4 Out in the Mountains

March 2000

Census 2000: A Small Step for GLBT-kind

 

Legislation continued from page one

live without the rights and ben-
efits they are entitled to.”

Lippert, the legislature’s
only openly gay rep, asked the
group to beware the ulterior
motives of people calling for a
longer process.

“Please respect the delibera-
tion we have done,” he said,
“and know that some people
won’t be swayed, no matter
how much time we take.”

Meanwhile, the counting
has started. The committee has
indicated it will not send a bill
to the floor unless the votes are
there to pass it. As of press
time, the unoflicial count was
about a dozen short of the 76
needed to pass the House, with
many legislators still undecid-
ed.

Supporters of the bill,
including the Vermont
Freedom to Many Task Force
and Action Committee, are
making sure their presence is
felt at the Statehouse.

Volunteers spent hours on
the phone encouraging fellow
supporters to contact their leg-
islators, and hot pink “I
Support The Freedom To
Marry” stickers were promi-
nently displayed on observers
in committee and caucus meet-
ings.

“While marriage is the only
way to true equality, we
believe good domestic partner-
ship legislation — without a
Defense of Marriage-type
amendment — is a good first
step,” said Beth Robinson,
Task Force chair and attorney
for the Baker plaintiffs.

'|'IIe llllall to III’

A House resolution intro-
duced early in February in the
House called for the legislature

to “direct its efforts toward.

addressing the Supreme
Court’s opinion while reaffirrn-
ing and sustaining the defini-
tion and positive values of tra-
ditional marriage and protect-
ing them from alteration by
actions taken in other states.”
Although expert testimony

from witnesses on both sides of
the issue in the House
Judiciary committee refutes
many of the claims in the reso-
lution, it was introduced with
68 sponsors. Backers of the
resolution claimed as many as
90 supportive votes lined up.

The Speaker of the House
referred it to the judiciary com-
rpittee for consideration. (See
page 6 for the full text and list
of sponsors of this resolution.)

This came on the heel of tes-
timony from leaders of several
churches. Catholic Bishop
Kenneth Angell got the invita-
tion he had been seeking for
weeks and appeared before the
comm_ittee on Feb. 2, speaking
against both same-gender mar-
riage and domestic partnership.
He was followed by Verrnont’s
Episcopal Bishop Mary Adelia
McLeod, the United Church of
Christ’s Vermont Conference
minister Dr. _Arnold Thomas,
and Rabbi Joshua Chasan, and
Rabbi Michael Cohen, all four
of whom called for the inclu-
sion of gays and lesbians in
civil marriage. A

Take It to the People’s Rev.
Craig Benson ended the testi-
mony for the morning, claim-
ing that he was capable of ral-
lying large numbers of people
to fight against gay marriage,
domestic partnership and legis-
lators who might support
either. Stories of his ex—gay
ministry and claims of success
in so-called reparative therapy
did not draw an enthusiastic
response from lawmakers.

On Feb. 3, Operation
Rescue founder Randall Terry
held a press conference at his
newly rented office just one
block from the Statehouse.
Declaring that the Supreme
Court had invited him by issu-
ing the Baker decision, he
announced plans to “fight
homosexual marriage and
domestic partnership” by
bringing in staff and supporters
from all over the country.

Terry’s penchant for often
less—than-civil disobedience
had both TIP and the Catholic
church issuing statements of

BY KENDRA HENSON

hen the 2000
Census question-
naires hit the streets

in March, don’t expect it to
include a question about sexu
al orientation. ' ‘

Unlike their northern coun-
terparts, who will inquire
about sexual orientation for the
first time in the 2001 Canadian
census, the US Census Bureau
will not be asking GLBT com-
munity members to stand up
and be counted — at least, not
as non-heterosexuals.

The closest to such an

their own asking Terry to go
back to New York and let
Vermonters handle the issue on
their own.

Terry and his followers con-
tinue to be a pervasive and
largely unwelcome presence at
the Statehouse.

The second
Decision IIBV

It was in a highly emotional
public meeting on February 9
that the judiciary committee of
the Vermont House of
Representatives voted to begin
drafting what they call a “com-
prehensive civil rights bill”
rather than including gay and
lesbians in existing marriage
statutes.

Each member of the eleven-
member panel made a state-
ment before a room packed
with observers and media.

