This November, we’ll all get a chance to vote on adding an equal protection clause to the Vermont constitution, something our state sorely needs — especially in a time when the federal administration is actively fighting equal protections. The equal protection amendment known as PR.4 has now cleared every hurdle in the marathon course required of constitutional amendments — passage through the Legislature in two successive biennia, which takes a minimum of three years to accomplish.

The final vote came last week in the House, and the tally was 128 in favor and 14 against. The corresponding vote in the Senate was 29-0 — with Republican Sen. Steven Heffernan taking the coward’s way out and ducking into the restroom when it was time to cast his vote.

I’m not making that up. It comes straight from VTDigger’s Shaun Robinson, who reported that Heffernan “got up from his seat right before the roll call vote was taken… because his stomach was feeling ‘agitated’.”

It’s a convenient and time-dishonored way to avoid going on the record. Heffernan barely bothered to devise a convincing cover story, telling Robinson “My pizza hit at the right time, I guess,” and acknowledging that the timing was “convenient.”

Especially when you’re a conservative lawmaker about to seek re-election in the blue precincts of Addison County, right?

Well, He Just Made the List — of Republicans whose records deserve closer scrutiny in this election season. The List also includes the nine Republicans who voted against a bill to establish a state vaccine registry. And since no one in the media thought it worthwhile to name the opponents of PR.4, well, I’m happy to oblige.

I have been told, but been unable to verify, that Gov. Phil Scott recently bragged about the increasing ranks of “moderates” in the Statehouse. If true, I’d like to ask him to name names. Because the election of 2024 seems mostly to have elevated Trump-style conservatives and Evangelical Christians, not moderates in the Nice Guy Phil mode.

The latest evidence of this: In the first-round vote on PR.4. back in 2024, a mere four lawmakers voted “No.” In 2026, that number was more than trebled. (Independent-who-seems-awfully-conservative Joseph Parsons joined 13 Republicans in opposing the amendment.) It’s still a small number, thankfully. But it’s a disheartening trend, and Phil Scott clearly wants more of the same in the next Legislature. Because, turns out, he himself elevated two of those 14 people to the House. Funny thing for a “moderate” to do, huh?

Of the 14 “No” votes in the House, eight were cast by Republicans elected in 2024. That’s not counting Heffernan or two Republicans appointed by Scott since the beginning of the session to replace departing lawmakers: Dave Soucy (Topper McFaun) and Valerie Taylor (Jim Harrison). She was the only member to explain her vote on the floor, and she cast her opposition entirely in Evangelical terms: “I believe in my heart — and, I’m sorry — the only words that are going to change Vermont and change this world, I believe, come from the Bible, and I think that is what’s lacking in the world.” 

Somehow I don’t think she was talking about the Sermon on the Mount. More likely the carefully selected handful of Bible verses that form Evangelicalism’s entire justification for hating on the LGBTQ+ community.

Remember, folks: this deeply conservative Christian is apparently a Phil Scott Republican. Close enough, anyway, that the governor chose to install her in the House, replacing Harrison, the fiscally conservative old-fashioned Republican. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

Okay, so who else is on The List?

• First-term Republican Dave Bosch of Clarendon Springs
• First-term Republican Michael Boutin of Barre, previously and previously
• Longtime Republican Tom Burditt of Rutland, who voted “Yes” in 2024 but not this time
• First-term Republican Joshua Dobrovich of Williamstown
• Republican Lisa Hango of Berkshire, currently in her fifth term, also voted “Yes” in 2024
• First-term Republican Zach Harvey of Rutland
• Veteran Republican Mark Higley, who voted “No” in 2024 and is the only one of the four “No” votes who is still in the Legislature (Art Peterson, Brian Smith, Terri Lynn Williams)
• First-term Republican Chris Howland of Rutland (something in the water down there?)
• three-term “Independent” Joseph Parsons of Newbury, who also voted “Yes” in 2024
• First-term Republican Debbie Powers of Waterford
• Republican Dave Soucy of Barre Town, appointed by Phil Scott in April to succeed Topper McFaun
• First-term Republican Mike Tagliavia of Corinth, anti-vaxxer and election truther, among other things
• The aforementioned Bible-thumper Val Taylor
• First-term Republican Kevin Winter of Ludlow

Between now and Election Day, I’ll be doing my best to explore the public records of these fine folks for signs of extremism. Betcha I find some.

One of the fascinating details of PR>4’s legislative history is that three lawmakers (Burditt, Hango, Parsons) switched sides from “Yes” to “No.” None explained their votes from the House floor, but I can think of a couple facts that might have played into their crossovers.

First, as suggested above, there are more right-wingers and Evangelicals in the House than there were before the 2024 election. This could free the semi-closeted extremists to let their freak flags fly.

Second, the most common stated argument against PR.4 isn’t about giving legal protections to LGBTQ+ folk or other sinners. No, that would be seriously out of touch with the mainstream of Vermont politics. Instead, they’re giving great weight to the 2024 testimony of go-to constitutional law scholar Peter Teachout, who suggested some alternative language for an amendment. He was actually arguing in favor of an even stronger equal protection clause, but he’s a respected mainstream voice and he provides cover for extreme right-wingers who don’t want to admit the truth: They believe gay people are icky and going to Hell.

But that just doesn’t play in Vermont, and even the most hard-core of ultraconservatives is aware of that. So they’re brandishing Teachout’s testimony as if it’s the unalterable word from On High.

As I said above, thankfully these people are nowhere near the levers of power in our B.L.S. But their numbers are growing. And if Phil Scott has his way, there will be even more of them in the next Legislature. I’ll be watching, and making The List.