WILB HQ75 .0971 A VRMONT’lRM OR LSABIAN GY BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENDER ISSUES UT IN THE MO NAINS . MARCH1998 ‘ I R \. FREE VOLUME XIII, NUMBER 2 5 I he T FEATU RES: 14 Interview with Alison Bechdel‘ 15 A Queer History of ‘ White River Junction SECTI O N S: 16 arts & entertainment 20 health & wellbeing MONTH LY COLUMNS: 4 voices from the mountains 6 faith matters g 7 cybershark 8 legal briefs 8 news briefs 9 the source 10 news briefs 12 crow’s caws 12 on the other hand... 13 progeny 20 dyke psyche 21 resurrecting the body politic 24 stargayzer 25 around Vermont Freedom To Marry: The Right trikes Back - ‘Take It To The People’ takes it to the press A lawsuit seeking the right to same-sex marriage has drawn a long—awaited re- sponse from the political right. A group calling itself Take It To the People held a news conference at the State- house on February 11 to an- nounce the results of a survey it commissioned. The group said the poll showed Vermont- ers opposed same—sex mar- riage by a margin of three to one, Members of the group said they wanted to show that most Vermonters do not sup- port giving gays and lesbians the right to marry. They said they wanted to take the issue ’Take It To The People’ meet the press: Ruth Charlesworth of Burlington, DickTrudelI from Grand Isle, Mary Schayer of Waterbury, and Craig Benson of Cambridge derstands that there is not sup- port for the idea of gay mar- riage. Its members said that publicity would help stir fur- I greater AIDS assistance from the state. Members of Take It To The People, who identified The group was made up of about a dozen people, who appeared in front of television cameras in the Statehouse ”back to the people where it ther opposition. lobby. They held their news fh€mS€1V€S 35 part Of 31 "di- THE FUNNIE5: belongs.” ’ - ”We agree with the Attor- conference on the same day Verse group” were: Dr. David Ethan Glee” - 5' 13 Take It To The People ney General that it belongs in that many supporters of the Stertlbach Ifom V€_1iII\01”\I Citi- DTWQFT27 wants to publicize the results the legislature.” Sa_id_,Mary community also were at the‘ __'_____ Kcurbsme " 11’ 15 J of its survey so the public un— Schoyer. Statehouse lobbying ’ for BATTLE, p26 . . I Immrsmwniaws Mame Voters Repeal Discriminate ‘ Against Same Sex Couples BY ABIGAIL I. DUKE It often feels like discrirni~ nation against gay men and les- bians has sunk to record lows. Discrimination doesn't change the way many of us live our lives. But for gay and lesbian bi- national couples - when one partner is a citizen of a country other than the U.S. — discrimi- nation can be a daily experi- ence. As a friend says ’-’most people just don’t get it”. Con- sider.... _ 0 Melissa lived and worked illegally in Vermont for several years in order to stay . with her partner before it be- came too hard and she returned to England. ‘ °Rachael went to school ' for two years to get _a second masters when she wanted to work. °]ohn moved to Australia to join his partner when he couldn't obtain a work permit. ' 0 Ellen and Sonja struggle to remain in the U.S. They are legally married in the Nether- lands but that marriage isn't recognized by the United States. Seven countries — Swe- AIDS Awareness Day at the Statehouse. Keith Goslant and Tim Palmer talk at the Statehouse. Representatives of AIDS service organizations and PWAs met with the governor seeking more funding for services. den, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Australia, Britain and Canada - allow the gay and lesbian part- ners of their citizens to immi- grate, but not the United States. U.S. immigration law is designed to support family re- unification. However, U.S. law does not recognize gay and les- bian partners as ”family”. In fact, until 1991 homosexuality was reason enough to bar someone from inunigrating to the United States. - For married heterosexual couples, immigration is almost guaranteed. For gay or lesbian binational couples like immi- gration options are limited — and are an almost daily reason for stress. ”It is an outrage that people are forced to jump through legal hoops to sustain their relationships when our im.migration law is supposed to help families stay together,” said Lavi Soloway of the Les- bian and Gay Immigration Rights Task Force. Thousands of binational couples around the country have struggled — sometimes going to school when they want to work’; marrying someone that they don’t want to marry; spending thousands of dollars DISCRIMINATION, p26 _ Gay Rights Law Maine voters narrowly repealed a gay rights law enacted last year by the Legislature, leaving Maine as the only New En- gland state without such protections. Only 31 percent of the state's registered voters turned out for the special election, which was better than officials had pre- dicted. Roughly 51 percent voted in favor of repeal and 49 per- cent said they wanted to keep the law. . Advocates of the law said they believed the vote in Maine, the first time a state has used a voter referendum to repeal a gay civil rights statute, would increase the pressure for a federal law. ”Certainly, the right will feel emboldened by this, but again, I think it will definitely be a wake-up call across the country for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community,” said Rebecca Isaacs, political director for the National Gay and Les- bian Task Force. ' ' Ten other states, and Washington, D.C., now have laws similar to the one repealed in Maine. It would have barred dis- crimination against gays and lesbians in employment, housing, public accommodations and credit. The other states are Califor- nia, Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin. Conservative groups were emboldened by the vote. ”I think you're going to continue to see these issues pop up across the country because it seems a defining issue for liberalism going into the 21st century is granting special rights based on one’s sexual preferences behind closed doors,” said Randy Tate, ex- ecutive director of the Christian Coalition. His group helped fund the repeal effort. ’ Maine Gov. Angus King said the vote was a setback but he would still fight for gay rights. ”I think it's unfortunate,” he said. ”But we'll move forward, I think this is an evolutionary pro- cess.” ‘ g g The matter, however, should not be brought back before the Legislature ”anytime in the immediate future,” he said.