First Vermont Lesbian and Gay Pride Parade

In 1983, a group of lesbian feminists began planning for the first Vermont Pride march to be held in Burlington and invited the gay male community to join. At the time, public celebration of pride in Vermont was controversial. Vermonters attended marches in larger cities where it was safe to be visible commemorating the Stonewall uprising of June 1969 in NYC, the beginning of the national LGBT Pride movement. Linking the struggles to racism, classism and anti-Semitism, planners of the Vermont event asked for the endorsement of government officials and over 300 organizations. Despite some vigorous opposition, Burlington’s Board of Aldermen ultimately endorsed the march in a 6-5 vote. (continued on other side) Vermont’s first Pride March was entitled the Lesbian and Gay Pride Parade and Celebration, with the theme Water Won’t Run Straight and Neither Will We. The rally on June 25, 1983, which was proclaimed as Lesbian and Gay Pride Day, was held in City Hall Park, and was followed by a parade through the business district. In a sea of purple balloons, over 350 courageous marchers risked physical safety, jobs, housing, and relationships with family to be openly visible in their home state. Vermonters have rallied every year since 1983 across the Green Mountain State to continue the movement for sexual orientation and gender identity rights and the freedom to live safely and love who they love.