Out In The Mountains : Features - More Pride Than Ever in VT

by Alexander B. Potter

        This summer, Vermont displays even more pride than usual, as the south of the state celebrates the traditional month of gay Pride for the first time with a big party, plus gay theater and a gay film fest.
     “I think this a great opportunity for a wide variety of folks from the LGBTQ community to come together, see old friends, meet some new folks, celebrate our diversity - and dance!” said Howie Peterson, chair of the Pride Party. “I’m looking forward to a great party.”
     Bringing together diverse LGBTQ folks is one of the primary goals of the newlyformed Queer Community Project (QCP). One of the driving forces behind the QCP effort at organizing in Windham County is to hold more events where members from all segments of the community can interact in a variety of ways.
     Smaller, ongoing QCP events are garnering feedback from individuals across the county, but the idea of a large gay Pride party excited and energized the entire advisory committee.
     “It is exciting to me in these unsettled times to be working together on an expression of cooperation and joy,” said Tamara Adkins, member of the QCP Advisory Committee.
     The Men’s Program of the AIDS Project of Southern Vermont, an HIV prevention program for gay and bisexual men, is the other sponsor of the Pride party, and is thrilled to be sponsoring this event.
     In fact, the local area has more than one great event to start officially celebrating Pride month! The same weekend, June 23, 24, and 25, will be the first Vermont Rural GLBTQ Film Festival, with a full weekend of rural films with GLBTQ themes. The films will be shown at the Hooker-Dunham Theater on Main Street in Brattleboro.
      “We are pleased to be presenting films in our festival that relate to our rural realities,” said John Scagliotti, festival producer. “It can be isolating at times, but when we come together we show that even here in small towns and villages we are everywhere. Our Pride events give us an opportunity of seeing that we really are a community.”
     Over the course of the weekend, the films Farm Family: In Search of Gay Life in Rural America, Laramie Inside Out, and The Amasong Chorus Singing Out will be shown. Each screening will open with short films. For more information on the festival and to make reservations, contact John Scagliotti (john@afterstonewall.com) or call Sanctuary/Hooker- Dunham at 802-254-9276.
     The American Legion Hall is just a short walk up Main Street from the Hooker-Dunham Theater, and the Pride Party organizers hope party-goers will go see the films earlier in the evening, and that film goers will wander up the road to check out the fun afterwards! The Friday evening screening begins at 7pm.
      Furthermore, kicking off the month of June will be an original theater event about the lives of lesbians and gay men over 65 from the southern Vermont/ New Hampshire area with the premiere performances of Gay and Gray: Voices of Our Elders. This show will be at the Sandglass Theater on Friday and Saturday, June 9 and 10, at 8 pm. Ticket reservations for this event are available through Sandglass at 802-387-4051.
      Windham County hopes to see a great turnout at these events this year, and to build on these for more Pride events in southern Vermont in 2007. For more information about the Pride Party, please call Howie Peterson at 802-254-4444.

Alexander B. Potter is a writer and is Newsletter and Social Events Coordinator for the Men’s Program in Brattleboro.

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