Photo of a young child wearing a bisexual pride flag as a cape. The child is smiling and holding a piece of pizza, while a smiling adult looks on from the background.
Photo of a June 2020 paper edition of the Bennington Banner. The front-page article is "PRIDE on Parade: Some 70 cars join caravan from Bennington to Manchester."
Two adults and a child stand around a car decked with pride flags and a big flag which reads "Black Lives Matter."
A person stands in downtown Bennington operating a DJ booth. The booth is covered with a pride flag.
Nighttime photo of guests at a lawn party

Mission Statement

We are dedicated to increasing our visibility in the community and to building resources for LGBTQIA people and their families living in and around Bennington, Vermont. We are especially committed to supporting queer youth and their families.

History

Queer Connect became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in April 2019. Founder Lisa Carton recognized the dire need to build a safe and inclusive LGBTQ+ community here in our corner of Vermont. Immediately after Queer Connect’s inception in April of that year, we successfully planned and hosted the first ever Bennington Pride Weekend in June.

From the start, Queer Connect has been committed to engaging with our LGBTQ+ youth. It was them, in fact, that inspired Queer Connect into action by telling us that they need “to see adults like us out in the streets.” As our mission statement above reads, our purpose is to provide visibility and resources for our LGBTQ+ individuals and families, and we are devoted to making that a reality for our full community.

We have big dreams of growing! At present, we are fully volunteer based, so please be in touch if you’d like to be part of our growth.

Our Racial Equity and Inclusion Statement

Queer Connect is dedicated to doing the hard work of a community to fight for the human rights of all people. We seek to create spaces that both acknowledge the multiple marginalization, increased discrimination, and oppression individuals might experience in our community. We believe an intersectional approach to providing LGBTQ+ programs and services allows us to better support our community members and our collective liberation.

We stand in solidarity.