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JOHNSON--Ellen's mom is coming to Vermont to talk about having a gay daughter.
Johnson State College will present speaker Betty DeGeneres at the Dibden Center for the Arts on Thursday, March 11 at 7pm.
She will speak about her experience as the spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign's National Coming Out Project, and as the mother of television actress Ellen DeGeneres.
In April, 1997, Ellen made history as both she and her character on her hit TV show both came out of the closet. After the positive response to her daughter's public coming out, Betty became the HRC's National Coming Out spokesperson for 1997/98.
The ongoing campaign encourages and assists gay people to be honest about their lives;. It also provides guidance to campus groups and individuals dealing with coming out and sponsors National Coming Out Day events.
Ms. DeGeneres speaks throughout the country about having a gay family member and supporting equal rights for gay people. She is the first heterosexual to serve as a National Coming Out Project spokesperson; other spokespersons have included openly gay figures such as Candace Gingrich and Chastity Bono.
Her first book, Love, Ellen: A Mother, Daughter Journey, is scheduled to be released in March of this year. It is an anthology of all the letters the two exchanged after Ellen moved away to start her career in television.
Craig Stevens' appointment to the position was announced on February 2.
Stevens has worked in AIDS services with the Vermont Department of Health for more than three years. He has also worked in men's health, domestic violence prevention, and other public health departments in Massachusetts.
Stevens replaces Joshua Noble, who vacated the position in January.
Conferred during the LGBA's annual conference in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida in early February, the status gives the band full voting rights in LGBA and access to its extensive library of music.
GMFB joins almost two dozen other American, Canadian, and Australian bands in the organization.
LGBA provides support and promotion for bands through its newsletter, conferences and seminars. Member bands have combined for performances at such events as the Gay Games and the 1993 and 1997 Clinton Inaugural parades.
The Green Mountain Freedom Band was formed in 1993 as a marching band for the annual Vermont Pride march. Since then, it has also performed holiday concerts at area nursing homes and group homes.
This spring, GMFB hopes to hold two concerts in April before its performance at Pride on June 19 in Burlington. The GMFB can be reached by mail at Green Mountain Freedom Band, c/o Miki Thomas, P.O. Box 5322, Burlington, VT 05402-5322, or by email. Musicians of all instruments and abilities are invited to join.
The group was introduced on the floor of the House of Representatives by Rep. Bill Lippert of Hinesburg and later spent half an hour in a private meeting with Governor Howard Dean.
Dean conversed with those present about issues such as names reporting, funding of AIDS services organizations, privacy of health records, and insurance availablity.
The one sticking point between the Governor and his guests was the issue of methadone treatment for addicts who are HIV positive. Anna Smith of Burlington spoke from the heart about her personal situation and urged Dean to reconsider his anti-methadone stance, if only for those who are suffering from both heroin addiction and AIDS.
Authorities closed the case late last year, citing insufficient evidence to prosecute. Last summer Kanoff found a photograph of herself posted outside her office. It had an anti-gay epithet written across the top, a bullet hole drawn on her forehead, and a slash mark across her throat.
