Editorial
Editorial
With Your Help, OITM is Bouncing Back
It’s
been an intense few weeks for our board and new and old helpers, pitching
in to help this paper survive its latest slump. A call went out a month
ago to help OITM when all but two board members left and revenues were
down.
Several people answered the call, sparking
a flurry of activity. Special meetings, phone calls and emails flying
back and forth, scheduling times, all done while working day jobs, taking
care of families, trying to get some sleep and maybe breathe ... one thing
is made clear by all this, and that is that Out in the Mountains matters.
To many of us, it matters a lot.
Thank you, Tina Giangrande and Miguel Rivera,
for joining the Mountain Pride Media board when it was down to two members
(President Brian Cote and Greg Weaver). We appreciate your volunteer hours
and energy to help keep OITM on its feet.
Also, thank you Samara Foundation, for offering
to match funds of up to $4,000 to help us out (see letter on page 7).
Thanks also to the many volunteers who have
participated in recent strategic planning meetings to help determine how
OITM will survive and thrive in the future.
OITM, and Mountain Pride Media, which was
created years ago to create the online version of the paper and give a
boost to OITM when it was ailing then, both help keep our community together.
It’s hoped that within these pages are stories that resonate with
readers, news that is meaningful, and a way to connect through the avenues
of the calendar, (now the Daily Agenda), Community Compass, and the Source.
We know that for some, OITM helps bring people together with each other
and organizations when they haven’t known where else to turn.
We intend OITM to help us celebrate Pride,
once a year and every day.
In spite of the bad news, such as the governor’s
veto of the Gender Identity and Expression bill; and in Washington, the
Congressional move to ban same-sex marriage, there is much to look forward
to. This month, Out for Good, a former GLBT volunteer group that’s
now hooked up with the new Gay & Lesbian Fund, will again help raise
funds for Vermont Public Radio; and also, we hear, will have a team joining
the Champ Ride (see the Community Compass for more information).
Also, there’s a great deal happening
in southern Vermont, with Brattleboro’s first-ever Pride celebration
and lots going on with the new Queer Community Project. Elder LGBT Vermonters
are organizing as well, including the Lesbian Grandmothers Group and the
recent LGBT Elders discussion in Putney.
Several new writers have offered their
stories to tell
us what’s happening in the southern region. We also commend the
courageous youth who continue, against sometimes heavy odds, to come out
of the closet, work for understanding and equal rights, and celebrate
their lives. Their contributions to OITM can be found in the Youth Zone
on page 17.
Where do we go from here? It would be too
soon to say the paper is out of the woods, or everything is taken care
of, or we don’t need any more help. We are going to continue to
need volunteers to take on a variety of tasks, so don’t go away!
Stay with us, because Out in the Mountains needs you to help keep us all
connected.
There will be more to come. Stay tuned.
Alphabet Soup
I never did like alphabet soup. Not the
kind in the can, and not the kind in our language, either. It’s
gotten to the point where I no longer can decipher all the letters in
“our” name.
Recently, I was talking to someone about
one or another of our issues and found myself stumbling over pronouncing
LGBT, which is easier than saying lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender, but
is nonetheless a tongue twister. Then we got to talking about the QQA
that’s been added to the first four letters. (Tell me if I’m
wrong, but I think it stands for queer, questioning and allies). OK, that
makes seven. Then the question popped up, what did the recently added
“I” stand for?
“Interesting!” said my co-conspirator.
We laughed.
“I like that,” I said. “We
need something more positive than ‘queer,’” which lately
has become the catchall word for members of our community.
I don’t like the word queer, and I’m
not the only one. Back when I was in school, “queer” was just
about the meanest word you could call anyone. It meant sick, odd, abnormal.
It meant mentally ill. Maybe some of the sting has gone out of the word
over the years, but it still carries the connotation that we’re
odd or different. I would argue that we are in the minority, yes, but
that doesn’t translate into “odd.”
Anyway, I think we need some new language
for ourselves. One word only would be nice. The word “interesting”
could be used in a kind of shortened alphabet soup, say, VIP. It could
stand for “very interesting people.” Or sometimes, if the
occasion called for it, VIP could revert back to its original meaning,
“very important people.”But that wouldn’t be as, well,
interesting.
As VIPs, we would be seen as the opposite
of boring. Very positive, I say! Actually, I learned the “I”
stands for “intersex.” That would be a good story idea, if
someone out there would like to write about people whose sexual identity
falls within this category. I’m sure that other readers, besides
myself, could learn from such an article. Meanwhile, we all deserve a
better name than “LGBTQQIA.”
Do you have some ideas? Let us know.
Lynn McNicol, Editor