Little began by saying that
Vermont families reflect a
diversity of structures and a
search for a so-called tradition-
al template would be fruitless.
He iaffinned the decision of the
Supreme Court in the Baker
decision.

“In my judgement, a civil
rights, or legal benefits act, is
the right thing for the people of
the state of Vermont now; not
an expansion of the marriage
laws,” Little said, “It will allow
us to legislate with due respect
to the sensibilities of all sides.”

“Leadership requires a keen
sense of what ought to be done
in the context of what can be
done — what is achievable,”
said Little, before passing the
microphone to Lippert.

After a long silence during
which he struggled to contain
his emotions, Lippert dis-
agreed. He noted the unique
perspective he brought to the
committee’s discussions as the
only openly gay member of the
General Assembly.

“One of the commitments in
my life,” he said, “is to elimi-
nate prejudice and discrimina-
tion for gay, lesbian, and bisex-
ual people during my lifetime.”

opportunity GLB_T folk can
expect to find is» a question
about marital status that allows
“unmarried partner” as a
response.

But even that option, which
only applies to the partnered
and co-habitating, is not much
of a concession. The “unmar-
ried partner” response is listed
in the “non-relative category.

Despite that invisibility,

Census Partnership Specialist
Carol Nepton said the census is
vital in other ways.

Census information is used
to assist communities with get-
ting state and federal funding

    

Rep. Bill Lippert (r) soke emotionally of te need to include gays and

for roads, hospitals, schools,
etc. In 1998, approximately
$81 billion dollars from federal
funding grant programs was
distributed using formulas
from census data. Nepton esti-
mates that between $800 to
$1,200 per person in a commu-
nity is granted based on census
statistics.

“This makes it extremely
important for the Census to be
filled out by every person so
that everyone gets counted,”
said Nepton.

photo Barbara Dozetos

 

-'-_

lesbians in marriage statutes. Tom Little, chair of the judiciary commit-
tee, voted with seven others on the committee to move forward with a

parallel system

He said gay and lesbian rela-
tionships should be celebrated,
rather than demeaned, within
the Vermont community.

As the microphone moved
around the table, each repre-
sentative spoke of the difficul-
ty of the decision. John
Edwards of Swanton called it
“the most gut-wrenching, emo-
tional issue that I have faced.”
Alice Nitka of Ludlow apolo-

gized for tears she could not i

hold back as she addressed the
room.

Both Edwards and Nitka,
while acknowledging that gays
and lesbians should have equal
rights, voted with Little and
five other members of the com-
mittee to leave marriage laws
intact and pursue a parallel sys-
tem of domestic partnership or
civil unions.

Progressive Steve Hingtgen
of Burlington reprimanded the
committee in his remarks.
Calling anything other than
marriage was inadequate, he
said domestic partnership
would validate hate.

“It institutionalizes the big-
otry and affirmatively creates
an apartheid system of family
recognition in Vermont,” said
Hingtgen.

Bill Mackinnon of Sharon
joined Hingtgen and Lippert in
voting to amend marriage
statutes, making the final vote
was eight to three against mar-
riage.

Less than an hour after the
committee took the public

vote, a 22-page draft bill, An
Act Relating to Domestic
Partnerships, was in circula-
tion.

The document attempted to
create an arrangement exactly
parallel to marriage; in its early
drafts, it used as much of exist-
ing statutes as possible.

Outside the committee, only
Governor Howard Dean
seemed enthusiastic about the
decision to move toward
domestic partnerships. Vowing
to devote his energy to “selling
the idea” to legislators and the
people of Vermont, Dean corn-
mended the panel.

Representative Dean Corren
of Burlington, lead sponsor of
a bill that would include gays
and lesbians in marriage
statutes, was angered by the
decision of the judiciary com-
mittee.

“They can’t call this a civil
rights bill,” said Corren. “This
is a denial ofcivil rights.”

Others were equally unim— 4

pressed, but in another direc-
tion. Immediately following
the committee’s decision,
twelve representatives intro-
duced a resolution calling for
the impeachment of the
Supreme Court for its decision
in Baker v Vermont. The reso-
lution was assigned to the
House Judiciary ‘Committee,
where it is expected to stay
without action. (See page 6 for
the text and sponsor list ofthis
resolution.) V