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2 Out inthe Mountains May 2000

Civil Union continued from pg 1

exist yesterday.”

Contrary to statements of
many opponents of the bill,’
civil unions are not marriage.
The federal government would
not recognize couples who
obtain civil unions in Vermont.

» Social Security, federal taxes,

immigration, and other bene-

A fits dependent up national laws

would still be unavailable to
them. Civil unions, unlike
marriage, would not be
portable, so they would proba-
bly not be recognized by other
states.

However, when it takes
effect on July 1, 2000, the bill
will give gay and lesbian
couples hundreds of rights and

benefits the state’s laws now
bestow upon married couples.
It also assigns responsibilities
such as child support and
assumption of a partner’s debt.
Dissolution of civil unions will
be handled by family courts in
a system parallel to divorces
for married couples. V

Legislators. continued from’ page 1.

"and the support of gay and'les-
bian constituents to ride to vic-
tory. ' '
Rep. William Aswad (D-
Burlington‘), who ran unop-
posed two, years ago; in
Burlington’s notoriously con-
servative New North End, said

the received messages from a

surprising number of voters in
his district who’ described
themselves as gay or lesbian.
Aswad said he was not sur-
prised to hear opposition to the
bill from the opponents, many
of whom, h‘e‘said,' had never
been counted among his sup-
porters on election day.

“The number of gay and les-
bian constituents is greater that
you realize,” Aswad said.
“This is a segment of our pop-
ulation that just isn’t going
away.”

Rep. Aswad said he had not
heard of any opponents who
were planning on running
against him to date.

Judy Murphy, an organizer
with the Freedom to Marry
Task Force and state president
of the National Organization
for Women, which supports
civil unions, agreed with Rep.

Aswad that the gay and lesbian
community and its supporters
would not. go A away easily.
Murphy said theitfask force has
created a long list of supporters
of civil union and she expected

it would be used to galvanize

support for incumbents who
voted for the legislation.

“We fare, »p'la‘nn,i.'ng-— to help
those who voted for civil
unions. We will be forming
local Political Action
Committees and using our big
lists of supporters to raise
funds and provide volunteers
to candidates.” Murphy said.

Supporters may not be alone
in their drive to organize vot-
ers. Murphy said she recently
uncovered a letter sent out to
clergy in the state by Randall
Terry, leader of the right wing
anti-abortion group called
Operation Rescue and a pres-
ence generally unwelcomed on
both sides of the civil union
debate. In the letter, Terry
urged clergy to consider run-
ning for office or to recruit
members of their church to run
because of the passage of the
civil union bill.

Although Terry recently

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admitted defeat, closed his
Montpelier office, and left the
state, his early threats were not
forgotten.

One lawmaker who was a
prime target of Randall Terry is
Rep. Kathy Voyer (R-
Morristown), a supporter of
civil unions and a member of
the House Judiciary
Committee that drafted the ini-
tial bill.

Rep. Voyer said she found
herself one day in the State
House confronted by Terry,
who threatened her, saying that
he would make sure she “got
the retirement she so richly
deserved.”

Voyer said she is aware that
the anti-civil union organizers
are actively looking for an
opponent for her this fall, but
one has yet to surface. Voyer
said she made her decision to
support civil unions without
regard to the election, but now
that time has passed and the
election draws closer, she is
counting on supporters of the
legislation to help her win re-
election.

“I wasn’t thinking about
politics when I voted for this

    

Rep. Tom Little (r), House Judiciary Commiee chair, confers with

Sen. Dick Sears, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

bill,” said Voyer. “but now it is
clear that without their (sup-
porters of civil unions) help,
there is a real chance I could
lose.’’ ,

Voyer said she needed
financial support for her cam-
paign, but was more interested
in activating grassroots help,
and she said she hoped those
who agreed with her vote
would reach out to their friends
and neighbors on her behalf.

The debate over this legisla-
tion comes at a critical time for
both parties as the fight to gain
control over each branch of the
legislature reaches a fever
pitch between the two major
political parties. Perhaps the
fiercest fight is in the House of
Representatives, where the
Democrats have held the
majority for the past 10 years.
The election in 1998 saw that
majority shrink by 15 seats to a
slim 2-seat advantage.
Republicans and many

Statehouse observers believe
this might be the year they
have been waiting for.
Already Republican guber-
natorial frontrunner and civil
union opponent Ruth Dwyer

has predicted a GOP win, and
her campaign manager, Kathie
Summers, says civil unions
may be a major reason why.

“In 17 years I have never
seen an outpouring of emotion
on an issue,” said Summers. “I
have never seen depth of the
emotion quite like this. Six
months out, I have over 500
names of volunteers who want
to work on the campaign based
on this issue.”

Dwyer’s campaign spokes-
woman said this issue alone
won’t bring a win to her candi-
date. She predicted the culmi-
nation of many controversial
decisions in the past few ses-
sions would play in Dwyer’s
favor.

“This is the straw that broke
the camel’s back, people feel
that they are not being listened
to, things are being shoved
down our throat,” she said. V

Photo: Barbara Dozetos