Green Mountain State Update
Standing together
All three US Congress members from Vermont — Senators Bernie Sanders and Peter Welch, and US Rep. Becca Balint — voted against last December’s major defense bill with its controversial measure to limit gender-affirming medical care for the children of US military personnel.
Seen by most legislators as a “must-pass bill,” it indeed passed in both the US House and Senate, and was signed by then-President Biden. But the three from Vermont held.
“Republicans have decided to politicize this important funding responsibility with yet another attack on military families with trans children,” Balint said in a New York Times report. “While Democrats support age appropriate, medically recommended health care for everyone, Republicans have singled out these military families and stripped them of life saving care.”
Standing firm
US Rep.-elect Becca Balint, the first woman and first openly LGBTQ US Congress member from the Green Mountain State, explained in an opinion piece for the Courier news service her thoughts about attending the recent Presidential inauguration:
“My presence at the inauguration will be my way of saying [to the President-elect], ‘I see you and I know what you’re about. And I won’t be intimidated by you,” she wrote. “I will face the next four years with clarity, a clear conscience, and a deep commitment to doing whatever I can, whenever and wherever I can, to shore up our delicate, ailing democracy. And to do meaningful, consequential work on behalf of my constituents to make life better for them and for Americans across the nation.”
A select board run
Jacklyn Matts, who’s served as board president for the Bennington, Vermont, LGBTQ+ nonprofit Queer Connect and chair of the 2024 Bennington Charter Review Committee, announced her candidacy to sit on the town’s select board.
Voting day is March 3, and Matts is running for one of three open seats on the board, according to the town government website.
Recently, she received the Southwestern Vermont Chamber of Commerce’s 2024 Heart of the Shires Award for community service and leadership. The award committee cited her work with Queer Connect.
An entirely volunteer-run nonprofit, Queer Connect‘s mission is to increase “visibility in the community and to building resources for LGBTQIA people and their families living in and around Bennington, Vermont.”
Remembering Brenda Churchill
Brenda Churchill, a prominent Vermont LGBTQ+ community advocate and trans elder treasured for her passion and spirit of fun, died on January 13 at age 67 from natural causes.
“When I think of her, I think of a woman that never gives up, that finds a way to fight for her community,” Esther Charlestin, chair of the Vermont Commission of Women and friend of Churchill told VT Digger. “She was just a ball of sunshine energy, always encouraging, always willing to support and show up, being there for her parents, being there for her partner, being supportive.”
Reports VT Digger: “Churchill was perhaps best known in Vermont for her advocacy for LGBTQ+ rights. After being asked to serve as legislative liaison for the LGBTQIA Alliance of Vermont, she became instrumental in passing legislation to preserve and expand the rights of transgender Vermonters.
“Friends said she was especially proud of her advocacy for a 2018 law mandating that all of Vermont’s single-use bathrooms in public spaces be labeled as gender-neutral and a 2022 law that allows Vermonters’ birth certificates to reflect their gender identity.”
Community Survey
More than 425 Vermonters ranging in age from 30 to 75 and older participated in the Pride Center of Vermont’s 2024 “2STLGBQIA+ Health and Wellness Survey,” conducted from May to November of last year.
“The meat and potatoes of the questions are centered around your health care, access to it, and what your experiences are,” states the intro to the report, but the survey touches on all aspects of the LGBTQ+ experience in Vermont, from housing to health care, recreation to transportation, employment to social relationships. The data aims to help the center and community partners better serve LGBTQ+ people statewide and address urgent needs. n
More: pridecentervt.org
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