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A PICTURE
PERFECT PRIDE

DY Pride ‘98 Parade
Photo Album

  

OP-ED
V Dean criticized for
;,taking gay and lesbian
. Vfsters for granted

ARTS AND

ENTERTAINMENT
V The OITM
Interview with
Katherine Quinn 

HEALTH &
WELLBEING

V An Interview with
Sex Radical Eric Rofes

 

  

  

VOLUME XIII, NUMBER 6

Q, ,.
Vermonters Come Out foI”G

BY JESSICA STEEL .

As they marched up
Main street, pride mingled
with sweat on every body.
Chants such as "1-2-3-4 open
up the closet door. 5-6-7-8 don't
assume your kids are straight”
bounced off the pavement
from the enthusiastic GLBT
youth groups. The many walk-
ing sticks, pickets, T-shirts,
banners, buttons, and flags

sent messages IIIUCI1 Stl'OI'lg€1'i

than words. Iune 20th was the
fourth annual Pride Day in
Burlington, Vermont.

Bread and Puppet led the
pack. Groups and organiza-
tions such as ”Dykes on
Trykes,” the Rainbow Business
Association, the Queer Youth
Provider Network, Unitarian
Universal Church, and the
Radical Faeries composed the
proud band of marchers. Last,
but not least was a bevy of drag
queens from across the three-
state area. One brave soul bal-
anced atop a motor home

 

JULY 199$ Q. '99,,

Priscil1a—style, gown blowing
in the breeze.

Queer people from all
across Vermont rallied to-
gether to demonstrate the des-
perate need for the silence of
GLBT people to end and for
equality to begin. Several
speakers appeared to rally at
the waterfront before the Pride

Parade. Danielle from TRANS, -

Youth at Risk Survey Raises Questions
about Safe Schools for GLBTQ Students

BY ]Ess1cA STEEL

"Who have you had sex
with?" This was the question
asked of high school students
on the Vermont Youth Risk Be-

havior Survey (YRBS). Keep in 73

mind that nowhere on the sur-

vey were the eighth through if
twelfth graders asked their §,
sexual orientation. The survey :3 
results don't decipher sexual E :

Pleg

risk behaviors of students who
have had sex with the same
gender/ sex versesthose who

  
 
  
 
 

identity and nor does it target '3' 1;

any teenagers except Vermont
high school students. It didn't
reach dropouts, homeless chil-
dren, imprisoned youths, etc.
However, the survey results do

. show some serious problems

that sexually active students
are facing.

For example, thirty-four
percent of youths who have
had sex with the same gender
and twelve percent ofhigh
schoolers who have had sex
with the opposite gender have
attempted suicide. Over half of
the students who engage in
sexual relations smoke ciga-
rettes, binge drink, and use
marijuana. Although the sur-
vey doesn't indicate sexualiori—
entation, it's apparent that
high school students are en-
countering serious and fright-
ening obstacles.

The most obvious distur-
bance is the difference between

   

Many area youths marched in this year's Vermont Pride parade

school teenagers.
1995 was the first year
that YRBS asked eighth

 

L

have experienced sex with the
opposite sex / gender. The per—
centages double, and for some
behaviors triple in comparison
of the two. Clearly students
who are viewed as ”different”
(the students who have expe-
rienced intercourse with the
same sex / gender) in their high
schools are dealing with inter-
nal and external behaviors that
are more harmful and severely
damaging than the rest of high

through twelfth graders about
their sexual experiences. The
'95 ”statistics were used exten-
sively,” says Tami Eldridge,
executive director of Outright
Vermont. ”The results are
shocking and continue to
shock [us],” Tami explains. On
a positive note, most of the
numbers from '95 to '97 have
dropped. However, areas of

YOUTH, p26

  

Photos by SootAppiegate
Peggy Luhrs formerly of the
Burlington’s Women's Coun-
cil, Chris Moes, OITM editor,
and Ed Flanagan, Vermont
state auditor, were some of the
determined few who voiced
their opinions and welcome
free expression of sexual orien-

- tation. The impassioned moti-

PRIDE, p8

BY LYNN FISHER

Mandy Vemalia
"just wanted

   

A Highway of Our Own

Upper left: Bread 8 Puppet lead
this year's GLBT Pride in
Burlington.

Above: A supporter marchesfor the
Unitarian Universalist Lesbians,
Gays, Bisexuals and Friends.

to get the ‘L-word’
out there" when she
decided to spear-
head the effort to
sponsor a popular
stretch of highway in
the Upper Valley. As
a result, two ”Upper
Valley Lesbians”
signs clearly mark
NH Route 4 just east
of the I-89 exit 17 in-
terchange, in Leba-
non, New Hamp-
. shire. And, it's not
just the ‘L-word’
that's out there, it's
the ’L—women’ as
well: Lesbians from
Vermont and New
Hampshire meet
four times a year to

don I‘9fl€CtiV€ Vests top: Mandy Vemalia; front: (I. to r.) Linda
and clean the road- McDonald, Susan Cox, Mary-Lou Bryant,
side. and Sukie Grover

if ue,ff£iiWr§iLLzr
Lrsaiiias

A stretch of

ans” cleaning the roadside.

highway sponsored by, say, ]im—Bob’s Auto Repair doesn't
generate much reaction, but there's been plenty of reaction
to this sign. For the road cleaners there have been stares,
smiles, honks, waves, thumbs up, and derisive comments.
The sign nearest the interstate has been unscathed, but the
easternmost sign‘has been defaced twice (and subsequently
repaired by the state) and has now been moved. Straight
friends frequently mention that they "saw the sign,” and
report conversations about seeing the ”Upper Valley Lesbi-

THE “L” WORD. p26 A

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