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New Executive Director Hired
for Outright Vermont
by Max Stroud
 |
| New Outright Vermont Executive Director Keith Elston began work at the agency on January 3. Photo: Max Stroud |
BURLINGTON—Vermont’s organization for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, and questioning youth has a new hand on the helm.
After a year and a half as executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico in Albuquerque, Elston began work at the Burlington-based agency in early January.
“We’re all very excited and pleased to have Keith join us,” said David Ryan, incoming chair of the Outright board of directors. “The skill set and experience that he brings from his work with ACLU, as well as his fundraising and grant-writing skills, are going to be a great asset to the organization.”
For his part, Elston is excited about the chance to work with youth in a strong community.
“I have always felt that we really don’t do enough to try to invest in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and questioning youth,” he said. “I believe in teaching LGBTQ youth about their history, about the future for our community, about being responsible to their community and supporting the organizations that are helping their community.”
In looking to the future of Outright, Elston talks about building on their current successes and growing as an organization. He sees Outright as a growing dynamic organization that is “busting at the seams” in their current location.
His vision for the future includes a new, larger space, a support staff and expansion of their fundraising efforts in order to provide GLBTQ youth with “different kinds of opportunities to grow, feel safe and to understand themselves and to cultivate skills to become leaders in our community.”
Ryan said he believes Elston has a great vision for Outright Vermont as well as an energy that will carry the organization into its second decade of work.
“The youth are really going to be the winners in this situation,” said Ryan.
Elston said Vermont’s welcoming, small-town atmosphere played a large part in his decision to accept the position. In researching relocation possibilities, Elston said he and his partner were attracted by Vermont’s strong small communities and proximity to larger centers.
“We felt extremely welcomed here in Vermont,” he said. “We can both work in jobs where we don’t have to deal with worrying about how much we can be out at work. There are civil rights protections here that are in very few other places in the country as well as a much better Īlive and let live’ attitude than in other parts of the country.”
Elston’s interest in civil rights work began in his home state of Kentucky, where he helped found the Kentucky Fairness Alliance in 1992. That multi-chapter organization has since become a model for many statewide gay and lesbian civil rights organizations around the country.
He has also served as executive director of ACLU of the Dakotas.
Elston filled a position that had been vacant since August, 1999, when former executive director Tami Eldridge left to take on a position at Outright in Portland, ME.