A feature

I .
Pride
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vendors, doing outreach around the
state to foster events outside of
Chittenden County, and more.

In fact, for anyone want-
ing to help with parade security,
there’s a serious need for volun-
teers to come to a briefing at 7 pm
on June 10 at the McClure
Multigenerational Center (North
Winooski Avenue, Burlington).
“You get to walk around with a
cool orange vest and a walkie-
talkie,” Cina said, as well as help-
ing to keep the parade on track and
the parade participants safe.

In preparing for next year,
volunteers who can come to month-
ly meetings at the
Multigenerational Center are not
only welcome but desperately
needed.

Bureaucratic Barriers?

In addition, Cina reported, the
Burlington Police Department has
persisted in throwing up “barriers
to success” in the form of addition-
al requirements for security.

_ “They’re tryingto treat us like

Mardi Gras,” Cina said at the
Summit, “‘Mardi Gras had,l00
security volunteers on“the ’s_treet,"
they say. Well, we’re not Mardi
Gras, not that big.”
' In 2002, the Burlington

Police Department required the
Pride committee to budget for nine
police officers to escort the parade
and two to patrol the festival. Only
three showed up, since the Pride
Fest is considered optional “extra
duty." Cina and Abar said that the
Pride committee was not billed for
the six missing officers.

According to BPD’s Lt.
Emmett Helrich, who is supervis-
ing the downtown detail this year,
it has been recommended in the
past that nine officers escort the
parade. “But for one hour of parade
duty, it’s tough to get cops to come
in, even for time-and-a half,” he
said. “We can usually get two to
sign up for the six hours of the
Festival.”

According to Cina, the
BPD is requiring the Festival to
ante up for four officers.

Another issue mentioned
by Cina was a threat to ban throw-
ing candy from the parade's floats.
“They told us if one piece of candy
was thrown from a float, there’d
never be another Pride parade.”

Helrich, reading from a
‘list of concerns in a folder on last
year’s parade, recited: “Throwing
candy to crowd problematic, should
bebanned.” But, he said, “I-don't
idly see it as a problem.” He
fiught the concern might be relat-
ed to bystanderprejudice against

_ “who was throwing it.” In the final
‘pemrit stipuhions, throwing any-_
’ thing fromflnats is prohibited as a .

safety measuc.
(hlnrooncems for the
flee last ya’ included:
V Theiulden County ._

 'lhnsponationAnt!iority was _

apparently not made aware of the
parade route, making it difficult to
get buses out .

V The parade was slow and too
spread out

V “Volunteers were nonexist-
ent”

V The lack of police officers
made traffic control difficult

V The presence of Take Back
Vermont counter-protestors

V The attempt by a well-known
town character to burn a rainbow
flag.

Cina reports that all con-
cerned parties, including churches
along the way, the fire department
and the CCTA have now been noti-
fied of this year’s parade timing
and route.

He contested the “volun-
teers nonexistent” characterization.
“We had all the volunteers they
asked us to have at every intersec-

' tion they asked us to have them,”

he insisted.

But that was then. Now
they need many more volunteers to
help at the site during the festival,
to keep marchers safe at intersec-
tions, and to participate in future
Pride committee meetings.

The most difficult chal-
lenge has been a requirement first
imposed at .Ias'§year’s Pride
every “vendor” (regardless 6
whether the group was selling a
product or just providing informa-
tion about services and organiza-
tions) to show proof of being cov-
ered by liability insurance to the
tune of one million dollars each.

The Pride committee
called all the vendors “in a panic”
just a couple of weeks before the
event, and then the Parks and
Recreation Department granted
waivers to many organizations -
especially those not selling or pro-
viding home-made food.

The rnillion-dollar liabili-
ty coverage requirement is still in
effect, and waivers are less likely
this year. According to Abar, “If a
vendor does not have insurance, we
can apply under our policy for their

coverage for the day. This has to be _

done in a timely manner, and pay-
ment made upon request for cover-
age, prior to the day of the festival.
There is an application form which
has to be filled out. Premium
amounts are as follows: $50 for
information only, $100 for product
vendors. We are hoping that this
willbe of some help to those ‘ven-
dors’ who do not carry the neces-
sary insurance."

