1o — OUT IN THE MOUNTAINS — MARCH 1999

legislation II|llIe|' the WEIIGIIIIII
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COALITION

 

NOTES

BY VIRGINIA RENFREW
AND KEITH GOSLANT

his legislative session is off
T and running at a fast pace.

At this time, an anti-gay
marriage bill has not been,intro-
duced. We do know that one will
be coming out in the House;
VCLGR will be watching for it.

There are a number of other
bills we’ve got our eyes on at
the moment.

Introduced by Rep. Koch
from Barre Town, H.63, An Act
Relating to Health Care
Information is better known to
many as “Confidentiality of
Medical Records.” This bill has
been introduced for the past four
years, with both the House and
the Senate spending many hours
on the issue. Each time, it has
died at the end of the legislative
session. We hope that this time it
will become law.

This bill proposes to consoli-
date and strengthen the privacy
and confidentiality safeguards for
individually identifiable health
care information and to clarify
the rights and responsibilities of
those individuals and entities that
create or have a legitimate need
to access that information for
health care, public health or legit-
imate business purposes.

Koch’s bill is without extra
protection for HIV, AIDS, men-
tal health, or genetic informa-
tion on the premise that all indi-
viduals should receive protec-
tion, but no group should
receive ‘extra protection. The
PWA Coalition has argued over
the years that people with AIDS

It has been said
that this is the
way for a minor-
ity of people to 0
go after another»
minority while

, the majority sits
 by and watches.

must receive extra protection
because of the stigma attached
to it. John Vargo testified on the
behalf of the PWA Coalition,
asking that the language giving
extra protection to HIV/AIDS
be included.

VCLGR, along with the PWA
Coalition and AIDS Service
organizations, support Senator

Helen Riehle’s Senate Bill 45; it
is almost identical to Rep.
Koch’s bill‘ but does include this
extra protection.

Senator Peter Shumlin intro-
duced S.45,' An Act Relating to
Civil Rights Injunction.

It proposes to amend the
Hate Crimes Act to allow the
attorney general, on behalf of a
victim, to bring an action for
injunctive relief, compensatory
and punitive damages, attor-
ney’s fees and any other appro-
priate relief against any person
who participated in or incited a
hate crime. A victim of a hate
crime or the attorney general, on
behalf of the victim, could seek
a court order similar to an abuse
prevention order available to
victims of domestic violence.
Violation of the injunction
would be a criminal offense.

On Tuesday, February 9,
1999, the House and Senate
Judiciary Committees held a
public hearing on this bill.
Many people from the GLBT
community came to testify in
favor of this bill. Keith Goslant
has been involved with the task
force headed by the Office of
the Attorney General. Included
in this task force are representa-
tives from ther Department of
Health, ALANA, the Human
Rights Commission, the depart-

Equality Begins at
Home Week

At this time, there are several events planned for
Equality Begins At Home week, March 2|-28.

March 2| - St. Albans: THE MAIN EVENT at ]eff’s
Maine Seafood. $l0. 5-9pm. Mixer and mingler with
hors cl’ oeuvres, discussion, fun! FMI: 848-7037 or
email: GOLDENTRED @ao|.com

March 27 - Burlington: “Who are the people in
your neighborhood?” Community Supper at the
Radisson Hotel. Organized by Burlington RUIZ?
Community Center Project. 6:30- l0pm. $l0.

See article on front page.

We hope to have a few more events planned for
that week, but have not firmed everything up at this
point. VCLGR will be mailing out a list of all events so
watch for our letter — and watch the calendar at

www.vtpride.org/events

ment of public safety, and the
.State’s Attorneys. The Senate
Judiciary has heard testimony
and it is expected the bill will be
voted out of the Committee by
the end of February.
Representative Gary
Richardson has introduced
H.132, An Act Relating to a
Citizens’ Initiative Process. It
proposes to establish a citizens’

I THE TASK FORCE

 

REPORT

   

espite the snow, sleet and
n ice, the Vermont Freedom

to Marry Task Force hasn‘t
been idle this winter; we’ve
managed to hold several forums
around the state.

One took place on January 3|
at the North Universalist Chapel
Society in Woodstock. Two rep-
resentatives of the task force
offered the Sunday sermon ‘On
the Human Right to Love and
Marry.’

