6—OmmnmMwmm5—DKmwR 1998 Middlebury I Matthew Shepard Candlelight Vigil Against Violence Tuesday November 17th, at 5:45pm members of Middlebury area congregations and others gath- ered in the Middlebury green to sing and remember Matthew Shepard. About 50 people gathered holding candles in the dark, as cars past honking in support. The people who gathered called for an end to violence and bigotry. The group that gathered was diverse, ranging from young children with their parents to a few elderly people, a mix of gay and straight, all gather- ing together to spread the same mes- sage of tolerance.V I Queer Studies Discussion Held At Middlebury College BY KRISTIN GRAY On Saturday, November 14, approximately 40 people gathered at the McKinley House on the campus of Middlebury college fora panel discus- sion on gender studies, women’s stud- ies, gay and lesbian studies and queer studies. The panelists were Jonathan Katz, Dwight Fee, and Holley Allen. Katz is an art historian and chair of the Gay and Lesbian Studies department at the City College of San Francisco, as well as founder of the Harvey Milk Institute. Fee and Allen are both pro- fessors at Middlebury College. Katz discussed gay and lesbian studies and queer theory. He has an ' extensive background in this area being not only the chair of the only gay and lesbian studies department in the nation but also a gay rights activist. He spoke about his department at the City College of San Francisco and the difference between gay and lesbian studies and queer theory. Katz suggested that gay and les- bian studies as a field arose because of the reluctance of main stream acade- mia to look at the importance of sexu- ality. It is often interested in looking at history. Queer theory, on the other hand, explores the nature of sexuality as,a social construction; Its basic tenet is that sexuality is not stable. In speak- ing of his department, Katz said that it is called Gay and Lesbian Studies ofii- cially, but that the members of the department call it a Queer Studies department among themselves. He said that his department tries to look at gay and lesbian studies from a queer theory viewpoint. spoke about her own research and how it has been influenced by gender studies, women’s studies, gay and les- bian studies and queer studies. She spoke mostly about her dissertation, . 3 . Allen, a feminist cultural historian, I Fallen Women and Forgotten Men: Gendered Concepts of Community, Home, and Nation. She focused pri- marily upon the New Deal era, espe- cially the idealized homosociality that was typical of that time with the many military-like civilian organizations like the Conservation Corps. Fee also spoke about his disserta- tion, Coming Over: Friendship between Straight and Gay Men. For his dissertation he interviewed straight men who are fiiends with gay men to try and determine how their friendship has affected them. In general he found that these friendships tend to rein- force, rather than undermine, straight men’s own heterosexuality. Their fiiendshipsmake them examine what it means to be a man as well as what it means to be heterosexual. Fee noted that he sees this phenomenon carried into the classroom. He has found that out students serve as a sort of mentor to straight students as they begin to examine what it means to be hetero- sexual beings. Afier these brief introductions a general discussion began. The main focus was on queer theory and what it means to be queer as opposed to gay, lesbian, bi or transgender. The tenn “queer” refers mostly to a perspective as opposed to an actual identity, and therefore can be adopted by anyone Marching by candlelight in Midlebury. who regards sexuality critically, regardless of their own sexual identity. Thus, anyone who shares this perspec- tive can be queer. According to this view, not only do we not need to be gay, lesbian, bi or transgender to be queer, but we don’t need to be queer to be gay, lesbian, bi or transgender. To illustrate this point Katz told about an incident that occurred afier a speech he made at a PFLAG meeting. A fairly ordinary looking, middle class couple approached him at the end. The woman spoke to him first, “Since we’ve been talking about our sons sexuality I’ve grown increasingly uncomfortable in our neighborhood,” she said. “It’s not that I want to sleep with women, but I think I’m queer, is that OK?” Jonathan Katz reassured her that it was, in fact, OK. Other topics discussed at the meet- ing were queer theories, views on gays in the military, and the effects of the looseness of the term, “queer”. There is fear that, as the queer can apply to anyone, some may, and do, adopt it superficially. Although the discussion was very — intellectualized and sometimes hard to follow for those with little back- ground knowledge, most in atten- dance enjoyed themselves and came away better informed. V Brattleboro I Brian Stephens and Scott Graham Celebrate 10 Years Together November 28, 1998: Brian Stephens and Scott Graham celebrated 10 years of committed life together today. They met by chance in Brattleboro, VT when Scott moved from Florida to the tri-state area to do counseling and teach wilder- ness skills and rock climbing for Outward Bound. ~r‘ Graham, a licensed alcohol and drug counselor, works for Marathon of Brattleboro and coordinates an Intensive Outpatient Drug an Alcohol Treatment Program for the Vermont Department of Corrections. Stephens works for Applebee’s, Inc. and is an Assistant General Manager at their W. Lebanon, NH property. Both volunteer their time extensively with the Monadnock Humane Society’s Foster Care Program. “Even though our relationship is not recognized by legal authorities, it does not diminish our true com- mitment and love for each other,” said Graham. Both Graham and Stephens have taken steps to provide each other with rights that legally married couples enjoy thorough developing a Power of Attorney and Health Care Power of Attorney, but Graham states these provide minimal support in comparison to the privileges of legal marriage.V Burlington I Hate Crime Panel ' Discussion On Oct.26 Men’s Health Project hosted a panel at Contois auditorium in Burlington called “Beyond Matthew Sheperd-Hate Crimes in our Community and What We Can Do About Them”. It was an interesting evening with an impressive- ly large group of concerned citizens. Lt. Helrich from the Burlington Police Dept, Palmer LeGare from Outright Vermont, Sondra Solomon from UVM Psych Dept., Beth Robinson from Langrock Sperry and Wool, Keith*Goslant from Vt. Coalition for L&G Rights, and Tim Palmer from Vt. CARES (who has been the victim of brutal hate attacks), were on the panel. CCTV cable channel 17 in Burlington taped the event for public broadcast. Air times are as follows: Nov. 30- 7:30 pm and Dec. 1st- lam, 7am, and 1pm. Copies of the video tape are available. Contact Yolanda at 863-2437. MHP is in the process of planning more projects that address hate toward the GLBT community, and would like to hear from the community as to what you think would be effective. They hope to collabo- rate with GLBT organizations to increase community building and awareness.V