Vermont Pride Week is underway, with LGBTQ+ Vermonters celebrating their community connections.
The series of events started this past weekend and run through Sunday, September 18. Get-togethers include hikes, performances, a ball, a meet-up for dog owners, and other activities.
This year, Vermont saw the murder of a transgender woman, and a series of vandalisms and anti-transgender displays.
Nationally, there have been concerns over rollbacks of LGBTQ+ rights in many states.
Get New England news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NECN newsletters.
Organizers of this week’s Pride events say those headlines make the 2022 schedule all the more meaningful.
"This is really an opportunity for us to come together and say, 'These things can’t stop us,'" Mike Bensel, the executive director of the Pride Center of Vermont, told NECN in an interview Monday. "We’re still going to come out, we’re still stronger together, and I think that’s what Pride is really about."
There are some changes to this year's celebration from what many Vermonters may be familiar with from past years, though.
Sunday afternoon’s Pride parade has a new route, taking it up Church Street in downtown Burlington at 12:30, then turning onto Bank Street and coming down St. Paul Street – to pass City Hall Park. A new historic marker about the history of Vermont’s LGBTQ+ rights movement now stands in the park.
Additionally, the annual Pride festival that follows the parade is also moving. It will be held in Waterfront Park in Burlington, along Lake Champlain. Performances, informational booths, and opportunities for socializing will highlight the festival, organizers have announced.