Boyond Burlington

“Last year there were 69 people at

the event in I-Iardwick, which is
pretty good for Hardwick! There
were 100 people at the trans dance
in North Montpelier,” Cina said.
But there has been no response to
the Pride committee's inquiries
from groups that sponsored events
around the state in Hardwick, St.
Johnsbury, Montpelier, and other
locations in 2002’s 30 Days of
Pride celebration.
And because there are so '

    
  
  

 

few active members of the commit-
tee this year, there has been no
energy to find other sponsors for
around-the-state events. “We’re
..lin,1ite_d,by our 1,’  human

 

 

will still be held this year, and
there’s a plan for a brunch that as
of press time was being set up for

‘ either Grand Isle County or

Franklin County. ‘

Beyond 2003

The greatest need is for continuing
leadership and a smooth transition
process. Cina has been involved in
Pride Vermont for four years, and

he’s exhausted. In the beginning of .

his work with the committee, he
recalled, the previous organizers
called a public meeting with orga-
nizational representatives and indi-
viduals and announced they were
done and walked away, leaving a
$2000 debt and no documentation.

Although the outcome
was the same, former Pride com-
mittee participant Sarah Harrington
recalls the last transition process as
better planned and more intention-
al. “We had a lot of criticism that
year,‘ so we thought that we should
get more community input into our
decisions,” she recalled in a phone
interview, resulting in the commu-
nity meeting. '

This year, Cina said, the ’
committee has documented every-
thing, from permit procedures to
grants and their outcomes, from
insurance requirements to porta-
potties. And it hopes to "begin plan-
ning for next year at least_ debt-free,
and possibly with a small surplus.
Pride has managed to carry over a
small surplus for the last two years.

Cina said that the Pride
Vennont committee is looking for
people who want to be part of a
group doing collaborative work:

' “Everyone benefits when it’s with
people, not just for people." He

rscussion on gklubiqiai issues ‘ :

cited the-collaboration involved
with the beyond—Chittenden- 7‘
County outreach of previous years,
this year’s Rutland glbtqia youth
discussion, and the Juneteenth-

Stonewallvcommemoration show‘- ,,

ing of Brother Outsider,‘ a film on
the life of 0 gay African American
civil rights activist Bayard Rustin.
The event is co-sponsored with
R.U.1.2'?, the Women of Color
Alliance, Outright Vermont,
SafeSpace, CEDO, and the
Vermont Anti-Racism Action Team,
among others. Juneteenth is a com-
memoration of the date on which
the last African-American slaves
were notified that they had been
freed by presidential proclamation
— more than two years before.

Such work is not without
stress and challenges of its own.
The national and local Juneteenth
organizers have declined to offi-
cially co-sponsor any events with
gay organizations in Vermont and
elsewhere. _

The committee is exhaust-
ed, and there’s a real concern that
there will be no Pride celebration
next year unless there’s an infusion
of new energy and fundraising
know-how. _

Abar adds, “Our biggest
challenge is finding a broader spec-
trum of people to be willing to rep-
resent the community, as a whole,
on the committee. Our desire ,
would be to have someone from all
areas of the LBGTQIA community
voicing their ideas, concerns, etc.
Volunteers, as any organization
knows, is~a vital part of success —

we need more!

“Our committee consists
of the same people holding board
positions for the past three years.
The committee as a whole, on the
average, has 5-7 people in atten-
dance at any given meeting  this
has been a great deal of work to be
accomplished by so few," Abar
wrote in an email.

All it takes to be on the

V " the second and fourth 'Tue's:da'y‘-ot*~“~ V
‘ -the months, from 7-9  ”Not‘6iil'y 

 
 

P.R.I.D.E. Vermont board is to
attend one of the meetings.
Meetings are held at the
MultiGenerational Center on North
Winooski Avenue in Burlington on

 

do we need Board members,” Abar
wrote, “but volunteer committee
members are very necessary as
well. It is a wonderful committee to
be a part of.”
Among the opportunities
’ Abar mentioned are helping with
specific events, organizing
fundraising, helping with the silent
auction, participating on the day of
the Festival and the month of June
or doing grant requests. “There are
_more than enough areas that one
could choose to help out in, and .
offer as little or as much time as [a
person] feels comfortable giving.
One extremely important way to
contribute to the community and to
P.R.I.D.E. would be to attend the
events that are hosted throughout
the year to raise funds for the Pride
Festival.”

But for now, the commit-
tee assures us that with the addition
of some onsite and security volun-
teers, this year’s Pride will be as
good as ever, full of rainbows and
joy and celebrations of our
journeys. V