01/1‘ //7 //re /l/01//71‘a/'/is
Established in 1986

Editor: Christopher Moes

Business Manager: Steven West
Production Manager: Donald Eggert
Circulation Manager: David Grist
Website Managers: Kathie Sawyer,

Tracy Buttles

Proofreader: Elizabeth Hansen
Office Manager: Tracy Kommons
Sales: Donna Freeman, Roger Mapes
Braiiist: Deborah Cioutier Fowler
Computer Support: Amy Hoffman
Intern: Gwynn Guiltord
Contributors: Bennett Law, James
Montstream, Peter Kurth, Steven
Stowell, Lynn Martin, Donald Giguere,
Betsy McLane, Carey V. Johnson, Celia
Cuddy, Constance Craving, Endora,
Allen Fletcher, Donna Freeman, David

~ Gramling, Joy D. Griffith, Sal lnglima,

Kirsten lsgro, Rev. Christine Leslie,
Peggy Luhrs, Paul Olsen, Beth
Robinson, Esther Rothblum, Chris
Tebbens

02/1/77 #79 Mou/7/a/'/75 (ISSN 1 081-5562)
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 email address is
oitm@together.net and our website is
located at http://www.vtpride.org. The
subscription rate is $20 per year within
the United States of America.

©1997, 01/2‘ in (/79 /1'/011/7/a//75

Statement of Purpose

The purpose of 01///n the Mom-
ia/nsis to serve as a voice for lesbians,
gay men, bisexuals, transgendered
people, and our supporters in Vermont.
We wish 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 diver-
sity of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgendered communities here in
Vermont and elsewhere.

Editorial Policy

We will consider for publication
any material which broadens our under-
standing 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 not endorse any candidates or
actions of public officials on issues of

importance to lesbians, gay men, bi- *

sexuals, and transgendered persons.
We reserve the right not to pub-
lish any material deemed to be overtly
racist, sexist, anti—Semitic, ageist,
classist, xenophobic, or homophobic.
Writers‘ guidelines are availbale
on request. All materials submitted must
include a name and a contact number.
However, within the pages of the news-
paper, articles may appear anony-
mously upon request, and strict confi-
dentially will be observed.
Articles, letters, and artwork
should be sent to us by the 20th of the
' month prior to the month of publication
(i.e. February 20th for the March issue).
We encourage and implore our readers
to do what they can to make 0/74! a
paper which truly represents the many
voices of our communities.

Materials should be sent to:
Cut in the Mountains
PO BOX 177
Burlington, VT 05402-0177
phone: (802)865-9294
email: oitm@together.net

Check us out on the

World Wide Web!
http 1/

www.vtpride.org

OITM now available
in braille format!
Contact Chris Moes
at (802) 865-9294 for
more information.

2 — OUT IN THE MOUNTAINS — OCTOBER 1997

OP-ED: Let's Agree To
Disagree —”Ancl Mean It, Please

BY PETER KURTH

Diversity (n): the condition
of being differentor having differ-
ences. . '

Consensus (n): general
agreement; unanimity.

[From Webster's Seventh New Colle-
giate Dictionary]

The ongoing flap over
"leadership" and ”decision—
making" at the Burlington
Wo1nen's Council, coupled
with what has obviously be-
come a personal war of words
between the past and present
leaders of the council, has got
me thinking about something
that doesn't get thought about
enough in these parts: the true
meaning of the word "diver—
sity" and the lemming-like
pursuit of "agreement" and
"consensus" that afflicts the g/
l/b /t agenda in Vermont. I am
absolutely convinced that the
blind desire for "consensus" is
the single most destructive
component in a politics that is,
more and more often these
days, just spinning its collec-
tive wheels.

Before I go any further -
before the angry letters start
pumping into OITM's mailbox
—— let me say that I'm not "tak—
ing sides” in the increasingly
juvenile and rancorous debate
about the Women's Council. I
am speaking, so to say, as a
member of the public, who
reads the news and "hears the
talk on the street,” just as
Peggy Luhrs does. I'm sure I
don't know whether Ms. Luhrs
or Jennifer Matthews is in the
right about the council's di-
lemma. They've both been de-
monized and they've both
made ridiculous statements for
the record. I'm only here to tell
you, as a grown—up and an
American citizen, that the gay
and lesbian community has
nothing to fear from disagree-
ment, dissent or, for that mat-
ter, raging quarrels and cat
fights.

