Ff

Dykebaiting

continued from page three

and believing she would in-
clude lesbians as she had as-
sured me she would. She never
did move to Burlington, so if
there is an outsider in this pic-
ture it is Matthews. To be fair,
]M as she likes to sign herself,
would probably support gay
civil rights at the legislative
level. But in a tough spot at the
Council her first response was
to use heterosexism to try to
discredit Women who ques-
tioned her authoritarian style.

After several meetings
where Council members out-
side of the gang of four ( i.e.
IM, Sandy Baird, Lou Andrews
and Maureen Dyer) attempted
to address their frustration at
the direction the Council was
taking and the lack of input
from the membership, we were
finally able to speak. This fol-
lowed two meetings where IM
literally ran out of the room
rather than listen to Council
members. When we voiced our
concerns about her lack of in-
clusion of members and dicta-
torial decision making, she
stated that the group ”didn’t
like her because she did dick”.
At this point jaws dropped
around the room! Some didn't
understand the remark think-
ing it meant do nothing but it
became clear that she meant
her sexual orientation. This is
how she decided to_ deal with
member's concerns even with
the majority of them being het-
erosexual.

Later Matthews offered
an apology for her remark but
followed that apology with the
lie that it had followed months
of being called a homophobe.

This is just not true; Matthews

was the first to raise this
issue at the Council.

Okay, anyone can make
a dumb remark at a meeting
and maybe we could go on
from there. But then Maureen
Dyer planted a story in Seven
Days saying that I did not
know Matthews was hetero-
sexual when I hired her and
that they had fooled me into
thinking she was a lesbian by
telling me she had made a pass
at someone. This is nonsense.
I was well aware of Matthews
sexuality from before the time
I interviewed her as many
people I talked to during the
hiring process could confirm.
Dyer’s story even if it were
true shows her to be a liar and
someone who thinks chicanery

. is the way to get what she

wants. I asked IM to have the
decency to repudiate this story
and its dykebaiting, but she
refused. In -fact she went on_
talk radio with Maureen Dyer
to endorse the slander.
During that broadcast
and every subsequent one I
have heard Matthews do, Kurt
Wright called in to support her
and say that before her term as
director the BWC had been
narrowly focused. His implica-
tion was that it had been
mainly lesbian. Wright a City

councillor who fought the
City's domestic partnership
insurance initiative, also talked
about the BWC on his Chan-
nel 17 show saying that now
the BWC is open and his pal
called in to say, "Yeah Kurt we
were talking outside City Hall
the other day and everyone
knows it used to be a bunch of
dykes”. Well, Lou Andrews
and Sandy Baird, now Wright's
good buddies, were among
that bunch of dykes and they
never complained all those
years about our focus . Baird
and Wright have mayoral am-
bitions and both are invested
in attacking the current admin-
istration. Baird, who talks
about a non—partisan women's
Council, is always a politician
and is the chair of the City
Democratic Party.

Now on public access TV
we have the spectacle of mi-
sogynist Ed Moore saying
there are women he approves
of; Jennifer Matthews and
Sandy Baird. He also repeats
the lie Dyer and gang are try-
ing to disseminate that BWC

when I was director was "just
a bunch of dykes”. Of course
working with dykes is just fine
with me but so is Working with
dedicated straight women like
the many I worked with for
over a dozen years in City Hall.
I want to make clear here that
this is not a gay / straight split
but a homophobic/lesbian
supportive split. I have noth-
ing but admiration for the

many Council members I

worked with and their support
as allies.

Ed Moore revealed on
the air the Battered Women's
shelter’s necessarily secret lo-
cation. Kurt Wright is someone
who fought tooth and nail and
with much homophobic intent
to stop domestic partnership
insurance and to defeat Peter
Clavelle for introducing it. Per-
haps it is inadvertent on
Matthew's part but now
Moore and Wright are getting
aid and comfort in their attacks
on lesbians from within the
Women's Council. This is not
feminist, it is not women posi-

tive, it is not sisterly and it is

.YodIdon':t get it from toilet seats.

van d

dangerous to all gays and les-
bians who are always subject
to hate crimes. In fact in recent
years gay bashing has steeply
increased. It is a fact that
gaybashers feel little remorse
about their crimes because
they feel social mores support
their actions.

Consciously or not, this
Women's Council is aiding and
abetting anti-gay sentiment.
That means it is supporting
woman hating as well. I am
personally disgusted and ap-
palled at the turn things have
taken at BWC. Of course the
dykebaiting has been aimed at
me. But we need to remember
both as a queer community
and as a feminist community
that disparaging any lesbian
hurts all members of these
movements. Political lesbians
have been among the greatest
challengers of male domi-
nance. For this the Kurt
Wrights and Ed Moores will
always hate us and I am proud
to have them as opponents. On
the days when this tedious
struggle gets me down, I re-

hands, kissing, sneezing,
dancing.

OUT IN THE MOUNTAINS — SEPTEMBER 1997 — 17

mind myself of a truth about
backlash. It is tribute to the fact
that I, with the help of many
women straight and gay, built
a strong Women's Council.
Our opposition are woman
haters, right wingers and
heterosexist women. I'm
proud of my long record at the
Council and I intend to con-
tinue the fight to see an open,
egalitarian Women's Council
that supports all Women and
rejects the gay-bashers in this
community. The queer and
feminist communities should
demand a Women's Council
that works against all kinds of
sexism including
heterosexism. This is a mini-
mal demand for an ostensibly
pro—woman organization.

OITM is always
interested in new
contributors and volunteers.

Call lmlny amlfitzd 0111‘ how
you can help.

(802) 865-92941

 néor

According to the Surgeon General,

your best pro action against AIDS,‘

rice, is use of a condom