Know thy friends.

While working on last year's elections in Vermont, I lived with state senator Sara Kittell and her family. At a meeting for farmers at her home, the conversation turned to what was on everyone's mind--civil unions. "Them cornholers will just spread AIDS all over Vermont," one said. "That's right! It'll raise our insurance rates," chimed another.

"Sara, you deserve to lose this election 'cause of your vote for civil unions," added a third. That last comment pained Kittell the most because it came from her cousin.

Vermont's continuing civil war over civil unions demonstrates that local elections and our largely unheralded straight allies can change America's political landscape. Kittell is no gay fights activist but a soft-spoken mother of three who owns a bakery in the northern Vermont town of Fairfield, population 1,800. Following her conscience, she voted for civil unions. The local paper named her "The Mouse Who Roared."

Another civil unions supporter, Vermont state senate president pro tempore Peter Shumlin, called me after the senate passed the bill. "I've been getting the worst phone I calls of my career," he said. "I had no idea what bigotry [gay people] face. I'm so sorry." His wife, Deb, added, "I'm afraid to play the answering machine when the kids are around. It's really scary here."

Shumlin and Kittell are just two of the straight elected officials nationwide who are taking the movement for gay equality forward but remain unknown to most gay Americans. Unfortunately, our enemies are more likely to take note of our friends than we are and regularly target them for defeat.

Shumlin, a popular leader from Putney, a southern Vermont town of 2,600, earned the attention of a national Republican Party committee, which sought aggressively to unseat him. They mailed a glossy flier of Michelangelo's David statue to Shumlin's constituents with the word CENSORED stamped over the statue's groin and. the headline "Exposed!" It was a prurient piece meant to sensationalize Shumlin's support for civil unions.

Our opposition has the kind of national battle plan we need to ensure that gay donors and organizations nationwide know how and where to put their artillery dollars to support our allies, straight and gay, and win these local battles. I call this strategy "progressive pragmatism."

Where might some of those dollars go? Perhaps to Florida, where antigay activists threaten to repeal gay rights laws in Broward and Miami-Dade counties. Or to Arizona, where a gay rights bill and other pro-gay legislation could pass, thanks mainly to openly gay state representative Steve May. In Massachusetts, if the judiciary rules in favor of the seven gay and lesbian couples who recently sued for marriage licenses, gay dollars could defend key legislators who support gay marriage.

Other possibilities? New York, where a gay rights bill has been stuck in the state senate since 1971. If as much energy were put into electing a pro-gay-rights state senate as was put into electing Hillary Clinton to the U.S. Senate, New York could pass that bill. Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska, and Rhode Island are among the many other states considering gay and lesbian rights legislation as well. During my time in Vermont I helped state senators focus on basic organizing: mobilizing volunteers, identifying voters, direct mail, honing a message, and efficient use of resources. We out-organized our opposition. Peter Shumlin was reelected by a large margin. After Sara Kittell won, the headline was KITTELL STUNS; DEMS HOLD SENATE.

Unfortunately, the Republicans won a majority in the Vermont house and have since introduced anti-civil union bills. The Democratic majority in the state senate ensures that these bills won't become law, but it's a two-seat majority--illustrating just how slim the line is between progress and backlash.

Vermont's state motto, "Freedom and Unity," should be gay America's rallying cry. Working in unity with our gay and straight allies in battlegrounds across our country, we will have a better chance of achieving the freedom we all deserve.

Rouse is president of Catamount Consulting, a political consulting firm, and was an appointee in the Clinton administration. He can be reached via www.advocate.com.