10 — OUT IN THE MOUNTAINS — JULY 1998 C1‘5'§”§irieds looking for-... OFFICE SPACE NEEDED Out in the Mountains is looking for a new home. We need new space at a bargain price. Any leads are appreciated. Call Chris at 865-9294 or Barb at 388-8298. Email oitm@together.net Disabled Lesbian Activist Artist Author living in Jamaica Plain (Boston), Mass. seeking woman to live-in to do housekeeping Mon.-Fri. mornings, learn personal care, and carry beeper to provide emergency personal care backup if a regular personal care assistant is ill. Free room in big Victorian house with garden, close to public transportation. resident parking. own entrance plus cable TV PLUS $1 .000/month CLEAR PLUS $100/ day it called in for backup. Drivers license req. Non-smoking, strong, light-sleeping woman preferred. One year minimum commitment. Will train. (617) 524-0921. WOMEN TO JOIN INTENTIONAL COMMUNITY on 50 beautiful acres of land trust in Huntington. Low expenses. pond. farmhouse and barn, sauna. Land is paid for. Seeking mature, caring women of any race or age. Inclusive spiritual orientation a plus. FMI: HOWL 434-3953 I am interested in joining a sofball league for fun. l'm a 50 yo looking to fullfill a lifelong dream. Please let me know it you hear of any Iesbianlwomyns teams. thanks. Jeanne C. 222-9090 My partner and I are interested in vacationing at a ‘Dude Ranch‘ out west_— Colorado, Wyoming, Montana - Does anyone know of one owned or run by womyn? We also have friends wh would like to work at one. Thanks. Jeanne C. 222-9090 - SEEKING RIGHT LIVELIHOOD: smart, organized, thoughtful, gentle lesbian needs gain- ful employment. I 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.oom |lVllIfl situations APARTMENT SHARE IN NORWICH with 40 yo gay professional. YOur own large carpeted bedroom with huge closet. Share Iv rm, kitchen, bath, and garden. Non- smoking a must. Prefer considerate and communicative roommate. $275 + 1l2 utilities. Call Dan 802-649-2295 or email at Tinnomore@aol.com Gay Male Roommate Needed Share 2 bedroom, 6 room house in Shelburne. Secluded, large lot. $450 + 1/2 utilities. Security deposit/credit checkl 1yr. lease. Leave message at 985-9158 or speak to Dick. - Boulder Lesbian seeks Burlington-area Writing Retreat. l'm looking to swap apartments or find an inexpensive 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 303546-3587 or email me at eorleans@aol.oom. 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@aol.com. real estate CHARMING BUNGALOW WIPRIVACY OF COUNTRY LIVING but only 4 miles from Burl. 2/3 acre bordered by 20 acres of protected woods, newly renovated kitchen, oak trim, hrdwd flrs, fp wlvvs, deck, screen-in porch, 1645sq ft incl 2 bd, fb, 1l2b, Ir, dr, & fr. $125,000. Call Pamela or Chris at (802) 655-5424 HAND BUILT CABINIRUSTIC HOME on 10+ private acres in Jonesvil|e....only 19 miles from Burlington. Gas lights and fridge. No electric. Outdoor plumbing. Two heat sources. Charming well insulated space for single person or couple. $54,000. Interested call Kris @ 862-9431 or Glo @ 434-3953Cabin and Land 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. $97000. Call Susan at 8650436. VIIIIIIIIGBPS Help needed. G|itterlRhombus Gallery need help tuning the video projector. If you are handy with electronics (not the battery operated kind) - the Rhombus Gallery needs you. The equipment is a BARCO Video projector from the mid 19805. Your time would be greatly appreciated and may be considered an in-kind donation for taxvpurposes. Call Mark Awodey 865-3144 or 8659063. OITM is looking for advertising representatives to sell ads for Vermont‘s fastest growing Newspaper. Full or part time, no experience neccesary. Must be self motivated, person- able. Does not need to live in Burlington. FMI call 802 865 9294. IIBFSIIIIZIS Passionate lesbian desiring to develop a lasting relationship with sharing, laughs, and love. l'm 38, creative and spontaneous, searching for that special someone to experi- enoe life's adventures with. It you have an energetic positive spirit, write to: Janice Lucey, 135 Maple Lane, West Danville, VT 05873. Barre, 24 GF single attractive. Enjoys laughing, dancing, going out, and spending quiet evenings at home. Seeks intelligent, attractive, outgoing 22-30 GF who _likes kids. Friendship and possibly more. CKK, 33 Green Acres, Barre, VT 05641. ‘ I am a gay white male, 21 years old, bedroom brown eye;s and thick brown hair, 6'1”, 180 pounds, _muscuaIar body. Looking for a mature man, 35 or older. Friendship maybe more. Victor Collett #124804 KSP PO Box 128, Eddyville, KY 42038 My name is.Cindy. I’m a transgender. I’m not on hormones, yet. Desiring trusting, loving, tender individual who is open-minded and ready to touch each other's hearts. I’m 45, 5'10”. 157 lb. and I must be treated asa 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 ' - 0lTM’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@togethernet. We must have full name, address and phone number to run ads, however information will be kept confidential. ' LEGAL BRIEFS A Homophobe Exposed Until fairly recently, de- bates about civil rights protec- tions for gay and lesbian citi- zens centered around indi- vid ual rights, such as the right to be free from job discrimina- tion. While a majority of Americans support anti-job discrimination laws, most people have been much slower to acknowledge that millions of gay men and lesbians form families, that between six and fourteen million of those fami- lies include children, and that these families also need legal. protections. ln adoption cases over the last decade, and in the pending marriage cases here in Vermont and in Hawaii and Alaska, the issue of gay fami- lies, and especially gay families with children, has been at the forefront. In the Hawaii mar- riage case, the state unsuccess- fully argued at trial that chil- dren are better off if they are raised in a heterosexual envi- ronment. Herein Vermont, a ”friend of the Court” brief has been filed by the Vermont Psy- chological Association, the Ver- mont Psychiatric Association, the Vermont Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers, and