Rural Outright announces Rural PRIDE 2021

​Rural Outright, a community program of TLC Family Resource Center, is teaming up with Windsor, VT based advocacy group, LGBTQ+ & Allies of Windsor VT, for the second year to present Rural PRIDE 2021. This year the celebrations will be from Wednesday, June 16, to Saturday, June 19, and will include small, socially-distanced, in-person events in addition to virtual events.

​“Last year we made the difficult decision to not hold any in-person events, and to go completely virtual.” said Matt Mooshian, program coordinator for Rural Outright. “After a year of unprecedented challenges but with newfound hope, we are working hard to create opportunities for the LGBTQ+ community and their allies to come together. Our PRIDE celebrations this year will still look different, but I’m confident they will be safe and full of PRIDE.”

Rural PRIDE started in 2018 at the Visitors Center in Claremont and has become Rural Outright’s largest and most successful event, drawing a crowd from all parts of New England.

In 2020, Rural Outright partnered with advocacy group LGBTQ+ & Allies of Windsor VT to organize a bi-state PRIDE celebration. Due to the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic, plans for Rural PRIDE 2020 were moved to a virtual format.

“As we come together to affirm each other and to lift each other up, we also come together to recognize our collective power and responsibility. We must continue to advocate against prejudice, racism, and injustice,” said Amanda Smith, founder and director of LGBTQ+ & Allies of Windsor, VT, and a founding member of Black Lives Matter, Windsor, VT. “PRIDE 2021 is about both celebrating our joy and working toward a community, nation, and world where people are treated equitably and are free to live as their most authentic selves without fear or risk of harm from other individuals, organizations, or systems. I want all people to feel a deep sense of belonging, safety, and love regardless of our differences, and just as the first PRIDE was a riot, we are ready to enact peaceful, direct action to ensure it.”

Further details and announcements for Rural PRIDE 2021 will be made public in the coming weeks. Contact RO@tlcfamilyrc.org.