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4 — OUT IN THE MOUNTAINS —- OCVTOBER 1998

We’ve Got What’s

,   Good for You
AT THE ONION RIVER CO-OP.

Here are 6 great reasons to shop at
the Onion River Co-op:

\

I Expanded Vitamin Supplements Department

0 Our Produce Department is the finest in the area.

0 Our Bulk Department

- Our Expanded Grocery Department brings you
a broad selection of organic and ethnic products along
with everyday staples.

0 Our friendly, knowledgeable staff will help you
find what you need, plan menus or answer any questions.

0 Everyone is welcome here — you don't have to be a
member. If you'd like to become a member, let us know.

The Onion River Co-op has the area's best selection of

fresh local and organic produce and natural foods. We

also carry gourmet specialties, bulk herbs, spices, teas,
‘1  rice, beans, pasta. Come check us out!

A community-owned
natural market

CELEBRATING 25 YEARS

 

274 North Winooski Avenue, Burlington 863-3659
l Mon-Sat. 9-9 - Sun. 11-8 VISA/MASTERCARD ACCEPTED

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|NATURAL FOODS, ORGANIC PRODUCE, SUPPLEMENTS

lurrrr VALLEY roan coor

:15% off all books with this coupon

I
I — open to the public -
I Monday—Saturday 9-7 Sunday 11-5 - 49 N. Main Street,WRJ,VT

‘Lmmmmmmmmmm

Every batch made
from scratch...

Sweet Rolls ° Muffins ° Granola Bars
Cakes ° Cookies— including low-fat,
naturally sweetened & vegan selections

BAKERY OPEN: M-F 6-6 Sat 8: Sun 6-4

 

B "d S
Ecierncifsjet Breakfast Mon - Fri 6-11
‘ Brunch Sat & Sun 8-1
148 Lunch Mon - Sun 11-4

 

 
       
       
 

A Comm unigl Owned Natural -Foods Market & Deli
specializing in Organic Choices!

BRATTLEBORO

FO0D ©C0‘0P

Open to 1/): Public

MONDAY-SATURDAY 9-9 SUNDAY 9-8 ‘ 2 MAIN ST ' BRATTLEBORO, VERMONT

A T T E N T ‘I O N :
out In The Mountains is moving and needs assistance from
you now, more than ever.

Office Furniture: A locking file cabinet, book shelves, par-
titions, desk, computer table, office chairs (Good ones, please. Your
new editor has a bad back.) — we’re basically starting from scratch,
so if you have office stuff, we can probably use it.

People: Cleaners to shape up the new space in Richmond,

movers to help drag what we have in Burlington to Richmond (see
Calendar Oct. 3 listing), people to help with distribution of the pa-
per, advertising sales people (yes, we'll pay commission), a Calen-
dar manager (only takes 3-5 hours a month), data entry help (some-
one who know Filemaker would be nice), writers, writers, photog-
raphers, and writers. If -you are interested in getting involved as a
meniber of the OITM staff,,_come to ameetin
.-*2, ~ . . .1; 1.

call i . . . ‘R. . 7'.

  

.I_ '~.'.:'’ r

OP-ED

I Is the Lewinsky scandal simply
a straight thing?

BY GLEN ELDER

K, so I too am titil
lated, reviled, and cu
rious about what

Clinton and Lewinsky did in
the windowless corridor out-
side the Oval Office. There, l’ve
admitted it! lt is beyond dis-
pute that the week that past
was one that demanded an
emotional response, even if
that response was to avoid
news about it. The nagging
question at the back of my
head, however, is what does
this mean for lesbians and gay
men?Doubtless, the gendering
of story will elicit different re-
sponses from the gay men and
lesbian women, the age gap
may have some of the parents
among us uneasy, or not. So
what follows here then is my
particular take on the affair, as
a gay man who now lives in
Vermont and has taken serious
time away from pickling to put
a couple of ideas down on pa-
per.

Of course this is nothing
new. Ever since I arrived in the
United States eight years ago,
there has been some steamy

sex story exposing the inher—'

ently contradictory fascina-
tion/ revulsion that America
has with sex and power. First
there was Clarence and Anita,
then there was Tailhook, fol-
lowed by O] and the titillation
that this mixed race marriage
produced, Gene McKinny, etc.
What makes the Lewinsky af-
fair different, of course, is that
unlike so many of the sex scan-
dals, this isjust two white folks
going atit.The otherAmerican
obsession — race — appears to be
absent, on the surface anyway.
One wonders what the fall—out
would have been if Monica
were black or Latina?

My first response was
that this is a ”straight” mess
and so, like birth control, it re-
ally did not concern me. But of
course, that is untrue. Sex,
whenever it enters into the
public arena, usually impacts
us all. The more time passed
the more I began to see how.
Then this week, it hit me. He
described these days as the
darkest days of his life. When
were the darkest days of my
life? When I struggled with the
fact that l was gay. This led me
to draw parallels between
what Clinton is experiencing
and the lives that many gay
men and lesbians live on a
daily basis. Huh?

No, I'm not saying we all
get a fanfare every time we
walk into a room, I wish! What
I am saying is that he has been
forced to confront his ”non
conventional" sexuality in
public, to come out so, to speak,

  

 

family life, his work, and prob-
ably his chapter in history.
Rather than recalling the his-
toric moments in the Rose Gar-
den than hinted at Peace in the
Middle East, or his late night
brokering of peace in Northern
lreland, we are left with the
idea of a middle aged man be-
ing blown by a young woman
in a seedy dark hallway. His
mark in history is under threat
of being reduced to a cum-
stain on a blue dress.

See Mr. President, as
much as you might have pre-
ferred that Star did not ask, so

cape nor hide from the contra-
dictions of sex and power.
Conversely, what hope do the
most disempowered among us
have for living unbothered
lives? How can we, without
fear, have sex and perhaps if
we are lucky find love in such
a climate? If we do, we should
not take it for granted.

So whether the impeach-
ment goes ahead or not, as gay
men and lesbians we should be
very nervous about a society
that is so hypocritically titil-
lated and reviled by the
Lewinsky affair. One thing is

What nape do the must disempowered
among us have Iar living unlmtlier-er!

Iillfl$?

that you did not have to tell —
when it comes to sex, that for-
mula just does not work! The
secret always slips out and
then you have no way of de-
fending yourself. Ask the hun-
dreds of lesbians and fewer but
no less traumatized gay men
who have had to give up lives
in the armed service. Once the
accusation is out, the best you
can do is deny it and the more
you deny it, the guiltier you
become.

Further, I felt increas-
ingly nervous about the way in
which so many citizens
seemed to follow the old trope
that he had lost "moral author-
ity”. From my perspective the
real loss is the ceded opportu-

certain, when the dust settles,
we will have a new sexual
landscape in the United States.
A national conversation has
already begun to redefine sex,
sexual relations, and morality.
Even if that conversation is
mostly about two heterosexu-
als, it can not leave homosexu-
als or society's responses to
them unchanged. My guess is
that the new landscape will be
one that is more hostile to
sexual minorities. For Presi-
dent Clinton the real sadness
is that being forced to “come
out” will not liberate him. Not
now. I hope the same is not true
for the young women and men
contemplating "coming out”
somewhere in rural Vermont.

nity to expose sexual politics
for what they are. Rather than
denying, covering up, and
hedging his bets he could have
rewritten the book on US sexu-
ality and power by admitting
to the affair and saying so
what? By playing the rules as
laid down in the compulsive
heterosexuality handbook he
backed himself into a corner
and could not win. What I
mean is this: So, the guy's a
slut! Big deal. I would rather
have a slutty President in the
White House than some dis-
embodied head of State who
acted with ”moral” authority
especially when that ”moral—
ity” defines me as a sexual out-
law.

Now I know there are a
great number of you thinking
- he's forgotten the one big fac-
tor: Power. Clinton was in
power; most gay men and les-
bians are not. Of course, but
that is what makes the whole
thing all the more pernicious.
Even the President of the
United States, the most pow-
erful man on the face of the
earth who apparently used a

     

 

Marriage Update

coutuzued from front page
lawyers, approached Attorney Gen-

eral William Sorrell and gave him the '

opportunity to modify a 20-year-old
opinion from the attorney generals
office ruling that same-sex marriages
were not permitted. Sorrell declined
to modify the opinion and that led to
the lawsuit.

A Chittenden Superior Court
judge decided the case in favor ofthe
stale late last year, but showed some
support for the idea.

Since the case went to the
Supreme Court, both sides have filed
written arguments and a number of
interested groups, including other
states, have also filed their views.
Now the case will be argued before
the five justices of the court. They then
will take the oral and written argu-
ments and decide the law.

it is unclear how long after oral
arguments a decision might be is-
sued. The court has decided big
cases very quickly before. The
Brigham case last year, which found
the old way of funding education un-
constitutional, took just seven weeks .

 H, g ,  g _ g deeisie. Omers. .h.ave.taken.ma.nv». 

onths.