��������

To build *** better future, it's important to know and acknowledge the past. In these stories we tip our hats to local leaders in an array of fields from emergency services to civil rights. These heroes have charted *** course for many generations to follow. Thanks for joining us. I'm Megan Mitchell. The first chapter of this history lesson pays homage to living legends in Vermont, WPTZ reporter Liz Strepa introduces us to *** woman responsible for bringing pride to the streets of Burlington. Downtown Burlington, with its rainbow decor, pride flags, and even home to Vermont's Pride Center is now considered by many in the LGBTQ community *** safe space to be authentically themselves. Doing what feels authentic to yourself, ultimately, I'm speaking from the advanced stage, you know, of 71. Is ultimately what gives your life purpose and uh and joy. Take it from Leo Wittenberg, *** native New Yorker and Vermont transplant who was instrumental in making the Queen City the welcoming place that it is thanks to her bravery back in the 1970s and 1980s. At that time, we felt like if you needed something. To happen you had to make it happen yourself. Back then, Whittenberg had recently come out as *** lesbian and remembers talking to some of her friends about what out of state pride parade they were going to attend, and that's when the wheels started turning and we're just sitting there and we said. Let's make it happen here. Whittenberg and her friends started organizing, making signs like this one promoting the event on June 25, 1983. In that time, the tenor in 1983 was very negative. Whittenberg remembers that negativity coming from many community members, but still they persisted. No one stood with us. There were no community leaders. There were no, uh, clergy. There were no allies. We stood alone. But that's me and that's Lucy Clark. They may have felt alone, but hundreds of brave lesbian and gay community members marched in that inaugural parade, the first step on *** journey. Decades of pride events that have only grown bigger and bigger each year. I mean, 83, we were lucky if there were 300 very brave people who came. Many of those brave people are honored in this exhibit in City Hall. They'll be standing together commemorating the birthplace of Burlington's first Pride parade. I'm not saying it wasn't courageous. Because there was absolutely courage involved, but it was an ordinary act of courage, an ordinary act of courage that paved the way for generations of people to be unapologetically themselves. How can people explore who they are if they're afraid? Her goal is to eliminate that fear by encouraging acceptance and equality for everyone. All it takes is one brave person to take one step forward to make *** difference.