8 Out in the Mountains

December 1999

 

Pflllllllnl VIEWS rnum HIE |ll|iill|lilM Q))
In: Iireniian iiaiiasli

in Vermont, I have a suggestion. If
they find candidates who are gay or
lesbian -- or are better than the
Democrat on gay/lesbian issues in each
dis’a'ict -- they will win. I can prove this.
Surveys show that about 5 percent of
voters identify themselves as gay or les-
bian. Many in the closet would lie to
surveyors so the number could well be
double that. If they each have one
straight friend, then 5 percent to 20 per-
cent of voters would vote for a candi-
date who is good on gay/lesbian issues.
When Republicans support gays and
lesbians they win or do much better
than expected as they did in this
November’s elections. Let me give two
examples.

Plattsburgh

In Plattsburgh, in a major upset,

I f Republicans want to win the house

Republican Daniel Stewart defeated 10-

year Democratic incumbent Clyde
Rabideau becoming the first openly gay
mayor in New York State. In
Plattsburgh, though, Democrats out-
number Republicans. Stewart won
because he had the strong backing of
the Empire State Pride Agenda, the Gay
and Lesbian Victory Fund, and Log
Cabin Republicans.

Who is Stewart? After Stewart had
spent eight years in the closet in the Air
Force in Plattsburgh, he left and became
an activist, starting a local ACT UP
chapter and encouraging mayor
Rabideau to introduce a measure ban-
ning discrimination based on sexual ori-
entation in the city government. He left
the Republican Party in the 1980s
because of its anti-gay rhetoric. GOP
leaders, citing the party’s softening
stance on gay issues, persuaded him to
rejoin the party.

Empire State Pride Agenda (a
gay/lesbian state organization) had
endorsed mayor Rabideau in previous
elections. The choice was difficult.
Stewart is gay and a strong Republican
proponent of gay civil rights; however,
Rabideau had had a long history of
working with gays and proposed sever-
al gay civil rights measures while in
office. ESPA decided it was more
important to support a gay candidate
rather than one who was just pro-gay.

Philadelphia

In Philadelphia, Democrats have a 4-
to-1 edge over Republicans. Republican
Sam Katz should have received only 25
percent of the vote. He got 49 percent
and came within 1 percent of pulling off
the greatest upset in the country. Again,
the way he did this was by appealing to
the gay/lesbian vote.

For the first time in history, the
gay/lesbian community supported a
Republican candidate for mayor. Pride

   

Advice to Republicans

of Philadelphia Election Committee,
the Pennsylvania Gay and Lesbian
Alliance, and the Log Cabin
Republicans supported Katz over
Democrat John Street. Even the
Liberty City Democratic Club consid-
ered a bylaw amendment that would
allow them to endorse a Republican,
but decided to remain officially neu-
tral. The National Stonewall

Dominick of Starksboro, Gervais of
Enosburg, Gretkowski of Burlington,
Hoag of Woodford, Howrigan of
Fairfield, Krawczyk of Bennington,
Lehman of Hartford, McNamara of
Burlington, Pembroke of Bennington,
Starr of Troy, Valsangiacomo of Barre
City, and Willett of St. Albans City.
The Republicans supporting the bill
are Baker of West Rutland, Barney of

of Ferrisburg, Hudson of Lyndon,
Larocque of Barnet, Larrabee of
Danville, Marron of Stowe, Maslack of
Poultney, Mazur of South Burlington,
McGrath of Ferrisburg, Morrissey of
Bennington, Mullin of Rutland Town,
O’Donnell of Vernon, Palmer of
Pownal, Peaslee of Guildhall, Pike of
Mendon, Pratt of Castleton, Quaid of
Williston, Richardson of Weathersfield,
Schaefer of Colchester, Schiavone of
Shelbume, Sheltra of Derby, Sherman
of St. Johnsbury, Smith of New Haven,
Sweetser of Essex, Towne of Berlin,
Winters of Williamstown, Wood of
Brandon, and Young of Orwell.
(Randall of Bradford also supported the
bill.) ,

If you are in any of these districts,
contact your legislator and express your
displeasure. We cannot allow legislators
to support anti-gay bills in this state and
get away with it. If your legislators are

When Republicans support gays and lesbians, they
win or do much better than expected.

Democratic Federation also remained
neutral.

Gay/lesbian groups endorsed and
worked for a Republican because he
courted them. Katz had supported a
domestic partners bill, and spoke out in
favor of virtually all issues considered
important to gays, because he had a gay
brother who died of AIDS in ‘l994.
Katz promised to work to widen pro-
tection against discrimination on the
basis of sexual orientation, and to have
an administration that includes, gays
and lesbians.

Democrat John Street opposed the
gay/lesbian community during his 19
years as president of the Philadelphia
City Council. He even had declined,
until late in the election, to meet with
gay leaders. He had opposed having
the council adopt a gay pride resolu-
tion to commemorate Philadelphia’s
Gay Pride festivities. He led the oppo-
sition to a domestic partners bill to pro-
vide health insurance to partners of
city workers. When the council passed
the bill, Street joined an efibrt by anti-
gay forces to file a lawsuit to overturn
the domestic partners law.

I believe that Republican Sam Katz
got 24 percent more of the vote than he
should have because he supported the
gay/lesbian community. We have a
tremendous power if we choose to use
it.

Vermont

Now I come to Vermont. We know
our allies and foes this year, because an
anti-gay bill (H.479) has been intro-
duced in the house. This bill would
change the Vermont constitution to for-
bid gay marriage. A number of
Democrats have co-sponsored the bill.
If Republicans were smart they would
find pro-gay candidates to run against
these Democrats, and I believe they
would defeat them.

The Democrats supporting H. 479
are Allard of St. Albans Town, Atkins
of Winooski, Blanchard of Essex,

Highgate, Bourdeau of Hyde Park,
Brown of Walden, Buckland of
Newport Town, Clark of St. Johnsbury,
Cleland of Northfield, DePoy of
Rutland City, Flory of Pittsford, Fyfe of
Newport City, Gray of Barre Town,
Hathaway of Barton, Helm of

Castleton, Holmes of Bethel, Houston

\ RAINBOW BUS|NESS ASSOCIATION, CREATING A SUPPORII

not on this list, please contact them and
thank them. The gay/lesbian vote in
Vermont is one of the largest identifi-
able voting blocks in the state. If we
stand together, we have tremendous
power. Y

ORK, AMONG BUSINESS OWNERS AND PROFESSIONALS.

\

DYNAMICS

Professional Muscular Therapy
Booksellers

Stowe ' Hyde Park ' Burlington
802-2536819 ' 802657-4045

Myodynamics@aol.com
www.myobooks.com

Susan Hollister
Anne Sheehan

_ (802) 863-4610 7

RBAvt@aol.com

ARE YOU‘READY FOR Y2K?

AMYHOFFMAN

COMPUTER SERVICES

FOR HOME AND BUSINESS

542 North Rd.

Milton. VT 05468
802-893-2469

lngenue252@aol.oom'

P.0. Box 8335

“We sell memories"

Mompclicr,Vei-mont' ' 05602
B02-229"50Bl

Burlington, VT 05402

www.rainbowbusiness.org

Em//9./cyejim

Accounting 8:: Tax Preparation
Business 8c Individual

802-87 9-4596

vttax@ao1.com P.O. Box 431

vttax@pwsolutions.com

ht1p:// .aol.com/vl1ax/

Ihsex]unction,VT 05453