News

Pride Tree Sparks Fiery Debate

By Dylan Marsh
EAGLE TIMES STAFF
WINDSOR, Vt. — The town of Windsor Selectboard has voted down the request to dedicate an LGBTQ+ pride tree on October 11, 2022. This date is celebrated as National Coming Out Day in the United States.

The vote came at the end of a significant amount of argumentative discourse between Selectboard members, as well as public opinion. A majority of Windsor Selectboard members felt as though dedicating a tree to a marginalized segment of the town’s population could potentially be upsetting to other members of the population.

“In June during pride month it was discussed how to express pride throughout the year.

We live in a town that has a declaration of inclusion that reaffirms our communities commitment to supporting rights. We also live in a town where leaders openly talked about a separate but equal pride flag and referred to it harmfully as choosing the gay lifestyle,” stated Windsor resident and activist Amanda Jordan Smith. She went on to say, “We thought we would plant someting like a tree that would thrive in Windsor just like queer folk can too, so a symbol of growth and support.”

The town’s charter outlines dedications as the responsibility of the town manager Tom Marsh. However, typical dedications are assigned to individuals that impacted the community rather than groups. After a discussion with Windsor Tree Warden Michael Metivier, it was decided that Marsh would approach Selectboard Chair Ryan Palmer to have the discussion among the board. This process began after Smith contacted both Marsh and Metivier about a tree dedication ceremony honoring the LGBTQ+ community in Windsor. According to parties involved, communication was minimal, to the degree that Smith felt as though the request had been ignored.

“There’s been some confusion in this process. I could have done a much better job on how this was handled. Kind of waffled back and forth on whether this was going to be on the agenda and how we were going to handle this. So I would like to take responsibility for that and apologize that it wasn’t as clear and concise and I should have handled it better,” said Palmer in regard to the process required for the dedication ceremony.

While the issue of uncertainty regarding the process that would go into dedicating a tree remained an issue with some selectboard members, not wanting to upset Windsor residents who would be made uncomfortable by the tree was another topic of derision. Selectboard members, including Paul Woodman and Tera Howard in addition to Marsh, mentioned speaking with a number of residents who felt their rights would be infringed upon if the tree were dedicated to a segment of the community. However, at the meeting, only one resident spoke against the tree dedication. The remainder of all residents who spoke at the meeting were in favor of the tree.

“The LGBTQ isn’t for everybody and that’s okay. Due to some people’s beliefs, certain other groups make people feel uncomfortable,” said Howard, who would go on to vote against the dedication. He later stated, “I fully support the LGBTQ community. LGBTQ is very supported in Windsor. I dont think it’s fair for one group to push their ideology.”

Woodman also spoke against dedicating the tree to the LGBTQ community citing fears that the “movement” has become too big and politicized, in addition to not everyone in the town wanting a permanent structure dedicated to one group.

Palmer rejected the idea of not wanting to upset anyone in the community as a guiding influence in the decision, reminding Selectboard members that no matter what, not everyone will like every decision made by the board.

“We are elected to represent the community as a whole, yes, but we have to evaluate what the community wants. To say we aren’t going to do something because some people in the community wont like it, I don’t think that’s a valid argument. Not everyone is going to like everything you do and there’s going to be push back. So I’m wondering, are we against this because some people don’t like it? We aren’t ever going to make 100% of the people happy,” stated Palmer.

Among Selectboard members, Chris Goulet was the only member seated at the table in favor of the tree, as Palmer met over Zoom. Goulet argued that, due to grant funding for tree planting, the tree would be “functionally free” and that dedication would only serve to remind the LGBTQ community that the town supported them.

“Do you guys ever get sick of making that argument and having those things never come true? How can you say we don’t like where this could go and it is always being fine? The flag went up and everyone was fine. Perhaps some people didn’t like it, that’s no harm. What is harm is creating a forum where our queer family comes to us and have straight people say their requests won’t be met. People don’t choose to be gay, this is a human rights issue, no matter how you want to reframe it, its not a political issue,” Goulet said to fellow Selectboard members.

Selectboard member Jefferey Johnson raised concerns about what the process is for dedicating something to a group as it hadn’t been done before. Goulet did then inform Johnson that the space where the tree would be going does currently have a dedication to a Windsor High School class, which is therefore a dedication to a segment of the community.

Later in the meeting, Smith asked Marsh for clarification that he outright did not support the pride tree despite it being a human rights issue. Later Smith would state, “I’m just really disappointed and sad and keep coming back to Tom makes the decisions and if you don’t align with that, then too bad. I think Windsor deserves better than that.”

Marsh did respond saying to Smith, “You should be ashamed of yourself for saying that.”

Goulet also asked Marsh for confirmation that he, on principal, would commit to never allowing the dedication of a high school class or any other group to which Marsh responded, “Yes.” Among the voices in favor of dedicating the tree was a former Windsor educator and Selectboard member who spoke of his experience working with young people who are gay and the imporatnce of providing a safe space for them. He referenced higher suicide rates among young LGBTQ+ people, and said he would like everyone to work toward stopping that.

“I want to apologize to the kids in Windsor who might watch this and realize that the people who are in positions of authority may not care enough or have the courage to do something that could show support for them. They sure get a lot of lack of support,” the educator said in regard to the mental health of local LGBTQ+ children.

This comment was met with significant backlash, with Woodman, Howard and Marsh shouting at the resident in unison with Marsh repeatedly saying, “Shame on you.”

Woodman then yelled at the resident, announcing, “I am an ally. I have three members of my family who are gay and I love them.”

Howard suggested to the resident that the town has made strides and that kids do get enough support citing the school’s Queer Club.

“We say we’ve come a long way, but here we are again, a board of straight people, getting a request from queer people, that we don’t think that its right. As a parent, that’s a pretty appalling environment to raise my daughter in,” Goulet stated. Goulet would go on to make a motion asking for the Town Manager to work with the group to find a space for the tree to be planted.

The motion was ultimately voted down, with three voting no and two yes. Goulet and Palmer voted yes.

During the public comment section of the Selectboard meeting, State Representative Elizabeth Burrows, who was in attendance, approached the board to state her feelings toward the board’s behavior that evening.

“I’ve been really appalled by some of the behavior toward your constituents and yelling at constituents. It makes people not want to approach the board. I’ve received public comments about being afraid to approach their board when they know they will be yelled at. All input is important,valuable and useful. The disrespect I’ve seen toward your constituents has been really disappointing,” she stated.

Howard responded to this saying that she had heard a lot of disrespect coming from the LGBTQ+ community that evening,and that she expected it from them.

Recent studies have found that there is persistent discrimination against LGBTQ+ people in the United States, and that the Queer community is four times more likely to be the victim of violent crime in America.

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