Paying Our Pipers

Last month we honored
some of the volunteers in our
community at the R.U.l.2?
Community Center dinner.
This was recogni-

sionalism often becomes nec-
essary.

As organizations grow and
improve, pushing their stan-
dards to a new level, expecta-

an emergency or in the excite-
ment and_rush of a new project.
Then we find ourselves with a
great barn and struggling to
figure out how to keep the
cows milked.

tion long overdue
and entirely appro-
priate. Voluntarism
has been the back-
bone of Vermont’s
GLBT community
and the force

But we must stop thinking that
grassroots effort must equal
unpaid labor and only unpaid

Of course,
much of this is
easier said
than done. No
V e r m o n t
GLBT organi-
zation that I’m
aware of has a

behind our accom— '0
plishments for
years.

Our community’s opponents
like to speak about the “well-
funded gay lobby,” but nothing
could be further from the truth
here. Aside from the handful of
organizations lucky enough to
be able to woefully underpay
small and overworked staffs,
we have achieved what we
have with the sweat and dedi-
cation of volunteers. (In the
interest of full disclosure,
Mountain Pride Media is one
of those organizations able to
offer something to several staff
members, myself included.)

The quality of our lives here
is largely protected by people
who spend at least 40 hours a
week doing something else to
finance the hours they give to
worthy organizations that help
our youth, serve our ill, and
enlighten our legislators and
neighbors.

The growing number and
ever more diverse array of
GLBT community-based orga-
nizations will continue to
depend on a finite numberof
volunteers. The task of sup-
porting and managing these
volunteers is, in itself, monu-
mental.

But we must stop thinking
that grassroots effort must
equal unpaid labor and only
unpaid labor. And we must
stop thinking that the pool of
volunteers is bottomless.

We are fortunate to have
come this far without being
required to pay living wages to
the people doing the work.

As the specialization of our
organizations develops and the
sheer number of organizations
increases, there are more
demands on time and on the
volunteer pool, stretching our
resources thin and increasing
the chance of volunteer
burnout.

As organizations get more
specialized, they require high-
er levels of skill. A good heart
can take you a great deal of the
way in almost any cause, but at
a certain point, more skill,
more knowledge, more profes-

tions become higher. Breaks in
service or other discontinuities
because of volunteer turnover
can be anything from an incon-
venience to a disaster.

Paying people increases
accountability and raises the
standard. It offers an organiza-
tion and the community it
serves a certain measure of
security in that a key volunteer
won’t be forced to leave or
reduce involvement with an
organization because it doesn’t
pay the rent.

We must maintain a pres-
ence in the Statehouse all the
time," not just when the issue is
particularly controversial or
exciting. In all likelihood, this
means paying someone. Keith
Goslant and Virginia Renfrew
have given countless hours to
our community in their roles as
co-liaisons for the Vermont
Coalition for Lesbian and Gay
Rights. But how long can any
one of us afford to spend all
day, every day, five months a
year hanging out and network-
ing without earning a living off
the pursuit?

If you think for a moment
that the civil union bill would
have come to pass without paid
lobbyists, you’re sadly mistak-
en. Fortunately, the Vermont
Freedom to Marry Task Force
was able to scrape together the
money to foot that bill, but
where do we go next?
Wouldn’t it be wonderful for
the VCLGR to have the
finances to provide a full-time
lobbyist for our community?

In the past few months
OITM has received numerous
letters concerning the social
responsibility of livable wage
legislation. Well, when we’re
talking about social responsi-
bility, our community is as
worthy of living wages as any-
one else — and how wonderful
to be able to combine a living
wage with socially responsible
work!

As a community, we’re
extraordinary at the Amish
barn, raising part of the
process. We come together in

Swiss bank
account with more zeroes
before the decimal point than
after it. But we have a couple
of wonderful opportunities
ahead of us that we absolutely
must capitalize upon intelli-
gently.

The Gill Foundation work-
shops hosted by the Samara
Foundation are step number
one. A wealth of experience
and information is being deliv-
ered to our doorstep. We must
tap into it. We can learn from
these professionals how to take
our very good things and make
them better, and more impor-
tantly, sustainable by augment-
ing our volunteer resources.

Within the next two years,
our community will also bene-
fit from an influx of $300,000,
thanks to the Funding
Partnership challenge grant
garnered by Samara and the
Vermont Community
Foundation. The temptation to
think of more new and exciting
projects to start with these
funds is great, and rightfully
so, but we must make certain
that the organizations we have
now and the programs that are
already working are stabilized
and secured as we pursue the
newer dreams.

Paying people who provide
the elbow grease in our com-
munity is not caving in. It
won’t cause Vermont to lose its
grassroots charm or take the
people’s voices away. Rather,
it will enable those amongst us
who are very good at what they
do to keep doing it. We all ben-
efit from that.

And while we’re at it...

Kudos to Attorney General
William Sorrell, who filed an
amicus brief on behalf of the
plaintiff in the discrimination
case before the United States
Supreme Court against the Boy
Scouts of America. V

May 2000 I Out in the_Mou_ntains I9

  

 

(kflebrating
GLBT pride
month in song
“because love
makes us
strong! ”

Sunday, June 11th at 4:30 pm.
St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral
in Burlington
(corner of Cherry and Battery)

$8 in advance or $10 at the door
Purchase advance tickets at the
Peace & Justice Store
on Church Street, Burlington

' For more information,
call Peter at 864-5327., or
visit our web site at
wvvw.qeocities.com/SoHo/Exhibit/305;

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