How did the idea ever
take roof that no deliberative
or representative body could

take action or get its work done
until everyone agrees with ev-
eryone else? Why are we in the
g/l/b/t community so afraid
of opinions and beliefs that are
different from our own — we
who never stop complaining
that things would be all right
if only "they" would accept us
as we are. Diversity means
"different" — it does not mean
"the same." Consensus means
"agreement" —— it does not me
"plurality." Why do we spend
— no, waste — so much of our
time, energy and resources in
a vain attempt to "smooth over
differences” and "get along”
with one another? lennifer
steps on Peggy's toes; Peggy
smears finger-paint intxo
]ennifer's hair; do both of them
need to behave themselves be-
fore they can drink their juice?
I don't think so. These are the
values and goals of a kinder-
garten, not a political body
with decisions to make, much
less an organization and a col-
lection of persons — namely,
feminist women — who know,
or should know, that their com-
mon enemy lies outside and
well beyond the council's
doors.

In a recent "Free Press”
report about the Women's
Council's woes, I read only two
statements that made any

sense to me from the point of.

View of effective politics. One
was from Sandy Baird, who
said, "The council now reflects
many more political views
than it did in the past" — a
dangerously sensible remark
reflecting the obvious truth
that "agreement" is not re-
quired in order to conduct
business. The other was from
Lou Andrews, responding to
charges that Iennifer
Matthews’ "negative stereo-
types of lesbians" were "divid-
ing the council."

"It doesn't divide," said
Andrews; "I think there "are"
strong divisions." In other
words, differences are real and
disagreement may be ex-
pected. Disagreement, indeed,

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"must" be tolerated in a de-
mocracy. It is the unpopular
view and the maverick posi-
tion that needs protection,
"not" the will of the majority
or whatever the politically
"correct" interpretation might
be. Political correctness is a
blight on this society. It is anti-
democratic. It is authoritarian
and intolerant of dissent. It is,
in fact, all the things it claims
to be "correcting." So when the
lesbian faction at the Women's
Council complains that ]enni-
fer Matthews "doesn't work to
help us reach consensus," it
betrays a level of intolerance
fully equal to the kind it insists
it despises.

It is not the business of a
democracy to ensure consen-
sus, but to take action by reach-
ing decisions. Peggy Luhrs is
far more honest when she says
that the Women's Council
needs a new leader, period:
"That's the only thing that
would restore my faith." That,
too, is the way democracy
works. Instead, because every-
one is so afraid of not agreeing
with one another, or of being
on the losing side, or — God
forbid — of having their feel-
ings hurt, the council is going
" "cre-
ate a policy manual," work on
job descriptions and establish
"quantifiable means" to evalu-
ate itself so that a safe space
may be enjoyed by all the little
kids under the tent. It is, in
other words, going to sink into

the bottomless "pit of cornrnitg

tees, mediators, consensus-
building and "process." It's

going to waste more time and_

more money. And it's going to
become the laughing-stock of
a larger community that isn_' t
fully convinced it should exist
at all. "E pluribus bunkum."
Why don't we all grow
up a little and acknowledge
that the world of politics is
rough and bumpy, just as the
road of personal destiny is
bumpy, filled with setbacks
and disappointments along
with the occasional empower-
ing triumph? Or are we intent
on sabotaging ourselves and
our (various) agendas by in-
sisting on a false conformity
and a phony display of like-
mindedness that cannot and
will not conceal the very real
differences among us?

EDITORIAL

BY Cf-lRlS’l"Ol’HEl{ Moes

There is a desperate need
for us to reexamine our AIDS
fundraising habits. A great
deal of money is leaving our
state for services in other
states. While I am glad people
are raising money, there is a
serious situation where Local
AIDS organizations are having
funds disappear.‘ The initial
numbers coming in from the
AIDS Walk is that the amount
of money raised has decreased
this year, while the totals from
the AIDS Ride have increased
dramatically. The AIDS Ride
benefits Fenway Community
Health Center, which has few
if any clients from Vermont.

The AIDS ride has come
under a great deal of contro-
versy lately in the national
media, as it has been revealed
that as little as twenty percent
may go to the beneficiary in-
volved. There has been a call
to boycott AIDS ride by nu-
merous organizations.

The inventor of AIDS
ride, Ray Palotta has a salary
of 270,000 a year, just thirty
thousand less than the entire
staff budget for Vermont
CARES for a year. AIDSRide
was able to take out full page
ads in Vermont Newspapers,
one ad alone exceeded the en-

tire advertising budget for the

AIDS walk’.-

' Another factorto keep in
mind: Vermont currently has a
waiting list for People'With
AIDS to getlon protease'inhibi-
tors, Massachusetts does not.
People who are sick are wait-
ing for‘ medication, ‘while
money leaves the state.

- .It is time’ for the generous
and ‘energetic fund-raisers of
Vermont to rethink their in-
volvement in AIDS ride. But I
am not asking anyone not to
raise money for AIDS. We need
the money here, please, con-
tinue the same fundrajsing, but
on at local level. Together we
can organize our own rides or
swims (although we can't use
the word, "AIDSride" appar-
ently Palotta has copywritten
the name to protect his mo-
nopoly). As a community we
can insure the health and well
being of our neighbors.

'|.

      

Numc

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