several promi- nent Vermont psychology pro- fessors and practitioners. Their brief reviews the psychological studies, conducted over the past twenty years on gay par- ents and their children, which show that gay parents have parenting skills equivalent to their heterosexual counter- parts, and that children of gay parents are as well adjusted as those raised by straight par- ents. Specifically, such chil- dren have similar levels of self- confidence and leadership ability, similar interpersonal skills, social competence, and peer relationships, and similar moral reasoning and intelli- gence; they show no significant differences in their sex role be- havior or sexual orientation, and they do not report signifi- cantly more easing by peers be- cause of their parents. These studies show that the quality of the parents’ relationship and their parenting skills, not the sex of the parents, determines a child's well-being. Unlike in Hawaii, the Vermont Attorney General’s office, in its brief to the Ver- mont Supreme Court, has con- ceded that it "is not asserting that children raised by same- sex couples will develop differ- ently in any measurable psy- chological way.” Nevertheless, two self- ‘ described ”Christian ministry” organizations devoted to help- ing g/ls become ”e>:—gavs,” along with other outside BY SUSAN MURRAY groups devoted to defending "traditional family values” and ”restoring moral principles,” have filed a brief claiming that the only legitimate study, about gay parenting was done in 1983 by one Paul Cameron, an infamous homophobe who has been kicked out of the Ameri- can Psychological Association for continually misrepresent- ing his data on homosexuality and making inflammatory and untrue statements about gays. Cameron claims that gay parents sexually abuse their children at an alarming rate because there is a "dispropor- tionate association between homosexuality and pedo- philia," that children of gay parents are more likely to be gay, and that they are ”more apt to be socially and psycho- i logically disturbed.” Researchers have thor- oughly discredited Cameron's study. First, despite his claim that his study was'"represen- tative” of the national popula- tion, Cameron actually only surveyed people in seven cit- ies, including Omaha, Ne- braska, and Louisville, Ken- tucky. Second, only 23% of the people he wanted to include in his survey actually responded — a rate which researchers say is unacceptably low. Third‘, only 17 of the 10,589 adults he contacted said they were children of gay par- ents — a sample size that is so minuscule as to make it impos- sible conclude anything. Fourth, his survey was so long and convoluted and compli- cated, and the questions so in- trusive, it’s likely that people were unwilling or unable to answer accurately. Finally, Cameron com- pletely tainted the survey re- sults by declaring his ho- mophobia in advance; in Omaha, for instance, he told a newspaper that the purpose of his survey was to provide "am- munition for those who want . laws adopted banning homo- sexual acts." One social scien- tist has said that Cameron's study is ”virtually meaning- less” because of all its flaws. Other researchers have ignored his work, and legiti- mate studies have consistently refuted his claims: children of gay parents are not dispropor- tionately gay themselves; chil- dren of g /1 parents areas well- . adjusted as other kids; and the vast majority of child sex abus- ers are heterosexual men, not gays and lesbians. For more information about Cameron's intentional misrepresentations, outra- geous fabrications about gays, ' and condemnation of his work by courts and social science organizations, see http':// psychology.ucdavis.edu/ rain- bow Susan Murray and Beth Robinson are attorneys at Langrock Sperry 8’ W001 in Middleb ury, Vermont whose prac- ' tices include employment issues, family matters, estate planning, personal injury and worker 3 com- pensation cases, and general com- mercial and civil litigation. This column features timely informa- ' tion about legal issues of interest to our community. We hope to provide information about impor- tant laws and court cases that may affect our rights, as well as prac- tical nuts and bolts advice for pro- tecting ourselves and our jitmilies. If you '41 like to see us cover a par- ticular topic, please feel free to write OITM or call us at 388- 6356. . 20something Project Launched at MHP continued from page four lease, I have way to much on my plate to be playing Sally Struthers to the Melrose Place set.” I hear that and to you I say “Get over yourself Mary, you are the Melrose Place set. It is just that Aaron Spelling has replaced the palm trees and Sunset Boulevard with Holsteins and Church Street." Honey, you know we all have issues so let's get together and do something about it. We can do ittogether, all for less than a cup of coffee a day. Over the next few months, let’s get together-talk amongst ourselves. 20.s is a great thing, kids, Ietis ride it like the ponies we never got for our_ birthdays. If you have any questions or need to talk to someone about your issues as a YMSM call me, Thomas, at 863-2437 or 800-649-2437. (Your Silence Will Not Protect You‘ “If we were not in the midst of mounting feminist backlash, all this talk of women writing too much or using words in unacceptable ways could be ignored. Instead, women writers and all our readers must talk back to all the attempts to mock or belittle our words... There should be no need for any female to fear putting words on paper in these times, yet there are those who want to promote such fear. Although there are many that like to proclaim that there is an excess of confession — too many women telling our stories in memoirs, autobiographies, biographies, biomythography — the truth remains: there is still much that has not been written about women‘s lives, both past and present... No woman is writing too much. Women need to write more. We need to know what it feels like to be submerged in language, to be carried away by the passion of writing words." \§. \. - bell hooky