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15 Nov 2008 05:48 pm

The View From Your Protest: Vermont

A reader writes:

It's been a gray and intermittently rainy day in the Green Mountain State. Our protest took place in front of the Burlington City Hall, which is at the foot of the Church St. pedestrian mall. Despite the weather, I'd estimate that 250 people turned out.

The basic theme of the speakers was: Vermont needs to return to its place at the head of the line when it comes to GLBTQ rights. Robyn Maguire, field director for the Vermont Freedom to Marry Task Force, served as emcee and told the crowd to volunteer to help lay the foundation for a bill to be introduced next year (which really means in a few months) that would open civil marriage to gay couples. What I found striking, though, was that I recognized no one who had been a part of the battle for civil unions eight years ago. The crowd was on the young side (and nicely peppered with straights and gays). Maybe the old guard has given way to new leadership that is owning the struggle.

But why didn't we hear from the lawmakers who will sponsor this bill come January? Where were some of the original plaintiffs and lawyers from Baker v. State to tell us what we're up against? We know many of these people, but it looked like they decided to stay home today. (And we drove quite a piece to participate; many of them live a lot closer to Burlington than we do.)

The best part of the rally was the moment of silence near the top of the hour. The speeches, to be somewhat uncharitable, all sound the same after a while. But the quite was strangely moving, and all the more so as it was punctuated at the end by the chiming of the bell atop City Hall.

So: effective as far as it went, and the local news media covered it. Time will tell how whether it will reposition Vermont at the forefront of this battle. I have my doubts.

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