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       OITM has meant so much to me. During my years of coming out. It made me know that I was part of something great. I felt so alone then. No one understood me. Family members, friends and many others. I was so proud to deliver these papers. Feeling that maybe I was helping someone else who felt lonely. I hope OITM continues for many years. It has made me realize that there is a community out there for me. I just wanted to say thank you for such a fantastic paper. It is a paper that I am proud of. Keep up the great work.

Timothy Pyer,
The Upper Valley

        My name is Marsha Bancroft, I am 68 years old and finally living in Vermont, very much out of a very deep, dark closet. My family and I have skied at Mad River Glen for 45 years, driving up from New Jersey as many as 12 weekends every winter. I also spent at least a week in Vermont every summer for as many years. I discovered Out In The Mountains at a bookstore one day early in its publication history. I couldn't believe my luck to find such a wonderful resource, which I hid in my suitcase and read in privacy at home in New Jersey. After that I looked for the newspaper whenever I was here and hid it away like forbidden chocolate!
      During the 18 months before we moved to Vermont I found myself in therapy for the first time in my life. Through that experience I finally gave myself "permission" to consider coming out as a lesbian and finding a life true to my real self. However actually facing my husband of 40 years and our three adult children with this information was terrifying. I became a faithful reader of OITM as soon as we moved. At that time Chris Leslie was writing the spiritual column. At the end of her column, included with her contact info, was the statement that she was counseling individuals and couples with spiritual and gender issues. I called, made an appointment, and the rest is history. OITM also introduced me to Christ Church Presbyterian. With Chris's encouragement, I began to attend services and met the most supportive and loving group of people I have ever encountered. Because I had such positive counsel and such warm, understanding acceptance from my church, I found the strength to come out and have never regretted the decision. Now my partner and I are subscribers of OITM and still find each issue a fresh source of support, information and community. Happy Birthday, OITM, I am grateful!

Marsha Bancroft
Worcester

       Curt and I found Out in the Mountains on our first visit to Vermont, which was to have our civil union. During that visit we spent four days, touring much of the state. Vermont is a tremendous place. We continued to return to Vermont during each of our vacations and kept in touch with what was going on in the community, between visits, by hitting the OITM web site. We found our dream home in South Burlington and, sooner than we had planned to buy a house in Vermont, bought it. Slowly but surely we are moving the geographic center of our lives to Vermont.
      Now, as subscribers to OITM, we keep up-to-date with the news in the community. The thing we like most about OITM is that it actually contains news about Vermont. The GLBT paper we have access to in Dallas has a much larger circulation but contains much less actual news. We enjoy reading the editorial comments as well as the views expressed in the letters to the editor. When we are at our house in South Burlington we make it a point to patronize advertisers in OITM. We believe strongly in the mission of Mountain Pride Media and are delighted to be able to help with making a donation to MPM’s further success. We appreciate MPM.

Mark S. Westergard & Curt R. Moody
Dallas, TX & South Burlington, VT

      Every time I read Out in the Mountains, I feel like I'm holding the precious glue that holds our diverse community together. Many thanks to all who have made it happen over the past 20 years, issue by issue!

John Crane
Norwich, VT

      When I first came to Vermont 13 years ago, OITM was a great roadmap to the GLBT community around the state. In the years since, it has become much more than that. It has become a character as alive and as important to me as any friend I know. I look forward each month to "my" OITM to keep up on events that affect my life and the lives of my friends, I inevitably learn something from the dialogue I find in the letters to the editor, and I have cherished the thoughtful reflection put into the editorials of Euan Bear and her predecessors along the way.
      OITM helps to shape my political decisions and it sometimes leaves me aghast when I read how even today we continue to fight amongst ourselves as much as we fight against those who oppress us, but it would not be honest of OITM to ignore our inner community struggles and it says a great deal about the integrity of the paper that it remains willing to look at all sides and not just the most advantageous side of an argument within our culture to present to the world.
      OITM is about diversity, and it truly offers a forum for any number of voices and opinions within the many layers of the soufflé that represent the larger GLBT community. Whether part of the youth, elder, men, womyn, transgendered, leather, drag, faerie, HIV, or whatever else "community" or any combination of the above, we have all been embraced and made stronger because of the hard work of the people who have been determined enough to keep putting this paper out every month for the past twenty years. "Thank you" hardly seems an adequate response, but I offer it to all of you at OITM present and past.

