4 - OUT IN THE MOUNTAINS —— FEBRUARY 1999 Bflcflmillfli 0”’ in "'3 Mnunlflinsl Governor Kunin Hears . p an Lesbian/Gay Concerns - The article discusses an “historic first,” when five Burlington area lesbians e and gay men met with Governor Kunin and her chief of staff to discuss les- bian and gay rights. That meeting provided the very early stages of what is now known as the equal rights amendment. The meeting explored the use of the Attorney General‘s office to documents cases of discrimination toward gay and lesbians to gather further information on it’s nature and extent. Social Worker Lobby Politicians The article outlines a series of meetings between The National Association of Social Workers Lesbian and Gay Issues Committee (NASW-LGIC). The discussed meetings between Governor Kunin, the Attorney General’s office, and Senator Pat Leahy. The outcome was the introduction of federal civil rights legislation for gays and lesbians. Breaking the Taboo Against Women Loving Women Longtime lesbian feminist activist Peggy Luhrs points out in this article the historical link between the dissolution of bonds between women and patriarchal oppression. Since lesbians actively refuse to let these bonds be broken, they occupy a central space in the struggle for women’s rights. Luhrs illustrates how homophobia has been used by conservative forces since at least the turn of the century to “divide and conquer” women, enforcing self-hatred and distracting women from issues such as economic inequality. In a particularly telling example, due to its fate in a nationwide vote, she highlights the struggle to pass the ERA as one place Rc,,_ K where separating women based on homophobia has been par- ticularly successful. Civil Rights Protections Lacking This article lays out the definition of civil rights, and_ p S’: how, although strides had been made in many arenas regarding civil rights (race, creed, color, national origin), lesbians and gay men had yet to benefit from civil rights protection ip any state. This seems to mark the beginning of the eventually successful bid for gay and lesbian civil rights on the congressional level. ' Note: gay marriage is mentioned here as a civil right not accorded to lesbians and gay men. “Certainly lesbians and gay men are not entitled to many.” The Times of Dan White Dan White, the convicted killer of San Fransisco’s ‘ A mayor George Moscone and city council member and gay activist Harvey Milk, committed suicide in November 1985. In this touching and still-relevant article, Euan Bear deconstructs her reaction to White’s suicide, ranging from “a kind of angry relief” to “grief that a society so discriminates against [her] that [she] feel[s] relieved at someone’s death.” She points out the anger and fear that come in reaction to a series of shockingly lax sentences for murderers of gay men and lesbians, and the necessity for us to take pride in our identities, to “show that we live our lives strongly in spite of harassment and threats, to show that we are not ashamed of who we are.” We’ve set up three new e-mail listservs to keep you up to To subscribe to any of the lists, send e-mail to date with everything from the local gossip to national issues. VTPri d e N et: an e-mail discussion list. LGBT folks from _ ‘across Vermont _ and the peopie who [ave them._ can now In the body of your e-mail, you should include one of the 9 exchange messages If you’d rather get your chatter in one neat package instead subscribe vtpridenet majordomo@queernet.org following lines to specify the list you want to join: 1 of individual messages, check out VTPrideN et-digest. on Instead of getting each e-mail separately, you’ll get one long message that contains all the day’s postings. ‘ For those who aren't up for chatter but want to keep up with major newsevent notices and paper deadlines (of course), there’s VTPrideNet-announce. There’s_ no discussion on this list subscribe vtpridenet-digest OR subscribe vtpridenet-announce If you need assistance, email us at oitm@together.net : loin the virtual ulrllicommunitvtotlavl — just announcementsas events warrant.