Green Mountain State Update
Mulvaney-Stanak wins
One exciting result from Super Tuesday was the election of Vermont State Rep. Emma Mulvaney-Stanak, who Burlington voters chose to become their city’s first woman and first openly LGBT mayor.
“This is a historic day because we finally have a woman mayor,” Mulvaney-Stanak told a cheering crowd at her election night gathering. “I am pretty darn sure that I’m the first out queer mayor in the state of Vermont.”
Rep. and now Mayor-Elect Mulvaney-Stanak represents parts of Burlington in the State House. She is currently serving in her second term and chairs the House Progressive Caucus. She had previously served as chair of the Vermont Progressive Party.
Challenging trans athletes
Despite Vermont Governor Phil Scott’s support for transgender student athletes—along with that of the Vermont Principals Association and other leading groups and legislators in the state—a powerful, Arizona-based Christian law firm is filing a federal lawsuit on behalf of Mid Vermont Christian Academy, which refused to let its students play against schools with transgender athletes on their teams.
Mid Vermont Christian Academy’s decision violated the state’s nondiscrimination and public accommodation laws. Thus, the Vermont Principals Association, the agency overseeing interscholastic sports, banned Christian Academy from all sports and academic competitions.
“There is no evidence of transgender girls dominating girls’ sports in Vermont or creating unfair competition,” the VPA wrote in a public statement. “Nor is there any evidence of transgender girls injuring others when they play on girls’ teams in our state.”
Nevertheless, the Arizona-based Alliance Defending Freedom, has jumped into the game with their federal lawsuit in Vermont district court, which could be another case of the “right” to discriminate based over religious view vs. basic civil rights heading toward the US Supreme Court.
Telling it like it is
At a late February hearing of the House Budget Committee on which she serves, US Representative Becca Balint of Vermont rebuked her GOP colleagues on the committee, after a witness called federal programs that support LGBTQ people and kids “deficit spending.”
“I just want to mention something that is deeply troubling to me,” Balint said, as recorded in the transcript of the hearing. “A Republican witness earlier noted a few federal programs that support LGBTQ people including kids. And as a member of that community, it’s really disappointing to me that my Republican colleagues seem to delight in attacking the LGBTQ people and their families and blaming us for all things, including now, it turns out, the deficit.
“So, I just want to put this in perspective. Yesterday I met for an hour with parents of trans kids from across this nation, and they came from all over. All over from conservative districts and states. Just regular families, parents came to share their experiences of what it’s like in this moment. And you know what I heard over and over again? Why are members of our own government scapegoating us and our children? Why have we become the favorite enemy when we just want the same things that all American families we want? We want to live safe, fulfilling lives and we want to support and love and protect our children.
“It is morally bankrupt and deeply un-American to continue to attack these kids. It’s time to do our job and pass a budget that supports and protects all of our kids, all of our constituents.”
Pulling their weight
Thanks to the incredible support of Vermonters and people from all around the country, Outright Vermont’s annual Fire Truck Pull not only reached but surpassed its stretch fundraising goal of $200,000, raising a grand total of $215,000!
Outright Vermont is the statewide LGBTQ+ youth support and empowerment nonprofit with a mission to create a better future where all LGBTQ+ youth have hope, equity, and power.
More: outrightvt.org
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