8 — OUT IN THE MOUNTAINS — MARCH 1998 C1‘5'§”§ifieds looking for... ___________ __ SEEKING RIGHT LlVELlHOOD: sman, organized, thoughtful, gentle lesbian needs gainful employment._ l can help you get organized. Which closet do you ' want to tackle first? Reasonable rates. Local refs. Upper Valley preferred but will travel. ODYSEA 603-298-8224 email:odysea@quest-net.com living situations _________ _ _ Boulder Lesbian seeks Bur|ington—area Writing Retreat. I'm looking to swap apartments or find an inexpenstive one month sublet in the Burlington or Queen City Park area during late August, September or October 1998. Apartment or home need not be fancy: just clean, quiet and safe. My apartment is small but V sunny, in an old house with lots of lesbian neighbors, near the mountains and pedestrian mall. Leave me (Ellen) a message at the computer lab where I work 303-546-3587 or email me at eorleans@ao|.com. Housemates wanted. Queer gal looking for two people for a beautiful three bedroom house on Henry street in Burlington. Hardwood floors, living room, dining room, basement, back porch, and private yard. I'm looking for responsible, queer friendly people interested in creating a home. Availble May 1st or possibly June 1st. $260 plus 1/3 utilities. Call Bekah at 865-9970. Housemate wanted. Wonderful farmhouse in Monkton. Dyke seeks some kinda queer to share_ home with me and my dog. Other pets or kids welcome it we all , get along. Large room, semi-furnished. Beautiful setting, large yard. 30 mins to Burlington or Middlebury. $300 plus. Call 453-5370 or email HankVT@ao|.com. Responsible GM looking for an inexpensive living situation in Hardwick area. Seeking sublet or extended house sitting arrangement. Don’t smoke, don’t have pets. call 865 0385. 36 Year old vegetarian, nonsmoking gay male looking for a quality roommate in my country home 35 minutes to Burlington with 8 acres, a wood-fired sauna and 2 shelties (smallish dogs). $325, plus split utilities. Steven - 434-5653. real estate ————————— — -4 — — - Cabin and Land For Sale: Year round rustic cabin on 10.27 wooded acres in guildhall, VT. 35 minutes East of St. Johnsbury. Cabin is newly finished this fall, no electric, well insulated, on a year round well maintained gravel road. Has low taxes, very private, and safe. $28,900. call Teri Anderson (603) 788 5530 Urban Gardener's Haven - Heated sunroorn, large sunny living room, one bath, two bedrooms, and a garden full of perennials, herbs, blueberries and dwarf fruit trees. $97,000. Call Susan at 865-0436. helpwantett ____ _‘____;___ Sales staff Needed for small and growing Vermont Microbrewery. Some experience helpful but not neccesary. Confidence, honesty, belief in the product and a reliable Vehicle essential. Please Mail a resume to Tunbridge Ales, PO Box 837, S. Roylaton VT 05068 V0|llIltE8|‘S ____________ _ _ OITM is looking for volunteers to help with out reach, writing, reporting, photography and community building. Volunteers will need to be able to work with deadlines, but on the other hand will be invited to all the best parties. -- personals _________ _ ; _ _ _ Cheerful, accomplished, energetic, bright, family oriented, male 30-45, 145 pds or less, height unimportant, NS, sought by similar male, age 59 for domestic life, world travel, community adventure andlove. Passion for classical music - but not opera) especially Desirable. Ask for Sasha (802) 295-5085. Colchester, 24 year old GF mom_. Single attractive Fern. enjoys laughing, dancing, free spirited, intelligent. Seeks intellegent, grounded, attractive 22-36 year old GWF who enjoys time with children and time alone. Call for friendship, maybe more: (802)654-7134 GWP couple, late 40's, seek ltrs and advice from sim. men in So. VT who can help us realize our dream of one day relocating to So. VT. Need info on real estate, community life, and social support. We are a mature.yet young-at-heart couple hopeful of a_new life in VT in retirement. all answered. Write: RCW - 3380 Sheridan Dr., Ste 360, Amherst, NY 14226-1439. announcing ____________ _ _ Lesbian Nurses (LPNs, Rns, nurse practitioners, etc.) —— lnformal first get-together on Wed. Feb 18th, 7pm, Burlington. Location and time of future meetings to be established by group. for More information call Elizabeth, 864-7898. tor-saIe..____. ________ ___ VCR, Cable-Ready, 4-head Hi-Fi, Newly Reconditioned, Great Quality Picture. Guaranteed 30 days. $65. (802)467-3755 OITM’s Classified section features items for sale, housing opportunities, Personals, help wanted and the like. As a new service to our readers Individuals may p/ace ads for tree! Donations are welcome and encouraged. We reserve the right to refuse ads. Responding or placing adsis done at an individual’s own risk. Ads mustbe received by the twentieth of the previous month. Mail ad copy and optional donation to PO Box 177, Burlington VT 05402 or email it to 0ITM@togethernet. We must_ have full name, address and phone number to run. ads; however information will be kept confidential. LEGAL BRIEFS Update from the Foxholes BY BETH ROBINSON AND SusAN MURRAY ermont Law School student Andrew Tarasevich’s recent ef- fort to bar military recruiters from VLS because the military discriminates against glbs, and the related campus—wide pro- test, have refocused public at- tention on the largely forgotten but still unresolved issue of gays in the military. Here's an update. As you will recall, back- ing away from his campaign promise to lift the ban on gays in the military, in 1993 Presi- dent Clinton embraced a com- promise policy known as Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Pursue. The idea was was that the military would stop asking servicemembers about their sexual orientation and would end the longstanding practice of witch hunts, and glb servicemembers (but not straight ones) would be ex- pected to keep their sexual ori- entations to themselves. , How's It Working? Servicemembers Legal Defense -Network ( SLDN), which monitors the military’s treatment of glb servicemembers, found that in 1996 the military’s rate of dis- charges under its anti—gay poli- cies reached its highest level since 1987. In fact, the number of servicemembers discharged in 1996 was actually greater than the number discharged in 1992, before Clinton took of- fice, even though the total ac- tive military force shrank sub- stantially during that same pe- riod. Notwithstanding the clear legal mandate not to ask, the armed forces frequently do just that. In 1996, SLDN docu- mented 89 cases of asking, in- cluding the use of an old re- cruiting form with the ques- tions: Are you a homosexual or bisexual? and Do you intend to engage in homosexual acts? The Don’t Tell part isn't faring much better. The mili- tary interprets the don’t tell re— A quirement so broadly that mili- tary doctors and psychologists are supposed to turn in glb servicemembers who come out in private counseling sessions. In one case, West Point actually treated a cadet’s diary entry as telling. SLDN reports one of the most absurd examples of homosexual conduct support- ing military disciplinary ac- tion: attending the Dinah Shore golf tournament and giving Anne Rice vampire novels to a friend. Finally, the Don’t Pursue prong—— designed to end witch hunts whereby accused servicemembers are asked to identify other gay or lesbian colleagues— has been largely ignored. SLDN reported one case in which up to sixty ,women on board the USS Simon Lake were targeted in a witch hunt in which members were threatened with criminal prosecution if they did not im- plicate lesbian fellow sailors, and another in which a male soldier prosecuted for the rape of another man was given a substantially reduced sentence in exchange for his naming military men with whom he claimed to have had consen- sual sex. ‘ SLDN reports ' that women servicemembers in nontraditional fields, and those who rebuff unwanted sexual advances or report sexual harassment, seem dis- proportionately targeted for investigation. In 1996 women comprised 13% of the active duty force and 29%‘ of the servicemembers discharged under the anti-gay policies. What's Happening In The Courts? ' Servicemembers have challenged the Don’t Ask, etc. policy on constitutional grounds, arguing that the _ policy discriminates against glbs, and restricts free speech rights. So far, most courts have upheld the policy's constitu- tionality, ruling that glbs don't enjoy constitutional protection against discrimination, and deferring to the military. However, last summer a ~ federal court in New York rec- ognized that laws singling out _ glbs for adverse treatment are unconstitutional, and just last month a federal court in D.C. » offered hope that the courts will at least- try to enforce the policy as written, rather than allowing the military to ignore even the minimal require- ments of Don’tAsk, Don’t Tell, Don’t Pursue. The latter case involved a tip to the Navy from a civil- ian volunteer who suspected that an AOL user employing the alias boysrch and self-iden- tified as gay was Senior Chief Timothy McVeigh (no relation to the Oklahoma City bomber). The Navy contacted AOL un- der false pretenses and, in vio- lation of electronic privacy laws, confirmed its suspicion. (AOL wrongly released the in- formation.) The Navy promptly initiated proceed- ings to discharge the highly decorated seventeen-year vet- eran. The federal trial court in D.C. berated the military: "[T]he Navy . . . violated the very essence of Don’t Ask, Don’t Pursue by launching a search and destroy mission. . . . [T]he Navy has gone too far. The Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Pursuefipolicy . . . was in- tended to bring our nation's armed forces in line with the rest of society, which finds dis- crimination of virtually every form intolerable. It is self-evi- dent that a person's sexual ori- entation does not affect that individual’s performance in the workplace. . . . [This] case vividly underscores the folly . . of a policy that systemati- cally excludes a whole class of persons who-have served this country proudly and in the highest tradition of excel- * lence.” Here, here! Susan Murray and Beth Robinson are attorneys at Langrock Sperry 8* W001 in Middlebury, Vermont whose practices include employ- ment issues, family matters, estate planning, personal injury and worker's compensation cases, and A general commercial and civil liti- gation. Tlzis column features timely information about legal is- sues of interest to our community. We hope to provide information about important laws and court cases that may aflectour rights, as well as practical nuts and bolts advice for protecting ourselves and our families. If you'd like to see us cover a particular topic, please feel free to write OI TM or call usxat 388-6356. OITM o OITM - OITM - OITM - OITM o OITM - OITM - OITM o OITM - OIT M - OITM - OITM o OlTM_- OITM - OlTM o OITM - OlTM - OlTM - OITM -' 1" OITM. OITM - OITM - OITM . OlTM - OITM - OITM - OITM - OITM - oi TM- OlTM - OITM - OITM - OITM -I/-\DVERTlSE - OITM - OlTM . OITM . OlTM - OlTM - OITM . OITM - OITM - OITM - OITM - OlTM - OITM - or TM o o ITM . 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