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Governor Dean Supports Gay Rights
Governor Howard Dean, in his State of the State Address before the Vermont Legislature on January 7th, included support for the full civil rights of lesbians and gays in his agenda for the current legislative session.
"I also ask this General Assembly to continue Vermont's strong tradition of civil rights by passing the gay rights bill so that no group of Vermonters suffers from bigotry and intolerance."
February 02, 1992As Governor, Dean has historically sided with Vermont’s gay and lesbian community. He is credited with helping pass and ultimately signed into law legislation prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. He also supported the extension of benefits to the domestic partners of Vermont State employees. In 1994, Dean appointed Bill Lippert, an openly gay man, to fill a vacant seat in the House of Representatives. As a result of Vermont’s civil union law, The Advocate, a national gay newsmagazine, dubbed him the "Dean of Unions." December 12th, 2002"What I need to get across to the gay community and our allies is that Dean, although a centrist Democrat, has put himself on the line out there on civil unions and the community as a whole," Lippert stressed. "He has steadfastly recognized civil unions as a civil rights issue. I absolutely support his re-election despite differences on other issues. This is not the time for gays and lesbians to turn our backs . He has earned our support over and over." September, 2000OITM: Immediately after the Supreme Court’s Baker ruling, you sided with domestic partnership legislation. How did you come to make this decision and what role do you think your position played in the ultimate outcome of the debate?
Dean: I knew that marriage was impossible and that the legislature would just kill themselves. They couldn’t do it; they’d fall into terrible disarray. I thought the court decision left civil union as a legal alternative, which would grant the rights and the benefits, as they required. I thought that in time Vermonters would come to accept that. In the end, I think my position gave cover to a lot of people in the legislature. It really helped legislators who were struggling with the issue.
OITM: When you finally announced your position, you said that gay marriage made you "uncomfortable like everyone else." Can you clarify what you meant by that and specifically what about gay marriage makes you uncomfortable?
Dean: The truth is that it is the politics that made me uncomfortable. (Personally) I’m sure that I have the same hang-ups that lots of people have on the issue. But it is a matter of equity. I remain convinced that of the 50 percent of people who are opposed to this, that half of those are fundamentally decent human beings and this is just a vast change for them that they’ve never considered before. I consider those people people who will ultimately accept the equality of gays and lesbians and stop marginalizing them. Those are the people that I have to speak to. June, 2000Is there any gay or lesbian voter who would not stand in line on Election Day to vote for Governor Dean? If I were eligible to vote in Vermont, I would literally crawl, swim, walk over hot coals (whatever I had to do) to cast my vote for him. I realize that I am the ultimate "flatlander" "a Texan" but also I have been a political activist in our movement for 29 years. I know this is true: we must, we absolutely must stand up for those who have stood for us. Howard Dean backed civil unions and signed the bill that gave ALL of us in the United States the most sweeping set of legal rights in our lifetime. October, 2000Some BLTG people in Vermont may feel that Anthony Pollina is more sympathetic and responsive to our community, but the political reality of the civil union legislation as being only a part of a national movement for our civil rights is that we need to stick by and vote for Howard Dean.
If we as a voting bloc are seen as having turned our backs on Governor Dean for his reelection bid, it would send a message to politicians from sea to shining sea: BLTG voters desert their allies without provocation. Furthermore, if Dean loses the election it would send a message to politicians of every ilk: Allying with the BLTG community by helping implement groundbreaking legislation is political suicide.
