The Burlington Free Press has made its choice for Vermonter of the year. Nominated multiple times, Beth Robinson deserves the honor, for her patient persistence for more than a decade in achieving marriage equality for same-sex couples (although she never lets that sort of thing go to her head).
She founded an advocacy organization, wrote grants, established political action committees, raised money, organized hundreds of volunteers and a dozen or so staff (varying from none or one up to maybe a dozen at the end), recruited and ably inspired all of them to make concrete change happen that helped Vermont realize America’s promise of equality for ALL.
Given the Free Press’s determined (even belligerent) editorial silence back when the civil union debate was occurring, their recognition of Beth as Vermonter of the year is a stunning turnaround, an honor well-deserved.
As a friend reminded me via email, a year ago, the Free Press editorial board was urging the legislature not to “waste time” dealing with the “distraction” (the Gov.’s word) of marriage equality when in their opinion the much more urgent issues of the budget/economy were so much more important.
Which makes this award even sweeter.
And a hearty New Year’s congratulations to New Hampshire’s newly married and newly marriage-eligible L & G couples. Welcome to the club!
NanuqFC
The time is always right to do the right thing.” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
Even the BFP couldn’t overlook the fact that for the majority of READING Vermonters, intolerance of any kind is abhorrent.
I was fully prepared to see them choose Douglas.