Out in the Mountains

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V 'F“Out“in"fhe”'Mobn‘téins
. Established in 1986
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Editor: Hugh Coyle
Business Manager: Steven>West
«- ogkucgiort 1\@g‘nager:;Eta3ci Visco
"' ireulation Manager: David Grist
Website Managers: Kathie Sawyer
and Tracy Buttles-

C:Ci.r'.~

Gramlin, Joy Griffith, Bruce
Johnson, Rachel Lurie, Esther
Rothblum, StaciAnne Visco,
Joseph Watson M '

Out in the Mountains (ISSN 1081-
5562) is published monthly by
Mountain Pride Media, Inc. The
newspaper maintains offices at
109 South Winooski. Avenue in
Burlington, Vermont. Our mailing
address is PO Box 177, Burlington
VT 05402-0177. Our e—mail
address is oitm@together.net. Bulk
rate postage for the mailing of the
newspaper is paid in Burlington,
Vermont. The subscriptionrate is

States.
© 1997, Out in the Mountains.

Statement of Purpose
The purpose of Out in the
Mountains is to serve as a voice for
lesbians, gay men, bisexuals,

supporte'rs"in Vermont. Werwish
the newspaper to be a source of
information, insight, and
affirmation. We also see OITM as a
vehicle for the celebration of the
goodness and diversity of the
lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans;
gendered communities here in
Vermont and ‘elsewhere.

We will consider for publication
any material which broadens our
understanding of our lifestyles and
of each other. Views and opinions
appearing in the paper do not
necessarily represent those of the
staff. This paper cannot and will

men, bisexuals, and trans-
gendered persons.

We reserve the right not to

homophobic.

Writers‘ guidelines are available
on request. All materials submitted
must include a name and contact
number. However, within the
pages of the newspaper, articles
may appear anonymously upon
request, and strict confidentiality
will.-be observed. - » —

should be sent to us by the 15th
of the month prior" to the month of
publication [i.e. February 15th for
the._March issue). We encourage
and implore our readers to do what
they can to make OITM a paper
which truly represents_the many
voices of our communities.

Materials should be sent to:
Out in the Mountains
PO Box 177
Burlington, Vermont
05402-0177
E-mail: oitm@together.net

Advertising

If you would like to place an ad in
Out in the Mountains, please
Contact us for rates and guidelines.
Ad copy should be mailed to the
address above or call Hugh Coyle
at (802) 388-6503.

Contributors: Alex Corey, David.

$20 per year within the United

transgendered people, and’ our ~

not endorse anycandidates or-
actiorrs o‘r~pui5iie~ouidia1sian i's'siLies'< -
of importance»tdwlesbrans, =gay~.  "g'a.y«man-eiflléf.)

publish .a‘n3/ytrnaterial deemed .tQ_be,, ‘ :
overtly_r,aci_st,_ sexist, 'an_ti-Sernitic, ,,
ageist. ‘cl’assi‘st', xe’r'16phobi"c'or' I .

Articles, letters, and artwork

Editorial

by Hugh Coyle

Whether it’s queer currency, dyke dollars, bi bucks, or tranny

_ transactions at the ATM — the amount of money g/l/b/t people

Editorialvfpmicy"  "   ifhnoii-closeted," represent a wide diversity of race, age, spiritual af-

have (and how they spend it) has recently raised the eyebrows of
the radical right. Several reports have indicated that there’s gold
in them thar gay hills — and that if non-hets are hoarding vast
portions of the country’s coinage, then once again the fate of the

nation is at hand.

The fact that many of these reports have been thoroughly dis-
credited over the past few years is lost on our ullra-conservative
counterparts. For starters, nearly every one of the reports looks
exclusively at men, furthering the perception (and the shameful
reality) that women have negligible economic impact in this coun-
try. By virtue of their design, the studies also look predominantly
at men who are comfortable enough with their sexuality to iden-
tify themselves as gay or bi. In at least one instance, the research-
ers looked only at subscribers to a popular men’s magazine. In so

‘doing, the results favored men who already possess both social

and financial security (let’s face it — some of those subscriptions
aren’t cheap) and who can afford to be “out” in society. What of-
ten affords them this freedom is that they are, for the most part,
urban, white, middle-to-upper-class, white-collar professionals.
For the moment, however, let’s give these statisticians the ben-
efit of the doubt. Let’s'assume that gay people really are wealthier
than their heterosexual counterparts. This would suggest that the
nation’s current economic prosperity is due in large part, thank
you very much, to us. It would also suggest that being gay is a

good thing, since it leads to wealth and prestige in society. The

corollary to such a theory "is that being heterosexual and practic-
ing “traditional family values” is not "economically healthy, since
it ties up too much capital in domestic expenses like child care
and education — both known to be low priorities on the political
right’s shopping list. Even so, thank goodness for the generosity
of those queer DINKS (Double-Income/No-Kids), who have plenty
of spare change left at the end of the month to dole out to deserv-
ing charities like the church and the arts. Without gay people, our
moral andcultural institutions would go belly-up in a heartbeat.

_ _ Qbviously,,it just ain’t so. Our communities, both closeted and

filiation, physical ability, ethnic origin, and class. For those who
are “out,” the highest realms of wealth and power remain out of
reach owing to cultural and corporate homophobia. (Remember,
Malcolm Forbes stayed in the company closet while amassing most
of his millions.) Anyone who doubts that can just take a quick poll
to see how the country would favor an outwardly gay or lesbian

. president. (Remember, even though Steve Forbes -bankrolled his I
" ‘bid :fo"r'_ttie"pr‘esidency with daddy’s gaydollars, he wasn’t an out

Ironically, many of the ‘groups rallying against gay influence
rely a great deal on homophobia and the fear of that influence to

fill up their own coffers. From TV evangelists to Republican poli- .

ticians, those who strike the: “No—HomoT’ pose have proven its suc-

" cess as".a'_'fund-raising -tool. Maybe that’s one of the reasons they

think we must be so wealthy: they’ve thrown so much money AT
us, it only makes sense that we’d stoop over once in a while to
pick it up;

' —Such.was.the case recently in Colorado, where voters recently
learned that their own prejudice had a price. When the Supreme

|]|ll]ElIlX rising * .

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fWm Wain deem‘ speeds,
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104 main street, one flight up‘, montpelier 802.229.0522

 

Page 2

E Pluribus Homo: Gaysand the Dollar

Court overturned that state’s anti-gay Amendment Two, it also
ordered that the state (i.e. Colorado residents) pay for all legal
fees associated with the case. With that single ruling, the courts
sent both a moral and economic message to communities across
the country: hatred and homophobia are costly commodities.
Thanks to the pernicious plans of the religious right, Colorado
taxpayers — gay and straight alike —— will now have to shell out a
few dollars for court costs come April 15.

Likewise, Uncle Sam’s tax base is also being eaten up by ho-
mophobia. In 1996, the military spent about $25 million to re-
place servicemembers discharged for their sexual orientation. It
spent countless more millions for investigations and legal fees,
according to the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.

Money also figures prominently in the campaigns to establish
domestic partnership (DP) benefits around the country, or so say
DP’s nay-Sayers. Companies like United Airlines hem and haw,
claiming a need to investigate the costs associated with imple-
menting such plans. One wonders if their human resource people
wring their hands in despair every time a new employee arrives
with three or four kids to sign up on the company ’s health plan. If
corporate America is so concerned with the dollar, you’d think
they’d do one of two things: 1) limit the number of dependents
ANY employee can claim on the company policy, or 2) ‘show pref-
erence to gay and lesbian job applicants in hiring, since they’re
currently far cheaper to employ than heterosexual family folks.

The real bottom line is that the whole money argument is a
smoke screen for homophobia. It’s an excuse, not a reason, to avoid
initiating fair and just policies in the workplace, in the court room,
and in the government. Historically, it has proven to be an effec-
tive means of controlling the attitudes of the population. Hitler
stands as the prime example of this, as he scapegoated the Jewish
people (and then anyone else who didn’t conform to the Aryan
ideal) as the cause of his country ’s economic problems. In his ex-
cellent Berlin diaries, gay writer Christopher Isherwood both noted
and feared how quickly the public rallied around Hitler’s accusa-
tions, even in a time of relative cultural liberalism.

Then, as in America today, common people were desperate for
reasons to explain why they were still struggling while others
amassed great wealth. Those in control of the country’s finances
were and are cautious to keep the criticism directed away from
them and back toward the general population. We hold Bill Gates
up as a contemporary hero for amassing his vast empire, then
criminalize welfare mothers who can barely keep their children
alive. Townspeople target school teachers whenever they ask for
raises, claiming that $30-$50,000 salaries are exorbitant; mean-
while, the Disney company prepares a multimillion dollar separa-
tion package for one of its top executives and the country responds

with hushed acceptance. '

Somewhere, somehow, the signals are getting all mixed up on
these money matters. One wonders how gay and lesbian groups,
many of which (OITM included) operate on shoestring budgets
and volunteer staffing, could possibly be considered an economic
threat while religious right groups like the Christian Coalition,
with their high-profile salaried spokesmen, continue to rake in the
contributions.

Wake up and smell the irony, America. The targeting of gay
and lesbian dollars is just the most recent example of the radical
right’s diversionary tactics. It’s a capitalist con game, and if we’re

' not careful about the facts, we’ll all be victims of the sting. V

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