Green Mountain State Update
A historic win
History was made in Vermont when Becca Balint was elected to become the first woman and first openly LGBTQ US Congress member from the Green Mountain State. Balint is also currently the state’s first openly LGBTQ and woman Senate pro tempore.
Reports VT Digger, “The Brattleboro Democrat beat Republican nominee and self-described independent Liam Madden. With all but one precinct reporting early [last] Wednesday morning, according to the Secretary of State’s Office, Balint was leading Madden 60 to 27 percent, with Libertarian nominee Ericka Redic picking up 4 percent of the vote.
“Take note and take heart: Vermont is a place where kindness and integrity and courage matter,” Balint said. “Vermont is a place where the daughter of an immigrant dad and a working-class mom can be the first woman and the first gay person to represent Vermont in the U.S. House of Representatives.”
More history made
More history was made during the 2022 Midterm General Election when Vermont voters backed Mike Pieciak to be their first openly LGBTQ+ state treasurer. Pieciak won a handy 62.2 percent of votes against his opponent H. Brooke Paige.
Reported VT Digger, “In a short speech at a Vermont Democratic Party gathering Tuesday night in Burlington, Pieciak thanked his supporters. He also gestured at the historic nature of his win — alongside that of Becca Balint, who will become the first woman and first LGBTQ+ person the state sends to Washington — and honored those who had come before.
“From the stage, Pieciak addressed Rep. Bill Lippert, a Democrat from Hinesburg who was the General Assembly’s only out gay member in 2000 when he helped draft the state’s landmark civil unions bill in 2000. (Lippert is retiring from politics this year.)
“‘You made it so easy for someone like me to be able to run and be open, and it’s just amazing,’ Pieciak said. “I owe that to you.’”
‘Pride 1983’
An exhibition exploring the origins and lasting legacy of Burlington’s first LGBTQ2+ Pride celebration on June 25, 1983, is currently running through January 15, 2023 at Castleton University’s Bank Gallery. The show moves to the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center from April 1 to Oct. 31, 2023.
Curated by Meg Tamulonis of the Vermont Queer Archives—a program of the Pride Center of Vermont—“Pride 1983” draws on archival materials from the Archives as well as from UVM Special Collections, the Out in the Open Andrews Inn Oral History Project and the personal collections of those featured in the exhibition.
Tamulonis also worked with the Vermont Folklife Center to conduct interviews with 12 activists and organizers crucial to the establishment of Pride in Burlington. The exhibit includes a series of stunning portrait photographs of these early pride founders taken by Brooklyn-based photographer and Bennington College alum M. Sharkey.
HRC Municipal Equality Index
New England earned leading scores once again on the Human Rights Campaign’s 11th annual Municipal Equality Index.
In the Green Mountain State, Burlington came in at 87, Montpelier 62, Rutland 61, South Burlington 59, Brattleboro and Essex 58, Castleton 46 and Barre 44.
The index measures LGBTQ inclusivity in municipal laws, policies and services for LGBTQ people in cities and some other communities with a strong LGBTQ presence across the US. Scores are based on 49 different criteria from employment, housing, credit, education, public services, transgender health care and anti-conversion therapy laws.
More: hrc.org
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