Kristen Bisaillon - 2000 Scholarship Recipient
Mill River Union High School, Clarendon

Kristen Bisaillon knows how to make herself heard while maintaining her tact and composure. As her writing teacher at Mill River Union High School, I watched with admiration this past year as she expertly navigated the line between radical outspokenness and positive compromise. Working from the inside of seemingly intransigent communities is an old habit for Kristen. It has been six years since her mother, Diane Hamel of Wallingford, came out as a lesbian in conservative Rutland County. Kristen recounts her experience of having a gay parent starting in seventh grade, "It was totally new, a culture shock, but all my friends were okay with it." After the first year, Kristen began to meet other kids with gay and lesbian families near their former hometown of Clarendon Springs. As for the rest of the world, Kristen set high expectations and insisted they make way for her and her family's uniqueness.

Fast forward to last fall. Kristen had become editor of the yearbook and a lead contributor and layout editor for Mill River's school newspaper, The Oracle. As one of her first assignments, Kristen surveyed the student body for an article on civil unions, citing her irritation with the "stereotypes, slurs, and rumors about gay faculty." The initial response was a shock to her. "At first, it seemed all of the surveys were negative," she recalls. "The more I read them, the more I realized they weren't as bad as I thought. But I needed to do something."

In October, Kristen and a friend headed for the LEAD young women's conference at Vermont Technical College in Randolph. They returned with a sense of direction, armed with information and prepared to start a Gay-Straight Alliance at Mill River. The administration's response was quick and negative. "No," she recounts being told, "the community won't be ready for it. This isn't how we do things at Mill River."

She was then directed to the school nurse, the substance abuse counselor, and even a paraprofessional in charge of tutoring. All were supportive, but Kristen's patience with the run-around wore thin. "Finally," she continues, "we had a conversation with the principal. He asked us if we were 'that way'. We said it didn't matter. He kept us there for an hour and a half, telling us about his daughter's friend who is 'like that' and asserting 'I am a man.'" That was enough for her, and she got in touch with GLAD attorney Jennifer Levi in Boston. Assured of the law and the facts, she and her friend started Mill River's Diversity Club. Rainbow-adorned posters and the number for Outright popped up in the halls around the school.

Since then, Kristen has gathered experience through an internship at Out in the Mountains and by leading Mill River's delegation to the civil union hearings on a snowy night in January. This fall, Kristen will head for Allegheny College in Pennsylvania armed with memories of successes. There, she expects to major in English and journalism and to work for gay rights and other awareness groups. In her absence, she expects Vermonters to "support the civil union law and continue acting as a role model for the rest of the country."

Interviewer Matt Webb teaches 11th and 12th grade English. He lives in Barre. This interview series originally appeared in Out in the Mountains.