photo Scot Applegate Hate Group Gets a Lesson in Vermont Values continued from front page Leaders of the Vermont Freedom to Marry Task Force advised that it would be best just to ignore such a hateful message as the one preached by Phelps. Even Gov. Howard Dean weighed in from Europe, where he was vacationing with his family, cautioning that it would be best to let Phelps’ supporters demonstrate alone. Phelps is, after all, the man who stooped Vermonters turned out in droves with cre- ative messages all their own. This ofler of neighborly pie was not accepted by the Kansas visitors. so low last year as to picket the funeral of Matthew Shepard, the University of Wyoming student who was murdered in part because he was gay. Some of the signs toted by Phelps’ fol- lowers on the lawn of the Vermont Statehouse carried Shepard’s picture and slogans about him. But there were many others who argued that Phelps could not go without a response from Vermonters who would condemn the message he was preaching. Meetings were held around the state debating what to do in the few days between Phelps’ announcement that he was coming and the day of the demonstration. Non-denominational services were held, community meetings were organized and e-mail messages flew to all comers of the state. In the end, there was no real organized effort to counter the Phelps’ message. But hundreds of Vermonters turned out to demonstrate that this is not a state that tol- erates thekind of nonsense that the Phelps family was spouting. Ten-year-old Marila Hewitt said she and her mother attended because “we thought this was more important than other things we had to do this morning; because if you love somebody, it shouldn’t matter whether it’s male or female.” Although the morning started out with tension, some shouting and an early scuffle over a sign that ended in the arrest of a 22- year-old Maine man, there was relative calm among the counter-demonstrators. Many members of the clergy circulated among the group holding signs refuting Phelps’ purported biblically based mes- sages, and friends and families socialized in the crowd. One young woman, citing a desire to be neighborly, offered to share a homemade pie with the Westboro group. Of the Kansans’ refusal, she said “I don’t think they wanted to share the same fork.” Not long into the demonstration, the huge old bus of Bread and Puppet lum- bered by on State Street, pulling up along- side the Statehouse. Suddenly the mood changed. A cheer went up, and, very quick- ly, music began. The theater group appeared with a huge sign proclaiming: “Please take your hate out of our state.” The counter-demonstrators picked up on the theme and began chanting the slogan. ' Before long, the Kansans were seeing a theatrical Vermont message of love and friendship. The contrast between the two groups couldn’t have been more stark: the Kansans holding their neon-colored signs were ugly; the Vennonters, represented by the peaceful message of Bread and Puppet and the beauty of Yolanda, were fun and loving. The Phelps clan had planned for a 90- minute vigil outside Vermont’s seat of democracy. But finding themselves vastly outnumbered, outperformed and outma- neuvered, they summoned nearby police for an escort to their rented cars 25 minutes before the scheduled end of their demon- stration. To the tunes provided by the Bread and . Puppet band, the crowd of more than 200 helped walk them up State Street, halting the flow of traffic. The Kansans got in their cars and drove away and the Vermonters returned to the Statehouse to wrap up the event with a festive air. In the end, the news media played the story for what it was: Vermonters showing their true natures in the face of an invasion by outsiders. As Sandi Cote of the Vermont Freedom to Marry Task Force put it,” These people are not Vermonters. They don’t represent Vermont.”V 2 .hot- Scot A. .le.ate OUT IN THE MOUNTAINS — SEPTEMBER 1999 — 31 Vermont Thursday, September 30, 1999 5:00pm, Unitarian Church Top of Church Street 121014929 uosuv rfq 9.114dW0 BURLINGTW .. Join us for the day. Join us for the fight. 9 Is there anything more inspiring than seeing people come together to care? That is why AIDSWalk'99 is such a powerful and moving event — we get together to stop this virus dead in its MONTPELIER Tuesday, September 28, 1999 5:00pm, Christ Church 64 State Street tracks. Thanks to your dedication and commitment we are reaching more people than ever and have become a national model for rural AIDS service organizations. Thanks to you there is hope. But let us not » sr. iouuseunv confuse hope with victory. We will never be truly . victorious in the battle against AIDS if we are Sunday, September 26, 1999 12:30pm, Courthouse Park lulled into complacency. So grab a friend. take a . step, and join us for the fight. The money you raise for Vermont CARES supports direct services provided to people who live with Saturday, September 25, 1999 11:30am, Main Street Park HIV/AIDS and prevention and education efforts for all Vermonters at risk of HIV infection. Step Up, StepOut, Stop AIDS it How sweet it is Be one of the first 300 people to pre- register and receive a coupon for a free pint of ;\llNatur:i) as X Giving the shirt off your back Raise $150 and receive a ’ Vermont CARES AlDSWalk'99 T-Shirt I from X Reach for the‘, stars and soar Top‘ money earner in _AlDSWalk'99 will receive 2 roundtrip tickets from to select West Coast destin- 4 ations from Z UUNlTE.D SPONSORED IN PART BY n e w s p a p e r ” NATIONAL LIFE o/‘VERMONT Vermont’: 01 for News &TuIk D(iIling'[gg|_. FILENE’8