I’m voting for Howie because I respect a man who can see past his discomfort with us and support our struggle for full civil rights. (Think about that for one second: it’s a greater act of courage to champion the rights of a group you are uncomfortable with.) His infamous remark to the effect that: I’m as uncomfortable with homosexuality as anyone else or some such never bothered me at all. I considered it to be a remarkably candid statement coming from a politician. He doesn’t have to love me, he just has to understand that I deserve a seat at the table, and act to help me occupy my seat. (How many BLTG people do you know who can’t be bothered to work for their own rights?) October, 2000As I reported in the January edition of Out in the Mountains, seventeen GLBTQ youth met with Governor Howard Dean this past November. He expressed great support for gay/straight alliances and took a firm stand against homophobic harassment in schools. "At the meeting with Governor Dean," accounts Cindy Marcelle, a teenager from New Haven, "I stopped seeing him as a man on the 6:00 news. I started seeing him as a father, an ally; and most of all, as a friend." Since then, Dean has written a letter to school principals in support of GLBTQ youth and worked with Marc Hull, the Commissioner of Education. June, 1998OITM: Would President Dean have signed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)?
Dean: No.
OITM: What is your position on the bill proposed by Nancy Sheltra (R-Derby) that would make same gender marriage in Vermont illegal?
Dean: I don't support that. I think we have to see what the courts say before we react preemptively. There is a very difficult issue here and that is that the institution of marriage, from a non religious point of view, provides a huge number of civil rights that are not available to people who are not married. That issue has to be addressed. If it isn't going to be addressed in terms of marriage, it has to be addressed a different way. But I don't think it is appropriate for the legislature to get involved until we know what the ground rules are.
May, 1998
Associated Press, 05/08/98 01:03
EAST MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) - It's not necessary to approve of other
peoples' sexuality, but it's vital to treat others with tolerance and
civility, Gov. Howard Dean told students at U-32 high school.
Adolescence is especially difficult for gays and lesbians because that
is when everyone is discovering their own sexuality, and also when
people want the most to fit in with their peers, Dean told about 580
students in grades 9-12 on Thursday.
``Sexual identity is a very difficult issue; it's an issue that lots
of kids, whether they are gay and lesbian or whether they are
straight, struggle with, particularly through adolescence,
particularly in high school,'' Dean said. ``The fact that someone is
different, has a different sexual orientation, and is in a very
significant minority makes those folks have to stand up to enormous
amounts of pressure.''
Dean spoke at the high school at the request of Principal Inga Duktig,
who said the governor's talk was to her ``a golden opportunity for a
government official to deliver an important message to our student
body about civil rights.''
In her two years at U-32, Duktig said, she's known of incidents where
gay students were harassed. The school has a policy prohibiting
harassment on the basis of disability, marital status, national
origin, race, religion, sex or sexual orientation.
``Schools are just microcosms of society,'' she said. ``Oftentimes out
of ignorance, individuals act in ways that are offensive, and often
they do it unknowingly...without even understanding that some of that
may violate civil rights.''
Dean told the students that when he was their age, racial epithets
that would not be tolerated now were used regularly in conversation.
These days in high school, he said, sexual epithets ``are tossed off
as if nothing was said, as if it's no big deal. That hurts.''
Dean asked students to think carefully about how their words might
hurt a listener. He asked them to be willing to learn tolerance.
``The reason people exhibit intolerance is because they're afraid.
They're afraid of what's inside themselves,'' Dean said. ``What I'm
here to do is to bring that out in the open, to talk about it... to
let you know that people who have gone before you have struggled with
these type of issues, that you are not alone.''
And he asked the students to acknowledge the courage of people who do
take a stand on issues like sexual orientation.
``Their road in life is not easy,'' he said.
After Dean spoke, students and teachers stepped to microphones to ask
Dean his views on issues including gay marriage and affirmative
action.
``That's one that I haven't figured out yet,'' Dean said about gay
marriage. ``That's a very difficult issue.''
Dean was also asked his view of a February citizens' referendum in
Maine that repealed a gay-rights law passed by the Legislature.
``I disagree with what the voters did in Maine, and it points up the
dangers of having a citizen initiative,'' Dean said.
And he said repeatedly that civil rights and affirmative action do not
give some groups special rights.
``We're not talking special privileges here; we're talking the same
privileges as the majority population,'' Dean said.
Several students applauded when one youth got up and said to Dean, ``I
think one man and one woman should be together.''
``I have no quarrel with that,'' Dean said. ``What I do have a quarrel
with is incivility and intolerance.''
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