Here we go again

I realise I owe you cat photos and Sunday's sermon but for right now, here are some photos from the hearing on same-gender marriage at the Vermont State House. It used to be super-simple for me to get there from where I used to live, just 12 miles down the road; I could saunter into town, find a good parking spot and chill out. Tonight, instead, I got on a bus sponsored by the Vermont Freedom to Marry Task Force and rode with about 18 others to Montpelier for the hearing. The Burlington Free Press reports about 1000 showed up. Certainly the House chamber was packed.


As we arrived at the State House, we were greeted with resurrected signs from the opposition, the infamous, 'Take Back Vermont,' and 'Listen to the People' (one of their planks is to take this to a referendum, popular vote which so far is not how Vermont operates). I chose not to memorialise their signs.


We got in an hour and a half before the hearing started. I landed a seat in a window (with cushion) but eventually some people stood in front of me so I moved to the back of the chamber where it was just as crowded but for a while, I could chat with one of my colleagues. Meanwhile, this is a shot from the side of the room.


I took this photo about an hour before things got going so it was a lot less full. When the Civil Union bill went through (Act 91) in 2000, we were up in the gallery. Meanwhile, at the January 2000 hearings, we were seated at one of the desks on the floor which was neat.


For most of the evening, I saw this scene. Way up front, high on the wall, above George Washington, is the Vermont state shield and its motto, Freedom and Unity. I pray that our legislators can realise that unity does not equal uniformity.


Finally, here is a close-up of the joint committee as they listen to a therapist from Rutland, who goes to the Unitarian Universalist Church, testify in favour of S-115/H178.

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In 2000, I wrote two pieces for the parish newsletter on the judiciary process that brought about Vermont's Civil Unions, the first in the nation. The pieces still seem applicable.

First: On Furnaces and Other Heat

As the new furnace in the rectory happily rumbles, its green, red and orange lights indicating which zone is calling for heat; as we hope to profit by its efficiency because it will no longer heat the entire house all at once, and I by its comfort, I think of those places in our common discourse that are beginning to heat up. I wonder as our talk gets more passionate and heated, whether we will be able to keep our baptismal vows in sight, remembering that God is in the midst of our deliberations.

So many issues—nation-wide and state-wide—beckon prayerful thought. A spirit of prayer manages to keep the heat down so that we can still hear God’s voice.

Jubilee 2000 is one such issue—the year of God’s favour. The Jubilee Year was given by God to Israel to ensure that hope never died. Within every person’s lifetime, a year would come when all debts were wiped clean.

The world-wide church is calling for a year of Jubilee for all those countries who are enslaved by debt to International Monetary Fund and other international money-lenders, which include the United States and its banking institutions. Bishops from such countries pleaded in 1998 at Lambeth that the Anglican Communion be an advocate for debt relief (the Episcopal Church in the United States succeeded in getting the US government to forgive some debt), but sadly their call was overshadowed by the heat generated in divisive debates about homosexuality.

On a local level, the issue of same-sex marriage dominates conversation in the state and churches of Vermont. Our bishop has spoken out in favour of extending the benefits obtained through civil marriage quite clearly in this month’s Mountain Echo. The Vermont legislature will hold a hearing on the issue as this Magnificat goes to press. I, for one, believe that we are once again talking about an issue of justice and responding to the fourth and fifth vows of our baptismal covenant—those which speak of respecting the dignity of every human being and finding and serving Christ in one another. I also believe that the institution of opposite-sex marriage will not fall apart if its benefits are extended to same-sex couples. (Civil marriage and Holy Matrimony in the church are separate entities: one can be married in a civil marriage without the church being involved in it—the former extends civil and legal rights, the latter involves asking God’s blessing on the couple and the community’s support for a relationship based on mutual on love and joy.)

I also know there are folks who disagree with both the bishop and me. I trust that God’s love surpasses these disagreements and believe that we are still called to break bread together and share in the proclamation of the Good News as we struggle together.

These two issues are big ones! They speak to us about change. We know how hard change is. And we also know that change brings about heat in our hearts and rhetoric. Rather than indiscriminately and wastefully heat the whole house, let us think about where it most needed and then send it there. Perhaps, through prayerful consideration, we might even realise that a blast of heat is not even the best way to respond.

Second:

Some of you may be aware that I was one of the 110 Vermonters whose name was picked out of the hat to testify at the State House on Tuesday, 25 January [2000] at the House Judiciary’s Hearing on how the Legislature should respond to the December ruling of the Vermont Supreme Court in Baker vs. the State of Vermont. Attending that hearing was a remarkable experience—one worth reflecting on and sharing.

Despite the first real snowstorm of the year which started early that morning, the State House was packed with people who had come from all corners of the state. There were so many people that the overflow ended up downstairs in rooms set-up with televisions. Fortunately, an acquaintance had reserved a seat for me up front, down on the main floor so I had a close-up view of the proceedings (so close that I was seated behind the chair of the House Judiciary Committee!). For four hours, 500 of us occupied the House Chamber.

The chamber is elegant, a true gift of respect to the people. Deep red velvet curtains, held back with gold tassels, frame the large windows; red carpeting imitating an Oriental tapestry covers the floor, and the semi-circle of wooden flip-top desks speak of decades of struggle that have taken place in this regal setting.

What was so amazing about the entire evening was, first, how civil people behaved (even if some of the words some said were less than civil) and second, that we were engaged in this process at all.

When my name was called, and I stood in line waiting to speak my two-minute piece, I looked up front, beyond the table at which the members of the House Judiciary Committee were seated, to the Vermont seal. Holding up the design are the three simple words, ‘Freedom and Unity.’ My heart and mind focused on that first word, ‘Freedom.’

No matter what each one of us thinks about the question of same-gender marriage or domestic partnerships, surely we can be thankful for the mere fact that, by virtue of the way democracy is lived out in Vermont, we can speak out. The freedom that we have been given by our living in this place at this time is one that is sadly taken for granted by too many. Yet, as I stood waiting, all I could think of is those places in the world—South Africa during the era of apartheid, El Salvador pre-1994, Guatemala, East Timor and so many others—where the exercise of free speech is one that brings risk of death. I was moved by our freedom to gather—in safety—to listen to one another, to speak to our elected representatives and to struggle with an issue that touches all of us.