Northeast Regional NOW Conference Held in Fairlee

by Jade Wolfe
OITM Staff Writer

Judith Beckett (l), conference planner, and Judy Murphy, NE NOW coordinator, take a moment to compare notes.

    The northeast regional 2001 NOW conference was held November 16th through the 18th at the Lake Morey Inn Resort in Fairlee, VT. Entitled “Moving Forward Together,“ there were over 200 in attendance for this strategy summit and celebration.
      Jan Dunlap and I arrived before 9 am on Saturday morning. The morning air was crisp. The beautiful, natural surroundings of Lake Morey were deceptively peaceful outside the country club resort. Walking up to the entrance, we were greeted by Paij Wadley-Bailey. She is a member of the Conference Planning committee. A warm and vibrant woman, if her energy level was any indication, I was about to enter an area of lively conference activities.
      The mission and goals of this conference were “to bring together lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered people and our allies ... to break down barriers that splinter our movements ... to build coalitions that will strengthen and unite our causes ... to move forward together ... to strategize for our future and celebrate our victories and lives.“
      Copies of Out In The Mountains placed prominently across from the entrance, we moved on to the registration area. Several organizations had information tables or booths set up. There were displays of political information, a women’s publishing organization, and artists’ displays and media packets. Looking around this larger room, various age groups and orientations were represented. There were not many women of color.
      Once gathered in a banquet hall, the morning began by Paij leading us in an African women’s welcoming chant. We were accompanied on African drum. After a brief introductory speech there was just enough time to engage in a ‘get to know a total stranger in a few minutes as it relates to the conference’ exercise. I met Lois. She was recently back from Morocco. An adventuresome risk taker, Lois was one of the first women arrested in Washington, D.C. for protesting AIDS issues. As anecdotes go, hers was a true reflection of someone who lives the belief of equality in America.
      Had it been possible, my time would have been more wisely spent if I could have had those three-minute commentaries from each individual present. Instead, we dispersed into workshops.
      As someone has said before, “Never underestimate the power of the individual [to affect change].“ I don’t underestimate us as individuals. I become concerned any time we give up some of our individuality and become members of a group, panel or committee. Hoping others were feeling similarly, I sat in on a morning workshop entitled “Women and the Middle East.“
      As with any ambitious topic, there wasn’t enough time to address each presenter’s words. There was no time to view the 24-minute video. We barely had gone around the room commenting on September 11 when each presenter hurriedly gave their particular comments introducing an important aspect of our discussion. At least two of these women had lived in the Middle East. An important guest of these speakers was a Middle Eastern woman recently arrived from her country.
      Howard Zinn might have enjoyed conversing with these well-informed, passionate presenters. In the back of my mind as I listened to a great deal of fear and anger, I heard Holly Near singing: “Why do we kill people, for killing people when we know, that killing people is wrong...“. It had faded out of my mind a few days after September 11 and now the volume had been turned back up.
      Elizabeth Toledo, Robyn Ochs and Mandy Carter presented “Bringing Our Movement Together.“ During their individual speeches, some of the words brought nodding heads and scattered applause but a few phrases opened up touchier areas. Clearly there were opposing forces here addressing whether change was needed, what these changes could achieve and ways to move forward.

From left to right, Lisa Hartley, Peg Luhrs, Petsy Driver, Janice Carney and Alix Dobkins. A panel addressing "Gender, Sexual Indentity, and Sexual Preferences."

      As Robyn Ochs noted, “What you are depends totally on who you’re standing next to.“ Within the NOW organization there are diverse people standing next to one another. A radical lesbian feminist does not necessarily have a great deal in common with a transgendered person. A transgendered person may find little common ground with a bisexual feminist, and so on. Mandy Carter’s eloquent words summed it up when she stated, “Definitions can clarify or divide us.“ We were left to ask ourselves the question, “Are we seeking justice or just for us?“ The momentum of volatility was kept alive in the workshop “Gender, Sexual Identity and Sexual Preference.“ The panel had been selected for its diversity in living and experiences. There was a moment when the discussion became more of a shouting match between a transgendered person in the audience demanding change in the attitudes of NOW members who have ‘issues’ or ‘problems’ including transgendered people in the membership.
      As I strolled back to the registration area, the charged discussion was still ebbing and flowing. Down the hall from the workshop noise stood the most inviting scene. A well-respected, radical feminist was listening intently to a transgendered individual. They were deep in conversation. Here were two very different beings trying to listen to one another minus the membership in a large group of ‘sided people’. They had already moved together to better understand one another.
      The evening entertainment was tuning up on the small stage next to the booths and displays. Fifteen of the twenty workshops would soon be closing for the day. The two and a half day summit was into its second evening. A film festival would continue until Sunday’s 9 am showing of “It’s Elementary: Talking About Gay Issues in School.“

Robin Ochs, educator, writer, speaker, activist, and editor of Bisexual Resource Guide "When All You Have Is A Hammer, Everything Looks Like A Nail."

      Everything from early morning yoga to evening poetry slams would fill out the experiences of this summit.
      Judy Murphy, a NE NOW coordinator, stood in the empty registration area as the workshops were ending. She seemed a bit ‘conference weary’ yet satisfied with the amount of progress being made. After a day or two of reflection how would this conference measure up? Upon reading the conference evaluations, Judy and her committee were “pleased with the turnout and the comments that referred to the conference as ‘eye-opening and heart-opening.’
      The conference had opportunities for moments of growth. Seizing moments of expansion in a charged atmosphere often proves illuminating. If, as a species we keep living and responding primarily as a crowd of people, I am going to try having these essentially individual conversations as often as possible. The divided attendees at the NOW conference at least began some of these ‘smaller group discussions’ with some success.