Grace Noble
Colchester

      I live in Westminster, Vermont and believe it or not, it was what OITM didn’t have that inspired me to get more involved in our community.  The Calendar section of OITM never has any events listed for Southern Vermont other that the Brattleboro AIDS project needle exchange on Tuesday nights.  Ugh! How pathetic!  Now that the only Gay bar in our county is closed I can't stand by and watch any longer. I am now directly involved in helping get a Windham County LGBTQ center started in Brattleboro (More news to come on that).  So thanks for that unintentional inspiration.

Adrienne deGuevara
Westminster 

      Here's why OITM means so much to me:
When I first moved to Vermont, Out in the Mountains was a beacon, a guide, a buoy, a safety net. I was really impressed that such a small state would have a whole newspaper dedicated to a community I cared so much about, and I used it to access queer events, meet new friends, and get my first real job in the community. The breadth and depth of topics was impressive, and it was nice to have a link to national and international causes right in my backyard. For someone just getting on his feet, such a resource was crucial. Out in the Mountains retains a tenor and mood that I respect, and compared to other queer papers around the nation, it proves itself a great balance of intellect, humor, and integrity. Congratulations to OITM and Mountain Pride Media for what they've accomplished, and for what their future has in store!

Peter Jacobsen
Burlington

      congratulations on your 20th anniversary. it brings me great joy and pride to read yourpaper online. i was raised in winooski vermont gay pride movement back in 1970. i moved to springfield mass. in 1972 and live springfield for 5 years. i move again in 1977 to san francisco and still live in sf. i left vt when there was not even a gay bar and now look at everything now. it has meant so much to be able to keep up in what happening in the gay life of vt from your paper. it is so well written. happy 20th anniversary and looking forward to my continued reading of your great paper.

dan collins
San Francisco

       OUT in the Mountains has been the way that I could keep up with the news in the GLBT community both locally and nationally, thanks largely to the editor Euan Bear. I look forward to continuing to receive it in whatever form it takes! 

Alverta Perkins
South Burlington

      My most significant memory of OITM is when Ellen DeGeneres visited UVM in October 1999. I was a grad student at the time and somehow ended up being the coordinator for her visit, thus I hosted Ellen (and Anne Heche) for several hours. I remember riding in the limo with them to the venue and being unsure of what to say or talk about. They asked questions about how many people would be at the performance, and what people would be like. It took me a while to realize that they had no idea what the GLBT climate was like here because every time I explained something, they said, "Wow. This place is really liberal."
      I told them everyone in the audience was wearing pink Freedom to Marry stickers: "Wow. This place is really liberal."
      Yolanda popped her head into the backstage and gave a flamboyant "Hellooooo." After I explained who she was, they said "Wow. This place is really liberal."
       I told them the Burlington mayor and UVM's president wanted to give a welcome and that's why we were waiting so long before going on stage. Again, I heard "Wow. This place is really liberal."
      And finally, I showed them their "green room" which was outfitted with modest amenities, including the most recent edition of OITM. I showed them the paper and they said something like, "You have a whole paper focused just on gay stuff? Wow. This place is really liberal." Sadly, I don't remember them actually reading it, but I do remember it contributing to their amazement with our accepting clilmate.

Jill Hoppenjans
Burlington

        I will never forget the first time I found OITM. My partner and I were living in Manchester, VT, where we owned and operated a small motel (it was 1986 or 87). We were very closeted and knew no other lesbians in the area.
       Imagine our delight when we found several copies of Out In the Mountains at the local Northshire Bookstore. We devoured the contents and looked forward to every issue. OITM helped us through a very lonely time in our lives. Thank you OITM and here’s to many more birthdays!!!

