California, Here I Go

Since the bigoted “Defense
of Marriage” act passed here in
California, I have a question.
What does it take for all of us
gays and lesbians from here to
do . become citizens of
Vermont? We could stay here
andrmake money and pay taxes
in a state that seems to think
we have a few legal rights. Just
a thought.

Tom Pease

Beverly Hills, CA

The New Apartheid

Editor: .

l’ve already spoken out sev-
eral times on the issue of same-
gender marriage, so I’m not
about to applaud the state
House of Representatives for
their vote to approve the so-
called “civil union” bill.

By declaring that marriage
is for opposite-gender couples
only, the Legislature is estab-
lishing a dual system of marital
partnership. Such a system
constitutes a new form of state-
imposed segregation — in this
case, based on gender — that is
every bit as unconstitutional
under the 14th Amendment as
the racist Jim Crow laws of the
Old South. There is no way
that this system can stand up in
federal court if -it is challenged
on those grounds.

I’m no fan of marriage by
any means. However, as a man
of mixed African American
and Native American descent
who’s old enough to remember
the dark days of Jim Crow, I
have absolutely zero tolerance

for state-imposed '

segregation. Therefore, I can-
not, in good conscience, allow
this new form of apartheid to
go unchallenged.

There can be only one.single
system of marital partnership
that will pass constitutional
muster. That single system —
regardless of whether you call
it marriage or civil union —
must treat same-gender~ and
opposite-gender couples equal-
ly.

Skeeter Sanders

Essex, VT

Open Letter to Schiavone
I am sorry to say that you
have let me down deeply.
Last year, you told me

. emphatically that your legisla-

tion and your personal feelings
were ONLY about protecting
the traditional definition of
marriage. That you were, in

. fact, in favor of granting les-

bians and gay men the rights

‘and responsi-'b.ilities of state

recognized relationships — as

8 Out in the Mountains April 2000

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policy stated in the masthead.

long as it wasn’t called mar-
riage. This is what you said.

You claimed that you ,were
not against lesbians and gay
men, that you were not homo-
phobic, that ALL you wanted
was to protect heterosexual
marriage.

And now, even with one
amendment that defined mar-
riage as a thing which involved
a man and a woman, you still
voted against the civil union
legislation.

I’m sorry, but I don’t believe
in your support and affirrnation
of lesbian and gay families.

I believe your thinly cloud-
ed pleasantries, in the end,
don’t hide your true nature ——
which is opposed to the civil
rights for lesbians and gay
men. In this bill you had the
opportunity to demonstrate
your courage to grant rights
and responsibilities to lesbians
and gay men, while still pro-
tecting the traditional defini-
tion of marriage.

Hiding behind desire to give
these rights to other household
configurations just doesn’t cut
it. What you are really afraid of
is expanding our state’s defini-.

tion of what it takes to make a.

family. Love makes a family,
George, and it sure would be
nice if you could open your
heart a wee bit more to support
state recognition in support of
loving, committed relation-
ships.

I am angry because you say
one thing and do another. You

are very slick, in all of your

doublespeak — I just wish you
would have the courage to
stand up and say either lesbians
and gay men should NOT have
rights and responsibilities as a
couple recognized by the State
of Vermont — or that they
should — and instead of fight-
ing so hard AGAINST civil
rights — fight for the civil
rights you think ought to be
extended to our lesbian and
gay Vermonters. You say you
support such rights, but I’ve
not seen anything to show that
support.

I’d say if (however well
intentioned) it looks like big-
otry, quacks like bigotry,
swims like bigotry, then by
golly it must be bigotry.

Jan Passion

St. George, VT

Love, Understanding, and
H.847

Editor:

I hope and pray all
Vermonters can agree that full
civil rights should be available
to all citizens.

Around this issue, many

have claimed to know. what
God wants, throwing out
Biblical passages in support of
their claims just as supporters
of slavery and segregation did,
not so long ago. Bibles were
waved against women’s right
to free speech, to speaking in
public at all, to their right to
vote. Biblical quotes are still
used against women’s equality,
against Jews, against interra-
cial and interreligious mar-
riage, and against countless
other groups and actions. All
have been with the same claim,
that the Bible quoters know
what God wants.

I am amazed at such certain-
ty about divine purpose, espe-
cially when it centers on cruel
misinformation and demands
to restrict the rights of others.

The divine principle which
our religious movement sup-
ports, the one we believe all of
the great Hebrew prophets
endorsed, including Jesus of
Nazareth, and all the great
world religions support, in
their finer moments, is the
principle of love and under-
standing. We mean by this not
simply tolerance of diversity

but active support for any situ-

ation in which the spirit of love
can be enriched. A committed
relationship, with or without
children, gay or straight, is cer-

tainly one such situation we _

believe we ought to support.

I hope. and pray that all
Vermonters can agree that civil
support for all families should
be available to all Vermont cit-
izens. I

Regardless of how you may
think your legislators -have
decided, and even if you have
already talked with them,
please letthem know how you
feel, today. They need to hear
the message of love and com-
passion as often as possible to
help them to counteract the sad
and frightening voice of igno-
rance and fear.

Rev. Dr. Nancy Jay Crumbine

Norwich, VT

Respect Different
Religions, Lifestyles

I am writing in response to
Reverend Leslie’s “Faith
Matters and Justice Matters”
column in the March 2000
issue of OITM. I am disap-
pointed and offended at the
thoughtlessness ‘exhibited in
her February 2 letter to the
House Judiciary Committee (I
would rather presume thought-
lessness than that she inten-
tionally used an anti-Jewish
slant in her letter).

I wonder why a member of
the clergy would find it neces-

sary to be disrespectful of
another religion to argue that
the House of Representatives
should grant civil rights to les-
bians and gay men. The sen-
tence that Jewish “laws were
designed to keep the ancient
Jews holy but not necessarily
moral” had no place in the let-
ter. What authority was being
cited or paraphrased? At the
least, it seems arrogant for a
Christian minister to claim to
know the purpose of Jewish
laws and to somehow presume
they are not part of a moral
code.

In my opinion, a stronger
and far more positive letter
could have been written by cit-
ing the original law and
explaining it in context, rather
than just dismissing it out of
hand as an ancient injus-
tice. (Commentators have indi-
cated that the law referred to

was in response to surrounding

cultures’ sexual-religious rites
— Everett Fox translates
Leviticus 18.3, an introductory
verse to this section of Torah,
as “What is done in Egypt,
wherein you were settled, you
are not to do; what is done in
the land of Canaan, to which I
am bringing you, you are not to
do; by their laws you are not to
walk.”) An even better letter
might have acknowledged the
prohibition" against gay male
sex (as well as the prohibition
directly after that against eat-
ing from a fruit tree until the
fifth year), but pointed out that

what was under consideration '

by the Legislative Committee
was a civil and not a religious
matter. c
There has been more than
enough rhetoric surrounding
this civil rights issue based on
fear and ignorance. It would be
better for everyone if we could
strive in all of our interactions
to promote understanding and
tolerance for people who are
not of the majority culture,

rather than be seduced into

finding “others” to scapegoat.
Sherri Kasten
Montpelier

A Taste of Home

Editor:

I was so proud and happy to
find your publication on the
Internet. I now live in Chicago,
but I am still proud to call
Burlington my favorite place
to have lived. I was encour-
aged to see that OutRight
Vermont is still going strong in
the state for issues of Queer
and Questioning youth and
their allies. I was one person

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