FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Kim Fountain, Executive Director, RU12? Community Center
Phone: 802-860-7812
Email: kim@ru12.org

Contact: John Becker, Director of Communications, Truth Wins Out
Phone: 920-265-6023
Email: john@truthwinsout.org


Current and Future Vermont LGBTQ Leaders to Gather at Statehouse


Montpelier, VT — A coalition of five Vermont organizations serving the state’s diverse lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and ally (LGBTQA) communities announced plans today for the seventeenth annual Leadership Day at the Vermont Statehouse on Friday, April 6, 2012. On Leadership Day, previously known as Visibility Day, current and future Vermont LGBTQA leaders will gather in Montpelier to meet lawmakers, network, and discuss legislative priorities.

Organized by the RU12? Community Center, Outright Vermont, Vermont CARES, Vermont Freedom to Marry, and Truth Wins Out, this awareness and leadership day is designed for LGBTQA people of all ages and all degrees of civic engagement.

“This is an exciting opportunity for Vermont’s LGBTQA community members to meet with lawmakers to have our concerns over issues from bullying to transgender health care heard,” said Kim Fountain, Executive Director of RU12? Community Center.

The goals of this event are twofold: to make certain LGBTQ legislative issues remain a priority for lawmakers, and to promote leadership in the private and public sectors among LGBTQA communities around the state.

The schedule for Leadership Day is as follows:

7:45AM – 9:15AM: Breakfast in the Statehouse cafeteria

8:45AM: Framing the day – conversations with Vermont’s LGBTQA organizations

9:15AM: Introduction on the House floor. Morning devotional by Rev. Emily Heath of the West Dover Congregational Church

9:45AM – 11:00AM: Discussion and Mingling with LGBTQA Statehouse regulars in Room 11. Meet and greet fellow Leadership Day participants; Q&A with LGBTQA legislators, Statehouse workers, and Statehouse regulars

11:00AM: Meet with Governor Peter Shumlin in the Ceremonial Office

11:30AM-12:45PM: Meet and greet with legislators in the cafeteria

1:00PM: A light luncheon for participants hosted by Vermont CARES in their new Montpelier offices at 58 East State Street

Vermont LGBTQ leaders, including TWO Director of Communications & Development John Becker, will be available for comment during the mid-morning meet and greet in Room 11 on the first floor of the Statehouse.

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