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VOLUME XII, NU'MBER1O

side

OITM ———l--—----

FEATU RES:

7 HOWL, A Sacred Place for
Womyn

8 Green Mountain Freedom
Band Marches to a
Different Beat

 

SECTIONS:
14 arts & entertainment
18 health & vvellbeing

MONTHLY COLUMNS:
3 letters to the editor

4 voices from the mountains
6 faith matters

8 around vermont

9 the source

10 news briefs

13 legal briefs

13 on the other hand...

18 dyke psyche

19 resurrecting the body politic

p12 — Yolnda and

“Russ” spice up
FEE FUNNIES: Constance Craving’s
DtT\7V'23(;'f:';' 4’ 5 Winter Festival of

Fa_sh_ions

Qrrbside — 7, 11 ,_

Judge Dismisses VT
Gay Marriage Suit

Chittenden Superior Court Judge Linda Levitt surprised
observers when she issued her decision quickly on the motion
to dismiss by the Attorney General. The suit was thrown out
citing only one of the seven arguments the Attorney Genral
mentioned in his brief. In the seventeen page document, the
judge adressed the rest of the points as ”Invalid,” ”Speculative,”
"Difficult to grasp,” and ”With out common sense or logical ba-
SIS.

The one point that was accepted was the states interest in
maintaining a link between marriage and child rearing.

The plaintiffs will file an appeal sometime after the first of
the year, according to Beth Robinson, one of the attorneys for
the three couples suing the state. She expects the Supreme Court
to start hearing arguments this spring.

The attorney general’s office and lawyers seeking the right
of gays and lesbians to marry have exchanged a series of some-
times pointed and sarcastic legal arguments. The threecouples’
lawyers last filing totaled 108 pages of arguments, legal analy-
sis and citations of previous cases. The state responded with a
final 29-page volley.

The state has made clear that it would oppose a swift deci-
sion without testimony and possibly a full-blown trial. Instead,
it would seek an exchange of evidence and potentially a trial.

In his finalresponse, Sorrell said he would argue that gays
and lesbians are not hurt by the denial of marriage rights be-
cause they can obtain the benefits associated with marriage else-
where and he would seek to prove that in the runup to a trial.

”Many of the statutory ‘benefits’ described by plaintiffs
can be obtained through private contracts," he wrote. "Indeed,
if this case were to proceed to discovery, it might be learned that
some or all of the plaintiffs already possess some of the benefits
they seek in this case.” '

There was not a lot of new ground broken in the final fil-
ings of the two sides. The couples continued to maintain that
marriage is a fundamental foundation of society and should not

MARRIAGE, p22 '

ta

   

UT IN THE MOU

JANUARY1998

- Dean Commits to
Safe Schools for I '
Vermont’s GLBTQ
Youth

BY ANDREW ]. CAMPBELL

MONTPELIER — On
November 19, seventeen gay,
lesbian, bisexual,
transgendered and question-
ing (GLBTQ) teenagers met
with Governor Howard Dean.

.With pizza and soda as an ice-

breaker, the youth held an im-
portant dialogue with Gover-
nor Dean —- a meeting
VCLGR’s liaison, Keith
Goslant, had been longing for.
The teens, coming from many
organizations, including

five

OutRight Vermont, Central
Vermont OutRight, Youth
Awareof Addison County, G /
LEARN- Upper Valley
OutRight and a group from
Rutland, spoke about issues
concerning GLBTQ youth.

The topic of safe schools
was a highlight of the meeting.
Youth spoke about harassment
in public high schools, and the
need for gay / straight alliances
and other safe spaces within
the school environment. Gov-
ernor Dean supported the for-
mation of gay/straight alli-
ances.

State law requires public
schools to adopt and enforce
policies that deals with harass-
ment based on actual or per-
ceived sexual orientation.
Dean stressed the importance
of these laws, and committed

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_ Youth Meet thettfiltotiéiinor

to making sure they are com-
plied with. He plans to work
with the State Board of Educa-
tion to enlighten teachers
about sexual orientation and
homophobia. He plans to send
a letter to all public schools in
Vermont, making it clear that
homophobic harassment can
not be tolerated in an educa-
tional environment. ‘

The Governor had cel-
ebrated his birthday earlier
that week, so the meeting
ended with a few surprise gifts
— freedom rings, a pin and an
OutRight Vermont water
bottle. The youth who at-
tended seemed to walk away
pleased. I'd say, we had a si-
lent ally for a governor, but
he's just found his voice.

  

 

Lippert being sworn in as State Repr

sen tntive t Hinesburg.

Bill Lippert: Making a Difference in Vermont

BY KERRY A. SLORA

Currently serving as In-
terim Executive Director at the
Lund Family Center in
Burlington, State Representa-
tive and gay rights activist Bill
Lippert is surrounded by
women: teen mothers and ex-
pectant parents, female volun-
teers and staff." In an office of a
building combining the facili-
ties of a clinic with the’ com-
forts of a second home, Bill has
become a minority within a
minority, taking meetings in
rooms graced with photos of
mothers and infants, and
dodging stuffed animals on his
way out the door. ”I think it's
good modeling to be a gay
man providing leadership in a
setting that traditionally hasn't
had men,” he says, smiling.

Indeed Bill Lippert has

spent years challenging the sta-
tus quo, and becoming in-
volved in not only the struggle
for gay rights, but for human
rights as well. ”If we really
want to build a powerful coa-
lition to end [GLBT] oppres-
sion,” Bill says, ”we need to
think about what's happening
‘to other people. There is a link-
age between what happens to
us and what happens to people
of color, people with disabili-
ties, poor women . . . . These
oppressions interact with each
other.”

When Bill Lippert came
out in 1972, and later that year
came to Vermont from Penn-
sylvania, ”there was no orga-
nization in the state for openly
gay people.” Consequently,
Bill helped establish and sus-
tain the first gay men's support
group in Vermont. This en-
deavor also spawned other ef-

if bian people . .
2 happen!”

  

forts, such as the first gay
dances, and the first political
organization for gay people in
the state. ”We here in Vermont
have made tremendous
strides,” says Bill fervently.

”[These strides] are the result '

of many risks by gay and les-
. it didn't just

For many years Bill
Lippert worked as a psycho-
therapist in Vermont while si-
multaneously lobbying for the
gay rights bill and helping to
establish gay and lesbian orga-
nizations. He has been work-
ing with non—profit organiza-
tions extensively for years, in-
cluding a collaboration with
others eight years ago to cre-
ate Outright Vermont. The
group saw Vermont youth bat-
tling with the same depression
and alienation that they had
felt as young people, and thus
felt there was a great need for
an organization like Outright.
In 1985 Bill was hired as Execu-
tive Director of the Counseling
Services of Addison County,
making him one ofthe first
openly gay people to head a
mental health organization in
the state of Vermont.

When appointed to the
Vermont Legislature a few
years ago, Bill decided to step
back from the many organiza-
tions he was involved in, in-
cluding Vermont CARES, to
focus more on his role as State
Representative for the town of
Hinesburg. Before Representa-

LIPPERT, p22