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1o — OUT IN THE MOUNTAINS — JANUARY 1999

  Enualitvnegins atllume and
a legislative llmlate

COALITION

/".9"
~ 5

NOTES.

 

I it rules
AND KEITH E. GOSLANT

n November I2, 1998, I
Oattended the National Gay
and Lesbian Task Force

“Creating Change” Conference in
Pittsburgh. It was wonderful to
spend four dayswith more than

I "2,000 GLBT people. The oppor-

tunity to network was well worth
the trip. There were so many
workshops from which to choose.
The ones I attended addressed
issues relating to transgenders,
citizen. initiatives, developing a
database, and GLBT in the union,
to name a few. -

But mainly, I attended the con-
ference to meet with other mem-
bers of the NGLTF Federation of
LGBT Statewide Political
Organizations, of which the

iVennont Coalition for Lesbian

and Gay Rights is a member.

The week of the Conference,
the Federation announced the
upcoming “Equality Begins at
Home Week,” which will be held
on March 2l-27, I999. Events
will take place around the country
in GLBT communities and will
highlight the challenges and
opportunities for change in state
government and state organizing.

VCLGR has been invited to
apply for a grant to help coordi-
nate the “Equality Begins at
Home Week” here in Vemiont. To
plan the week, VCLGR would
like to work with GLBT organiza-
tions throughout the state and will
contact those organizations to see
in what way they would like to
participate in the festivities. If
your organization would like to
plan an event, or are in the
process of planning an event,
please contact Virginia Renfrew
at 496-4333 or renfrew
@sover.net.

Another date to mark on your
calendar is February 16, I999.
VCLGR will be at the Statehouse
for our annual Visibility Day. This
year, as VCLGR has done over
the past four years, we have
reserved the Card Room in the
Statehouse and will invite GLBT

organizations and individuals to
come and meet their legislators.
This is a time for all to come and
spend an exciting day at the
Statehouse. We hope to see you
there.

The Legislature

When the Legislature recon-
venes in January, it will discuss
issues having a direct impact on
our communities: issues such as
revisions to Act 60 and electric
restructuring, issues affecting us
as taxpayers and citizens. But
there will also be legislation
affecting personal decisions we
make and the protections afforded
to us. I

The Office of the Attorney
General has convened a special
task force to look at hate and bias
crime prosecution in Vermont.
The proposal would give the vic-
tim/survivor of a hate crime the
option of obtaining a restraining
order against an alleged offender.
This provision had been proposed
in the original bill passed in 1987
but was deleted, as people were
unfamiliar with the process of
granting such orders. The bill also
attempts to establish consistency
in penalties and sentencing.

The Department of Health has
created a draft proposal on name-
specific reporting of HIV. While
there is general agreement that
Vermont needs more accurate and
current information on HIV infec-
tions, there is not agreement that a
name-reporting system has
advantages over one using unique
identifiers. There is also discus-
sion _ about whether the
Department of Health has the
authority to implement a new sys-
tem or whether legislative
approval is required.

As we wait for the Supreme
Court to rule on Baker v. State, we
will see the reintroduction of
Defense of Marriage Act-type
bills and possibly citizens’ initia-
tives. The Legislature did not
aggressively or actively support
these efforts in the last session.
But with the arguments having
been made before the Supreme
Court, our opposition may feel a

Psst! There's more to
read in OITM besides

No kidding!

Dykes To Watch

Out For!

greater sense of urgency on this
issue and place greater pressure
on legislators.

Funding for HIV/AIDS is a
concern each legislative session.
The Department of Health sub-
mits its yearly budget to the
Office of Administration to be
considered and included‘ in" the
Governor’s budget. We must
always be vigilant in ensuring
adequate monies are being
requested to provide the services
we know are needed in direct

client services, prevention, and
the medication assistance and
insurance assistance programs.
What can you do? Legislators
need to hear from constituents;
they need to hear from us. They
need to hear our support or oppo-
sition to specific legislation. They
need to know we are watching
what they are doing. They need to
be thanked when they do some-
thing we support. And if there are
committee and public hearings,
we must be willing to testify. As

in previous years, the Coalition
will monitor legislative action. If
there are issues of particular
importance to you, do not hesitate
to contact us for updates. Or vol-
unteer to be a member of the
Public Policy Committee and
have direct involvement with the
legislative process. You can con-
tact me either via the Coalition
toll free at (888) 825-4989 or
directly at 454-8552,or email:
kgoslant@ddmhs.state.vt.us. V

