Buzzing Burlington

This weekend we arrived in Vermont, home of autumn leaves, ‘White Christmas’, Ben and Jerry’s, Sinatra’s moonlight and Senator Bernie Sanders. Sunday was supposed to be a day off, with a plan to look around picturesque Burlington and have a leisurely lunch by the lake.

By coincidence, it happened to be Burlington Pride, which offered a
fantastic opportunity for information gathering and observation. Not to mention some great entertainment, in a relaxed sun filled environment.

I was able to collect great resources from the many stalls around the celebration site, some of which were dedicated to sexual health.
I was notably on the look out for services that were inclusive or specialised in engaging people with a learning disability.

Unable to see anything, I made an enquiry at the Planned Parenthood table. This is an organisation that provides sexual health services in Vermont. Their response was that they did not have any accessible resources and would usually refer people to Katherine McLaughlin, who happens to be the specialist trainer, whose course I am doing next week.

 
I was puzzled and surprised by this absence, given everything I had heard recently about inclusion and partnership.

Also it underlined the positive work that I know has been undertaken by my colleagues in the UK, to ensure that people who identify as LGBTQ+ have the opportunity to be included in PRIDE events.

We have found that attendance has also been a very good chance to promote and explain the existence of the growing number of specialist LGBTQ+ support groups.

I’m pleased to report that once we moved on from Burlington to Montpelier, I found that  Vermont does have good examples of LGBTQ+  support groups, both discrete and integrated. More of which later…………….