On motion of Rep. Milne of Washington, remarks by Rep. Lippert of Hinesburg were ordered printed in the Journal.

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Representative Flory's strike-all amendment she indicates is designed in part to remove "sexual activity" from the bill. At the same time, Representative Flory's strike-all amendment, unlike the bill of the House Judiciary Committee, fails to acknowledge that there has been discrimination and inequity toward gay and lesbian couples, currently or historically.

I think it's important to put a face on this. I think it's important to ask who it is that we're talking about; who it is that we've been discussing. I've had the privilege in my own life of coming to the process - through a struggle at times - the process of coming to identify myself as a gay man. I've had the privilege of developing a deep, devoted, loving, caring relationship with another man. I think it's very important as we listen, as we debate and as we make decisions that you understand what the reality is about gay and lesbian people, gay and lesbian couples.

Our mailboxes have been filled with letter after letter talking about abomination, talking about sinfulness, talking about judgment day coming soon. I'm here to tell you that gay and lesbian people and gay and lesbian couples deserve not only rights, they deserve to be celebrated. Our lives, in the midst of historic prejudice and historic discrimination, are to my view, in some ways, miracles.

Think what kind of relationship you would try to establish and how successful it would be to find a loving, committed partner in an environment where you have been barraged on a daily basis, from birth, saying you are sinful or wrong, that something is fundamentally flawed in your nature. It is, in truth, the goodness of gay and lesbian people and of gay and lesbian couples that is a triumph, is a triumph, against discrimination and prejudice. We are not a threat. We are not a threat to traditional marriage. We're not a threat to your communities. We are, in fact, an asset. We deserve to be welcomed, because in fact we are your neighbors; we are your friends; indeed, we are your family.

Numbers of people here have come up and talked to me privately about their gay brother, or lesbian sister, or their child, or their uncle. Part of those conversations are private, at times, because in fact prejudice and discrimination continues to exist in this society. Not everyone feels, even with the laws we have on our books now, not everyone feels able to say with openness and with pride, "Yes, my family member is a gay man or a lesbian woman."

We have made incredible progress in Vermont. And, up until the last two and a half months I would have said, Vermont has more progress than any other state in this country. I have proudly said that. Our nondiscrimination laws, our hate crimes laws, our adoption laws, they all make us proud.

There remains afoot in Vermont prejudice against gay men and lesbians. In the last two and a half months I have seen and I have heard, I have been called names in this Chamber, in this building, the likes of which I have never experienced in my life - my personal life or my political life. And, I've watched come true what I have always known to be true, that those who stand beside gay and lesbian people as their allies, as people who are going to stand up and say, "Yes, this is wrong," and "Yes, there should be rights," they get targeted too. Because, for some people the hate runs that deep, the prejudice runs that far. I've watched while members of my committee have made brave political decisions to support equality for gay and lesbian people, for gay and lesbian couples and rights for us, and I have watched them be attacked. I have stood there and listened while they have been threatened personally and politically, and I've had members of my committee say, "I couldn't sleep at night; I've had knots in my stomach." I wouldn't have wished this on any of them, but I am deeply appreciative of the work of my committee members who listened, who struggled, came to hard reached decisions that it's the right thing to do.

Passing the bill that the House Judiciary Committee has brought forward will not end discrimination. It will not end prejudice. It will not end hate, but it will grant rights. We argue about whether they are civil rights or other rights, but I'll tell you this, they are rights that I don't have right now and most everyone else in this Chamber does. There's something strange about sitting in the midst of a deliberative body that is trying to decide whether I and my fellow gay and lesbian Vermonters should get our rights now; should we wait a little longer; should we ask all the people whether or not we deserve to have those rights.

Who are we? We are committed, caring, loving individuals in a time when desire for greater commitment, greater love, greater fidelity is needed in our society, and I find it so ironic that rather than being embraced and welcomed we are seen as a threat. We are people, some of us, that in recent times endured the scourge of a terrible epidemic, and even in the midst of that epidemic have reached out and formed relationships, cared for each other, holding each other, sometimes as death has arrived. Don't tell me about what a committed relationship is and isn't. I've watched my gay brothers care for each other deeply and my lesbian sisters nurse and care. There is no love and no commitment any greater than what I've seen, what I know.

Our relationships deserve every protection that our bill would grant. Our relationships deserve those rights, those protections. We don't need to study it any longer. We don't need to put it off and let someone else decide. We have a historic opportunity, and I ask us to put aside this amendment, which I trust is well intentioned, but I think flawed. I ask you to put aside the rest of these amendments as well. Let us move forward putting into law a bill that will set aside traditional marriage in order to meet the needs of those who somehow feel threatened, but will find a way through this thicket and will grant rights, will give a message to our community that it is time to take another piece of the hatred and the discrimination and the prejudice and remove it, and at the same time give an affirmation to our community about what it means to have full inclusivity, to embrace our neighbors, to affirm committed, loving relationships and to affirm our common humanity.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker."