Equality Vermont Sets Legislative Priorities for 2004 Session

by Paul Olsen

     With the opening of the 2004 legislative session in Vermont, gay and lesbian activists identified three legislative priorities they hope will become law this year.
      According to Equality Vermont's Virginia Renfrew, bills addressing harassment in schools, medical marijuana, and adding gender identity to the state's nondiscrimination statues are of specific interest to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Vermonters.
      The school harassment bill, H.113, would clarify the definition of sexual and racial harassment, hold harassers legally liable in court, and specify elements of harassment prevention training for teachers.
      Although harassment based on a student's sexual orientation is already prohibited by law in Vermont, Renfrew says passage of H.113 will strengthen the existing statute.
      "It will certainly benefit anyone who is being harassed in school," she told Out in the Mountains. "The focus is on racial harassment, but for the queer community this is an important bill. Although we've had a [harassment] law since 1996, it doesn't really have any teeth to it. This bill, if we can get it through, has some teeth."
      A bill legalizing medical marijuana for medical purposes is a priority for many Vermonters living with HIV/AIDS. H.111 "proposes to exempt seriously ill people from prosecution and prison for using medical marijuana under a doctor's supervision." A similar bill passed the state Senate last year but is opposed by Governor James Douglas (R).
      "There are alternatives [to medical marijuana]," Douglas recently said on Vermont Public Radio. "THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, is available through a pill form that's been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, and I think that's the appropriate agency for making the determination. Those are the professionals, not the Vermont Legislature."
      For her part, Renfrew isn't sure how H.111 will play out this year. "Medical marijuana passed the Senate last year with a 22 to 8 vote," she said. "It is now in the House Health & Welfare Committee. It seems there is a possibility there will be at least a hearing on it. We're certainly not giving up this year on this. We will continue to push on it until we get it passed."
      Vermont would become the fourth state to prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity if a bill introduced last year by Rep. Bill Lippert (D-Hinesburg) and three cosponsors becomes law. The bill's intent is "to add gender identity to the list of protected classes in various statutes," including those affecting employment, public accommodations, housing, and credit.
      Renfrew says H.366 is unlikely to be acted on this year. "I'd say this year is kind of an education," she said. "I would love to have the House Judiciary Committee have a day of hearings about it, and I am talking with some transgender people about testifying why this is important. Will it get through this year? Probably not, but I never want to say no."
      According to the Gender Public Advocacy Coalition (GenderPAC), a Washington DC-based advocacy group committed to fighting discrimination and violence caused by gender stereotypes, only four states have passed laws outlawing discrimination on the basis of gender identity. Vermont law already prohibits discrimination and hate crimes on the basis of sexual orientation.
      Finally, three bills - one in the House and two proposed constitutional amendments in the Senate - would repeal civil unions and establish a clause defining marriage as between a man and a woman, respectively. None of these bills is likely to see action this year.
      On January 30, gay and lesbian Vermonters had the opportunity to "storm the Statehouse" by participating in Equality Vermont's "Queer Visibility Day" to lobby legislators. According to Renfrew, the event is "a really important day for queer organizations to be there and let legislators know what they do. It is also important to have many people there from the queer and ally community to say these issues are important and we want them to be passed."

Paul Olsen lives in Colchester and also writes for In Newsweekly.