, marital
status, or physical challenges to name a few.
Before I begin to start sounding like I’m
spouting an epistle, let me close here,,by say
again that I’m glad to have found you online. I
will make it a point to check out your site on a
regular basis so I can keep in touch with events. I
feel so connected with Vermont that, for me, it’s
like being home when I’m there and leaving
home when I have to return to Connecticut.
Please keep up the fine work that you do. You
have a great publication which does our commu-
nity a great service.
May the Spirit continue to guide you!

Bro. Joshua Francis Coates, E. 0.S.F., Founder
Ecumenical Order of St. Francis
Rocky Hill, CT

Support for Sanders

Dear OITM,

So often our community takes for granted the
quality of life we have here. We have won civil
rights protection, we have a hate crimes law that
includes sexual orientation, and many compa—
nies, including the largest employers in the state
(IBM and the state of Vermont) offer domestic
partnership benefits. It is very important that we
do not take these things for granted. The picture
at the national level is not so rosy. The Senate
recently rejected a bill to protect us from losing
our jobs, and voted overwhelmingly to deny us
the opportunity to be legally married to our
partners. The news from Washington has been
bleak. r

Luckily, one voice in congress has continu-
ally had the courage to stand up for our rights.
That person is Representative Bernie Sanders.
Sanders has a 100% voting record from both the
Human Rights Campaign and the National
Lesbian and Gay Task Force. This means that he
voted correctly on our issues 100% of the time!
So often I find myself voting for the lesser of
two evils, but not this time. I am honored to vote
with pride for a man who has consistently been
there for us in Congress, Representative Bernie

VERMONT’S FORUM FOR LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENDER ISSUES

   

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11/96 I

3

November 1996

Sanders. I urge all gay, lesbian, bi, and trans Vermonters to do the
same on November 5th.

Tom Aloisi
Burlington

Coming Out in a Positive Style

Dear OITM: ~

I have self—regard for myself as a sexual being, and so this is
why I write. There’s no reward in coming from an emotionally
dysfunctional family which doesn’t feel well all the time; moreover
there is especially no sense of the positive when that affects or
effects an individual’s rights to be sexually free!

How does one take stock in the pursuit of happiness as a sexual
being? Unfortunately, I don’t think that means I have to be able to
recalculate my own sexual preference — life is too short to make a
hardship out of something with so much importance!

So the question lies in being able to believe in one’s own
recapitulation for understanding, because fortunately I don’t believe
in hate as a family value or individual value of this kind, when
someone feels cutoff from being himself/herself because of poor
relations with loved ones. In the scheme of things, one might think
that there is always the reassurance of being oneself with or without
someone’s permission, but in this case, there is no recourse for
better feelings when the family you come from says, “No, we don’t
love you because you think you are gay.”

How does one support oneself over the desire of fulfilling
sexual need as a person, individual and loving human being? Again,
there is no feeling of virtue “in raising riot or hate as family value,"
because it’s diifficult not to think and to feel that this widens the

- communication gap for someone on all levels of thought, feeling

and action! It unquestionably hampers and therefore impedes all
flow of the current “of knowing positivism” about living life to its
fullest as a sexual being in this world!

So I guess there really and truly is no text for being able to
resolve this kind of disheartening dilema; exceptithat it is always
important to remember there is undying value in having the value
for a feeling to be able to perservere — no matter how bad it gets
for someone in the dynamics of things. There’s fortitude in thinking
and feeling high—spiritedness when all is loss —— and so, I believe in
the name of all that is fair, good, loving and true as a splash of
positivism when it comes to something with so much importance.
Because damn it, if I want to be a gay human being, then that’s all-I
really and truly have to know about!

Todd Webster Miller
Burlington, Vermont

Out and About...

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