Take action on H. 128

Below is a letter that we wrote to Senator Jeanette White, our Windham County district Senator. This letter was in response to statements she made on April 2nd, 2021, you can listen to her comments here. Please take a moment to get in touch with your Vermont state Senator to urge them to support H. 128. Particularly we are urging people to reach out to state Senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Their information is listed below.

April 6, 2021


Dear Senator White, 

My name is Eva Westheimer, I am the Programs and Volunteer Coordinator with Out in the Open. Out in the Open is based in southern Vermont and works to build community, visibility, knowledge and power within our LGBTQ+ community.

I am reaching out to urge you to support H. 128. I listened to your comments around the Bill on Friday, April 2nd, 2021. From your statements, I know you’re leaning away from supporting the Bill. I want to focus energy on what H. 128 would achieve for your constituents and LGBTQ+ vermonters across the state. 

Providing safety under the law for more marginalized community members is not a slippery slope. In fact, it is an eye towards creating a more unified and equitable community for all of us. We know there is bias and violence towards LGBTQ+ community members. We know there is bias and violence towards our Black and brown community members. 

Transphobia and homophobia in the form of hate and violence are very active in the state of Vermont and passing H. 128 would create needed protections for our LGBTQ+ community members. History is not just an issue of the past, history is something that we create and write as a community. Vermont can become the 13th state to Ban the Trans-Gay Panic Defense. A defense that uses a person's identity - which in many cases, when a crime is committed on behalf of someone’s identity- that constitutes a hate crime. Our identities are not choices. We do not choose our gender or sexual orientation. But, people do choose to commit violence and discrimination based on bias and fear. People do choose to use that bias and fear in legal defenses to protect themselves.

We, your LGBTQ+ community members are your constituents. I am your constituent. As an organization, we spend hours every week hearing from our LGBTQ+ community members voices. Often- people will share with us the ways in which they have experienced harm, they will share with us the ways in which they have been violently evicted from their home based on their gender or sexual orientation, community members will share with us discrimination they have faced at work, and community members share ways they have experienced violence in the streets.

Although a Trans-Gay Panic Defense hasn’t been used in a court of law in Vermont yet, passing this bill would both ensure that no such defense based on a persons gender or sexual orientation could be used and it also provides protections for those who have not brought cases forward for fear of such defenses being used against them. This violence does happen here in our communities and state. 

Being on the Senate Judiciary Committee you have the power to move H. 128 out of Committee and onto the floor. Please use that power to support your constituents today. 

Best,

Eva Westheimer

Programs and Volunteer Coordinator

Out in the Open

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