Last Thursday, the Pride Center of Vermont paused operations indefinitely due to funding challenges. Groups supporting the LGBTQIA+ community say the shuttering will have sweeping impacts across the state.
The Pride Center, which had operated for 26 years, issued a statement noting that like many 2LGBQIA+ (Two-Spirit, Transgender, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Queer, Questioning, Intersex, Asexual, and Aromantic) organizations across the country, they have been affected by funding cuts and shifting federal priorities. The statement adds:
“These changes have made it increasingly difficult for community-based nonprofits like ours to keep doing the work we love, even as more people than ever are turning to us for support.”
The Pride Center also said the organization has been working over the past year to find new funding sources but, “despite these efforts, we’ve reached a point where we can no longer continue operations in our current form.”
The Pride Center’s board said they must raise $350,000 to reopen.
Outright Vermont supports LGBTQIA youth 19 and under. Executive Director Dana Kaplan calls the Pride Center’s operational pause shocking and sad.
“The Pride Center is an organization that has been a really important part of our broader community in providing connection and advocacy and support for so many adults across the state.”
Kaplan says the closure of the Pride Center, based in Burlington, creates a huge gap in adult program services across the state.
“We certainly share a deep concern about making sure that people have continued access to support and connection,” Kaplan said. “We are waiting to hear more from the Pride Center Board of Directors about their specific plans and how we can support gaps in services at this time while remaining focused on our particular mission of working with young people.”
Burlington Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak, the city’s first openly LGBTQIA mayor, issued a statement saying the organization has been a “critical lifeline,” and “at a time when marginalized communities and work to support them are under attack by the federal government, we must find creative ways to sustain the important programming offered by organizations like the Pride Center.”
Rutland County Pride, which is not directly affiliated with the Pride Center of Vermont, said in a statement that they stand in solidarity and “...their challenges reflect broader, systemic issues impacting 2STLGBQIA+ organizations across the country.
They said many Pride centers and community organizations, including theirs, face increasingly difficult funding landscapes and a reduction in the public and private resources that help sustain community programs.
Again, Dana Kaplan.
“It’s been a really hard time. I think that there’s just a heightened sense of fear and scrutiny given the rhetoric.” Kaplan continued, “I mean, there’s no denying the fact that this administration is really specifically targeting the rights of our communities and we’re seeing those impacts on a daily basis even right here in Vermont.”
The Pride Center of Vermont provided HIV testing and prevention programs, trans and queer wellness resources, support groups and crisis response.