Bari Shamas addressed the
spiritual burden placed on fami-
lies denied basic civil rights,
while Sandi Cote focused on the
spiritual aspect ofsocial change.

The sermon generated a live-
ly discussion that continued dur-
ing the coffee hour after the ser-
vice. Bari gave the group a brief
history of marriage and outlined
a few of the problems that she
and her partner have encoun-
tered raising their two children.
She also explained the responsi-
bilities. and rights associated
with civil marriage. Sandi

updated the congregation on the
growing number of churches
that have joined the struggle for
social equality and addressed
some of the problems she and
her partner have encountered in
their own spiritual journey.

On February 7, the Task
Force showed the video A Green
Mountain View at the coffee
hour following the Sunday ser-
mon at Bennington’s Second
Congregational Church —
Vermont’s first Open and
Affirming UCC church. Sandi
Cote provided an overview of
problems surrounding the mar-
riage issue, updated the congre-
gation on the Supreme Court
case and fielded numerous ques-
tions.

Two days later, there was
another Bennington presentation
of A Green Mountain View, this
time at Southern Vermont
College. During a class on social
interaction, Joe Schaap and
Sandi Cote led a spirited group
discussion on the impact of civil
marriage in society. Students
explored the differences
between civil and religious mar-

In Sickness, in Health,
illlll IIIGIBIIIBIII WBBIIIBI

riage and the contrasts between
civil marriage and reciprocal
benefits arrangements.

Update from Hawaii

Hawaii Governor Ben
Cayetano intends to propose gay
and lesbian domestic partner-
ships and says it has a 50-50
chance of being approved in the
legislature. .

Cayetano’s proposal would
grant gay and lesbian couples
many ofthe financial benefits of
marriage but would withhold
adoption, parental rights, and the
term ‘marriage.’

He seems to feel that opposi-
tion to domestic partnership
benefits would be less strenuous
than it was to same-gender mar-
riage. “You’re going to find that
the homophobes and the very
conservative people on the other
side will not have the same kind
of strength in their alliance as
they did on traditional mar-
riage,” Cayetano said.

John Hoag, a prominent local
traditional marriage advocate
against the proposed plan
believes the danger with estab-

lishing domestic partnerships is
that it would set up gays and les-
bians as'a-special class of peo-
ple. ,

Meanwhile, lawyers on both
sides of the original same-gen-
der marriage case are waiting for
Hawaii’s Supreme Court to
make the next move. The court
has asked both sides to submit
briefs on the impact of last
November’s vote approving a
constitutional amendment
rejecting same-gender marriage
on the 1996 Circuit Court ruling
permitting marriage.

Virtual Update

If you weren’t one of the
nearly 24,000 visitors to the
Vermont Freedom to Many Task
Force’s web site in January
I999, you should take a few
minutes to look it over at
www.vtfreetomarry.org. You’ll
find a whole new look with
updated trial information and
easy navigation. Two of the
most popular items on the site so
far are the court briefs and the »
photo gallery. V

initiative process and to require
the general assembly to vote on
laws proposed by citizens in
accordance with this process.

Some of you might remem-
ber this bill from last year.
VCLGR l1as opposed this in the
past and we continue to oppose
it. It has been said that this is the
way for a minority of people to
go after another minority while
the majority sits by and watch-
es.

Virginia Renfrew testified
against this bill in the House
Local Government committee.
She spoke about what has hap-
pened in other states to gay and
lesbian civil rights. We only
have to look as far as Maine to
realize just how damaging citi-
zens’ initiatives can be to our
community. Last year, 30 per-
cent of voters turned out to cast
their votes on whether sexual
orientation was a protected class
against discrimination. Just over
half,»or 16 percent of eligible
voters in Maine, were successful
in changing enacted and hard-
fought legislation protecting
those experiencing discrimina-
tion based on sexual orientation.

VCLGR will be keeping a
close eye on this bill. We are
building a coalition of organiza-
tions to oppose it.

Last year, voters in 54 towns

were asked at their town meet-

ings ifthey.would support a cit-
izens’ initiative. lt is possible
that voters will be asked that
question again this year. Please
call your town clerk and ask if
this will be voted on at your
town meeting. If yes, please let
Virginia Renfrew know and

consider speaking against the‘

vote. VCLGR will supply talk-
ing points against the initiative.
If you have any questions,

please contact Keith or Virginia.
V