Out In The Mountains : News - Religion, Marriage, and Law Panel Draws Crowd in Brattleboro

Organized and sponsored the Vermont Freedom to Marry Task Force and the Social Responsibility Committee of the All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church, the forum’s purpose was to engage in civil discussion — respecting opinions on both sides — of same-gender marriage.

Although the original intent was to have a panel of six speakers — two church leaders and one legislator on either side of the issue — the evening actually saw five speakers. Episcopal priest Jean Jersey, Rabbi Noah Kitty and Rep. David Deen, D-Westminster, spoke for same-gender marriage. High profile opposition groups such as Take It To The People and the Roman Catholic Church declined invitations to participate. Baptist ministers John Cera of Wilmington and Joe Coleman of Newfane agreed to speak for their opposing views, as did Rep. Pat O’Donnell, R-Vernon, who had to bow out at the last minute.

Moderator Tom Trenchard, himself a last minute substitute, set the tone by laying down some ground rules and suggesting a circular seating arrangement to promote a sense of inclusion and community and encourage audience participation in the discussion.

That discussion proved spirited and challenging. Many in attendance were from the congregations of Ceratto and Coleman. They voiced not only beliefs that the Bible condemns homosexuality, but concerns about health risks such as HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases in general.

But Noah Kitty matched them word for word on interpreting scripture, and an epidemiologist in the audience cautioned against the selective use of statistics, particularly since the spread of sexually transmitted diseases today is at a faster rate among heterosexuals.

Several people spoke eloquently of the social value of loving relationships, regardless of gender. In general most saw the pending legislation as a civil rights issue that has been confused by the intermixing of church and state.

As VFMTF representative Bari Shamas pointed out in her opening remarks, previous fora on the issue had been similarly successful in promoting dialogue.

But few have elicited as much interest. A 1998 forum sponosored by All Souls Church attracted only a handful of participants. Many in attendance expressed hopes that, with the issue still at the forefront of the Vermont legislative agenda, Vermonters would continue to be respectful and willing to listen to one another.