Tuesday, October 23, 2018
“Wow. Sure as hell hope I win this election! The Trump administration is going to get a can of whoop-ass from me!” Hallquist tweeted in response to an October 21 New York Times story that revealed that Trump officials are discussing defining gender based on the genitals a person is born with.
The Times reported that “the new definition would essentially eradicate federal recognition of the estimated 1.4 million Americans who have opted to recognize themselves — surgically or otherwise — as a gender other than the one they were born into.”
That includes Hallquist, who is the first transgender candidate nominated by a major party to run for governor. During an interview Monday, she speculated that if the administration goes through with the change, “I may not be able to travel … My passport currently says female but [Trump] could be revoking passports. He could be telling states that our enhanced [driver’s] licenses are not valid.”
“It’s a horrible thing,” Hallquist said. “Nobody should feel comfortable when the president starts wiping out entire populations.”
Tags: Christine Hallquist , Phil Scott , Donald Trump , transgender , Election 2018 , Governor's Race 2018 , Image , Web Only
Friday, May 11, 2018
Brenda Churchill, the Statehouse liaison for the LGBTQIA Alliance of Vermont, said the new law is a big step forward.
“Every Vermonter will now have more opportunity to be able to use a bathroom,” Churchill said.
Tags: bathroom bill , transgender , gender-neutral , public restroom , Brenda Churchill , Phil Scott , Image , Web Only
Saturday, January 6, 2018
Awesome! That makes us one step closer to the apocalypse. https://t.co/Fux34w61B8
— denisfinley (@denisjfinley) January 6, 2018
In his Friday night Tweet, Freeps executive editor Denis Finley was responding to a Vermont Public Radio story about the proposal and a comment from Rights & Democracy spokesman Shay Totten that the policy move was "awesome!"
Community members quickly excoriated Finley, who joined the Free Press in 2016. Totten, a former Seven Days political columnist, questioned whether Finley was "transphobic, bad at Twitter, or both." Vermont Democratic Party chair Terje Anderson called it "another reason not to subscribe to the Burlington Free Press."
Finley responded to several of his critics in real time.
Tags: Burlington Free Press , Denis Finley , Twitter , social media , Image , Web Only
Friday, January 5, 2018
Rep. Kiah Morris (D-Bennington) belted out the tune for the House's devotional, a daily formality that usually consists of the state song or the national anthem. Friday's change-up to the classic Wizard of Oz song — sung by a legislator, no less — was part of the remembrance for Paij Wadley-Bailey, who died in 2016.
The House honored Wadley-Bailey with a resolution. Morris' performance held members' rapt attention from beginning to end.
“Paij contributed a lot to our community on so many levels and in so many ways,” Rep. Brian Cina (P-Burlington) said Friday. “She was an educator and an activist and a community organizer.”
Tags: Kiah Morris , Brian Cina , Paij Wadley-Bailey , Vermont House , Image , Web Only , Video
Thursday, October 5, 2017
“Susan was aware that it wasn’t working, and she had the guts to say, ‘You know, I’m not the person to continue,’” Butt said. “So she said it’s time for us to make a change.”
Hartman moved to Vermont from Fayetteville, Ark. She started the job May 1 and replaced Kim Fountain, who left the Pride Center in September 2016 after five years on the job.
Hartman could not be reached for comment Thursday, and Butt said she was out of town on a previously scheduled vacation. But in an interview with Vermont Public Radio in May, Hartman said she’d worked in nonprofits since she was 18.
Tags: Rex Butt , Susan Hartman , Pride Center of Vermont , Image , Web Only
Thursday, March 2, 2017
The Pride Center of Vermont board announced Thursday at a packed public forum that it will condemn the "Mister Sister" name of the gay bar proposed in Winooski.
At least 80 people attended the "trans town hall" in Burlington. Almost all of them spoke out against the name, saying it was a verbal slam on trans women.
Many speakers also hurled criticism at the Pride Center for failing to initially take a strong public stand against the name. The barrage went on for close to an hour before the board announced its new position on the matter.
Tags: Pride Center of Vermont , Mister Sister , Elena Littlebug , Dusti Parker , Robert Toms , Paul Sisson , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, February 28, 2017
The board members, Bailey Cummings and Timber Adamson, told Seven Days Tuesday that they wanted the Pride Center to issue a statement criticizing the name of the bar, which they view as an insult to trans women.
Instead, the board's executive committee decided to hold a town meeting-style forum on trans issues Thursday and get more feedback from the community. The resigning board members saw that as a cop-out.
"Basically the name of this bar is a transmisogynistic slur," Cummings said. "And I feel strongly as community leaders that the Pride Center is responsible for standing up for our trans community members, and coming out against a slur."
Tags: Mister Sister , Bailey Cummings , Timber Adamson , Pride Center of Vermont , Craig McGaughan , Image , Web Only
Monday, February 27, 2017
The proposed name, Mister Sister, generated a raft of critical comments over the weekend from people on Facebook who said the name is a slur for trans women.
The debate opened a rift in the LGBTQ community partly because the owner of the proposed bar, Craig McGaughan, is a gay man who has so far refused to change the planned name or meet with the leader of the Pride Center.
McGaughan announced Friday on Facebook that he would close his wine bar at 45 Main Street, Oak45, on Tuesday and would then reopen soon as the area's only gay bar. Burlington's 135 Pearl closed in 2006.
Tags: Mister Sister , gay bar , Winooski , 135 Pearl , Josie Leavitt , Craig McGaughan , Pride Center of Vermont , Aspen Kobetitsch , Aedan Buchanan , vermont , transgender , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, January 4, 2017
Meeting hours after the legislature convened for the year, the Democratic caucus unanimously chose Sen. Becca Balint (D-Windham) to serve as majority leader. Earlier Wednesday, the full Senate formally elected Sen. Tim Ashe (D/P-Chittenden), another of the Senate’s youngest members, as president pro tempore.
Balint, an educator and newspaper columnist from Brattleboro, replaces Sen. Phil Baruth (D/P-Chittenden) as the chamber’s Democratic leader. Baruth announced in late October that he would step down after four years in the post. Sen. Ginny Lyons (D-Chittenden) publicly considered seeking it but informed her colleagues in recent days that she would not.
At Wednesday’s caucus meeting, Balint was nominated as part of a “team” with veteran Sen. Mark MacDonald (D-Orange) running for majority whip. The caucus took a single vote, simultaneously electing Balint and MacDonald without dissent.
Tags: Becca Balint , Vermont State Senate , Tim Ashe , Mark MacDonald , Image , Web Only
Friday, November 11, 2016
The 34-year-old artist is a transgender woman and a lesbian small-business owner. She lives in rural Isle La Motte, where Trump tallied (four) more votes than Democrat Hillary Clinton. Oh, and her wife, Shelly Hail, is a permanent resident from Israel whose visa is up for review next year.
Trump, in other words, stands opposed to her sexuality and lifestyle in more ways than one, she said.
On Friday, Hudson stood in front of a crowd in Burlington’s City Hall Park and led a diverse group of some 200 people in a raucous chant of “Love Trumps Hate!”
Tags: Burlington , Love Trumps Hate , Donald Trump , Hillary Clinton , Image , Web Only