Bev Youree
Richford

       When my partner and I first moved to Burlington (1999), OITM was a great resource for me. Like an anthropologist, I pored over every new issue, eagerly learning as much as I could about a community that I hoped to be a part of. Everything seemed to contain some clue as to how I could have a life in Vermont. I began to find familiar names and faces. Later, OITM has served as a way for me to reach out to the community for projects that are important to me. These days, I might still seek out the latest issue, but I comfortably turn the pages to something that grabs me, whether it's a column, a book review, or the comics. Perhaps I have become less serious as I've gotten older. It may no longer be my primary resource (it can't represent every viewpoint in the community) and there have been times when I have disagreed with what I have read, but OITM is still something to be appreciated.

Margaret M. Tamulonis
Burlington

       Over the last few years, I have come to know and love Out in the Mountains. Euan has done a tremendous job as editor (and same for Michel in his job). And that's important. OITM plays a pivotal role in building our communities. It connects us, whether we live in walking distance to the Queer Community Center, or live in small villages sprinkled throughout the state. OITM nurtures, welcomes, and celebrates our community. Thank you to Euan, the staff, board, donors, volunteers, and advertisers of OITM for 20 years of award-winning work and service to our communities. Out in the Mountains isn't just a source of information; it's a source of pride.

Rep. Jason Lorber
Burlington

       As an openly gay youth growing up during the 1960s in Vermont I got used to feeling isolated, thinking I was the only one who felt like this. I spent most of my youth waiting to hear the person in the front of the room say the words that acknowledged they knew I was in the room.
        Eventually I stumbled upon a flyer talking about an effort to organize Vermont's gay community. It was at that first men's caucus meeting in White River Jct that I also stumbled upon Out in the Mountains. Here was the voice that I had been looking for, the connection to other people who felt like I did, who did not want to move away, but wanted to create a home, a safe community here in Vermont.
       Out in the Mountains became that connection to a larger, and as yet still hidden, community that truly stretched from St Albans to Bennington. It became the forum where we talked about our sense of isolation, our personal and public needs, and how to connect with each other. It became the vehicle by which we came to define our community and take control of our lives.
       When we embarked on an ambitious political journey, Out in the Mountains became our organizing tool and the means to keep our community informed on the work ahead, who were our allies, and the schedule for those endless legislative hearings.
      What has Out in the Mountains meant to me over the past 20 years? It was the catalyst that has allowed me to be able to define my life on the terms that are true and right for me, and to find the community and family for which I had been searching.

Keith Goslant
Barre

Keith Goslant is one of two official liaisons from the LGBT communities to the Governor. He has held that office since 1986.

       From inception, Out in the Mountains has been a clear voice, speaking up and speaking out on behalf of so many across the state. Sometimes pushing, sometimes pulling, always direct, always honest, many staff and boards have worked very hard and usually more for love than for money. Twenty years of deadlines and cliff-hanger budget crunches have aged more than one editor, but the results have been rich: a sense of community, knitted together through the sheer force of will and love. With a deep sense of gratitude, thank you.

Samara Foundation
Board and Staff
Burlington/ Norwich

       Out in the Mountains provided a connection to the community when our daughter Elizabeth Hane moved to Richmond, Vermont. She made many friends through her volunteer work with the organization. Following the civil union between Elizabeth and Stina Bridgeman in 2002, Out in the Mountains provided both sets of parents an opportunity to publicly express our love and support to both of them through a "parents' perspective" article.
Carl and Nancy Hane,
(ages 62 and 60)
Norman, OK

       I want to add my voice to the inevitable chorus of praise for Euan as her editorship comes to a close. She has done a splendid job with the hardest job in our community, and we will all miss her perspective. Best of luck as Euan and Out in the Mountains move forward into new eras!

Bennett Law
Bethel

Bennett Law is a former president of MPM.