r-‘ :x s "' C1?{§§'irieds looking for-..._ _ _ _ _______ _ _ SEEKING RIGHT LIVELIHOOD: smart, organized, thoughtful, gentle lesbian needs gainful employment. I can help you get organized. Which closet do you want to tackle first? Reasonable rates. Local refs. UpperValley preferred but will travel. ODYSEA 603-298-8224 email:odysea@quest-net.com living situations '__ _ _ _ _ _ i_ _ _ _ _ GM roommate wanted for 2 bdrm house in Burl, (new north end) has pool, dishwasher, washer + dryer, gas heat and hot water. $400.00 month’ 1/2 uilt. Call 863-0062 evenings if no answer leave message and number. Available May 1 st. Boulder Lesbian seeks Burlington-area Writing Retreat. l’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 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@aol.com. 7 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. l’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 if 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@aol.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 ______ _ 5 ———— — - 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 sunroom, 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. neIpwanterl_____-______’__ 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 V0lll|It8Bl'S ____________ _ _ OlTM 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 _______ _ L __ __c_ My name is Cindy. l’m a transgender. l’m not on hormones, yet. Desiring trusting, loving, tender individual who is open-minded and ready to touch each other’s hearts. l’m 45, 5'10", 157 lb. and I must be treated as a woman. Male or female may respond. Only those that feel they're worth loving should communicate. Soulmate, 31 Brooklyn St., Apt. 2 Barre, VT 05641 GWM, 50, blu/blo, 230, 5'8". lSO GWM 40-55 for friendship, possible LTR. Live in So. VT. Interests include: swimming, movies, restaurants, quiet evenings at home. Any race OK. Smokers OK. No drugs! Contact: Bob. POB 222, Brattleboro, VT 05302, or call (802) 258-2340. 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 and love. Passion for classical music - but not opera) especially Desirable. Ask for Sasha (802) 295-5085. 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. altanswered. Write: RCW - 3380 Sheridan Dr., Ste 360, Amherst, NY 14226-1439. lfll‘ sale _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __"_____-'__ VCR, Cable-Ready, 4'-head Hi-Fi, Newly Reconditioned, Great Quality Picture. Guaranteed 30 days. $65. (802)467-3755 OlTM’s Classified section features items for sale, housing opportunities, Personals, help wanted and the like.As a new service to our readers Individuals may place ads for free! Donations are welcome and encouraged. We reserve the right to refuse ads. Responding or placing ads is done at an individual's own risk. Ads must be 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 OlTM@together.net. We must have full name, address and phone number to run'ads, however information will be kept confidential. LEGAL BRIEFS Marriage Update! BY BETH ROBINSON AND SUSAN NIURRAY “ he legal and political landscape concerning _ equal marriage rights under the law for same gender couples has evolved somewhat since we last wrote about the topic in this column, so we thought it would be helpful to bring folks up to date. The Vermont Lawsuit ' As you probably know, last July we filed suit on behalf of three same gender couples ‘ in Chittenden County who had been denied marriage licenses. In December, the trial court dismissed their case, conclud- ing that the marriage laws are limited to different sex couples in order to ’promote the link between procreation and child- rearing.’ Although the trial court ruled for the State, it did reject the other six reasons the state offered in support of its discriminatory marriage laws as ’invalid,’ ’difficult . . . to grasp,’ ’premised on improper presumptions about the roles of men and women,’ and ‘without any common sense or logical basis.’ The plaintiffs, have ap- pealed to the Vermont Su- preme Court, arguing that it makes no sense that convicted felons and deadbeat dads have a constitutional right to marry (they do), but law—abiding and responsible members of the community like these gay couples do not. We have also argued that the State's dis- crimination can only hurt kids since many same sex couples have children, and we've chal- lenged the State's assumption that marriage is a ‘zero sum game,’ such that allowing same sex couples to marry would somehow take some- thing away from different sex couples. (If you're interested, a local attorney has posted the trial court decision and trial court briefing on his web site at www.fitzhugh.com/ new.htm.) Numerous organizations have filed ’friend’of the Court’ briefs on our behalf, including a coalition of local and national women's rights groups, a state- wide collection of communi- ties of faith supported by 95 in- dividual Vermont ministers and rabbis, the local and na- tional ACLU, local and na- tional gay rights advocacy or- ganizations (including the Ver- mont Freedom to Marry Task Force and the Vermont Coali- tion V for Lesbian and Gay Rights), a group of legal schol- ars, the Vermont Human Rights. Commission, and a col- lection of mental health profes- sionals and academics. The State isflexpected to respond with a brief of its own in mid-April, and the plaintiffs will file a final response within a couple of weeks after that. Once the briefing is completed (by early May), the Vermont Supreme Court will set the case for oral argument. The Court could rulein favor of the couples or the State, or could that Alaska's marriage laws were discriminatory and’ de- prived same sex couples in Alaska of a fundamental right. The court ordered the state to prove at a trial that its discrimi- nation is narrowly tailored to serve a compelling public in- terest— a very difficult test for An opposition group calling itself ‘Take it to the People’ has recently formed, and has pledged to introduce a constitutional amendment to prohibit , same sex marriage in Vermont. send the case back to the trial court for further proceedings. Vermont’s Political Landscape In the meantime, the Ver- mont Freedom to Marry Task Force is continuing to network with clergy and other organi- zations around the state, pro- vide speakers on the marriage issue, distribute its video to public access television sta- tions, and organize around the ‘state. An opposition group calling itself ’Take it to the People’ has recently formed, and has pledged to introduce a constitutional amendment to prohibit same sex marriage in Vermont. This group appears to be quite well funded, and those who believe that gay and lesbian Vermonters should be entitled to the same constitu- tional rights as their hetero- sexual counterparts will have to work hard in the coming months and years to counter the opposition’s divisive mes- . sage. (The Vermont Freedom to Marry Task Force needs all the help it can get; please e-mail the Task Force at info@vtfreetomarry.org.) Other States The marriage debate is alive and well in .Hawaii, where the Supreme Court found Hawaii's laws discrimi- natory, and the trial court found no legal justification for the discrimination. The Hawaii marriage case is back up on ap- peal to the Hawaii Supreme Court, which is expectedany, time now to affirm the trial Court's decision and order Ha- waii to begin recognizing mar- riages between partners of the same gender. In the meantime, our counterparts in Hawaii are working hard to fend off a pro- posed constitutional amend- ment in Hawaii like.-. the one our opposition has pledged to support in Vermont. In the meantime, a trial court in Alaska recently ruled A any law to pass. In the mean- time, legislators in Alaska are considering a constitutional amendment to override any court decision. Susan Murray and Beth Robinson are attorneys at Langrock Sperry 1 ér Wool in Middlebury, Vermont whose practices include employ- ment issues, family matters, estate planning, personal injury and workers, compensation cases, and ‘general commercial and civil liti- gation. This 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 affect our 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 OITM or call us at 388-6356.