Out In The Mountains : News - P.R.I.D.E. Denies Disarray

P.R.I.D.E. Denies Disarray

by Euan Bear

     If you believed the rumors – that the entire P.R.I.D.E. in Vermont Committee had resigned, that there wouldn't be a Pride celebration after all – and put them together with an apparent lack of publicity through expected outlets, you might think that assimilation via civil union, or dissension, or plain old apathy was about to end LGBTQ Pride in Vermont.
     And you'd be wrong. Or so says Michael Glidden of Middlebury, one of the co-chairs of the Vermont Pride Committee. "The committee has been consistent," he maintained. "We began with 10 people, and a few people either moved out of state or had job changes, so we are down to about seven." He noted that all of the Pride planning committee members except Mary Abar, the treasurer, were new as of last fall. It took this new committee a bit longer to get up and running, he said.
     That planning delay was in large part responsible for the change in date for the Pride Parade and Festival from the traditional June weekend to July 10. "As a new committee, we just needed the additional time," said Glidden. Another reason he cited was that the traditional dates conflicted with Father's Day, not to mention the New York and Boston Pride celebrations. Boston was expected to be huge this year due to the celebration of equal marriage rights conferred by the Massachusetts Constitution and affirmed by the commonwealth's Supreme Judicial Court. New York celebrated the 35th anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion. Finally, the organizers hope for less unsettled weather this month than is typical in June.
     Glidden, involved in Pride organizing for the first time, said he had no complaints about his dealings with the Burlington Parks Department or the city police, in contrast to last year's committee. He got involved, he said, because "I wanted to have a Pride Day. It will happen. We'll have a wonderful Pride weekend." Glidden, a small business owner, has been active in the community most recently through the steering committee of Vermont Gay Social Alternatives (VGSA).
     The biggest challenge for P.R.I.D.E. in Vermont hasn't changed much over the years: getting volunteers, both on Friday for the set-up phase, and on Saturday to provide security at intersections along the parade route. A new challenge is getting people and organizations to register and pay a fee (ranging from zero to $100 per float or organization, depending on size and type) for spots in the parade. "We're just getting a record of who's there to help in next year's planning and creating a mailing list and a database," Glidden explained.
     Another new and "large" challenge has been getting the lgbt communities to check the P.R.I.D.E. in Vermont website (www.PrideVermont.org) for information rather than relying on other sources. "It's been a large learning curve," said Glidden, "for us and for the community."
     Other changes include the parade starting at 11:30, not noon, and the speakout occurring at Waterfront Park after the march instead of being a rallying point prior to the parade. The parade route has also changed – detouring around City Hall Park to avoid the construction zone in front of City Hall, according to Glidden.
     At press time, negotiations with potential MCs and a "Grand Marshal" were still underway, and Glidden declined comment when names were mentioned. Among the possibilities included in Pride Committee minutes on the website are (NH Episcopal Bishop) Gene Robinson, (singer) Melissa Etheridge, (former talk-show host) Rosie O'Donnell, and (comedian and talk-show host) Ellen DeGeneres.
     And in case you were wondering, that's P.R.I.D.E. in Vermont, and it stands for "People of the Rainbow Integrating Diversity Everywhere" in Vermont.
     Asked whether lgbt Pride events were an endangered species – due to assimilation, civil union, or even apathy – Glidden was adamant: "No! No! Just as Irish-Americans celebrate their heritage, and some Christians celebrate their culture with Mardi Gras coming from Fat Tuesday in the Lenten tradition, we will celebrate. It might be a celebration rather than a political statement or a push for political change. [But] all it takes is one event to change things. Pride didn't exist before Stonewall, and that was one event."