THE TASK FORCE

 

REPORT

BY SANDI COTE

he conservative label
l has always lain uneasily
on my shoulders. From

my earliest’ days * I’ve been
much more..comfortable being
called a liberal. Progressive
ideas were such a natural fit that
some people thought I was rad-
ical. In the 19605, as a white
teenager in Alabama, I marched
for black civil rights. In the
1970s, I proudly burned my bra
and declared myself a free
woman; in the.1980s, I found
myself part of the anti-apartheid
movement. It’s not that I was a
joiner; I wanted to change what
I saw as wrong. My life has
hardly been an example of true
conservatism. I didn’t like the
19505, and I certainly don’t
want to go back there! ‘
Somehow, since becoming
involved in gay rights, I’ve lost
my liberal label. Not in every
situation, of course. To Pat
Robertson, I’d still be some-
where to the left of Bernie
Sanders on the political scale.
But to some in the gay commu-
nity, l’m somewhere to the right
of Pat Robertson because I want
to get married. Those who call
me a conservative have added
another label to me — assimila-
tionist. Am I? Is it my aim to be
“digested or absorbed into the
system” as Webster’s
Dictionary defines ‘assimilate?’
To me, same-gender marriage
is simply an extension of what
I’ve always fought for —— expand-

in order to make the society
stronger. I never bought into the
“back to Africa” view that some
expressed during the civil rights
movement. No, I marched with
Dr. King’s supporters, who said,
“We are Americans, too.” Was
that assimilationist?

ing society to include the outcasts ‘

The Ilssimilaterl
Radical

In a sense, we can never be
assimilated into society because
we are already a part of it. We
don’t live in some alternative
universe —— we live here in
America. The problem is that
we aren’t being treated like
other Americans. We are being

To some in the
gay community,
I ’m somewhere
to the right of
Pat Robertson.

singled out for exclusion. We
were born with the same rights
as our neighbors, but we had
those rights taken away from us
somewhere along the line. Am I
being an assimilationist to want
those rights back?

With all the rights I’ve
somehow lost over the years, I
can make the biggest gain in
retrieving them by working for
the right to many. Just think of
the possibilities. If marriage
were accepted, I wouldn’t have
to endure the annual 45-minute
lecture from my doctor on “safe
sex and the use of contracep-
tives.” I could go anywhere in
the US and not wony about
sodomy laws. I wouldn’t have
to p’ack my legal documents on
every trip to the beach on the
off chance that one of us might
need medical care. I could
move to Virginia (God forbid!)
and be legally allowed to rent a
one bedroom apartment for two
women. The list is virtually
endless!

An anti-assimilationist
friend of mine who knows my
feminist background recently
asked me why I would ever
want to buy into the patriarchal
institution of marriage. I point-

ed to the sign on my desk which
paraphrases Bill Clinton’s cam-
paign slogan. “Why not? It’s
the Equality, Stupid!” Why
should we be excluded from
choosing for ourselves? We’re
as capablegof deciding whether
or not to marry as any hetero-
sexual, so why should they
make our decisions for us?

I am a strong supporter of
numerous gay rights groups in
our community because I
believe that any right gained by
one of us is a right regained for
all of us. I can also see that by
the single act of gaining the
right to choose marriage, we
can eliminate a number of the
individual fights we are
involved in.

The Vermont Freedom to
Marry Task Force is working
for the rights of all of us from
the pre-pubescent questioning
teen to the free-love partygoer.
Our goals are all-encompass-
ing: dignity for the individual
and equality for all of us. Our
fight is your fight. Invite us to
your group’s next meeting and
let’s see where our goals meet.
We’re all part of this society.
Let’s see where we ‘agree
instead of how we differ.V

If you would like more infor-
mation about events or meet-
ings or would like to invite rep-
resentatives from VFMTF to
speak at your workplace, com-
munity of faith, civic organiza-
tion or whatever; you can con- V
tact us by calling Wendy
Beinner (802) 652-0723,
Roberta Garr (802) 223-7620
or Bari Shamas (802) 387-
5788, emailing info@vtfree-
tomarry.0rg or visiting our
web site, http.'//www.vtfree-
tomarry.0rg