Community, Lawmakers Condemn Swath of Anti-LGBTQ+ Violence

Vermont’s LGBTQ+ community is reeling in the aftermath of an apparent act of vandalism against The Pride Center of Vermont in Burlington.

Video footage provided by the center to VTDigger shows someone walking up to the South Champlain St. building after midnight, throwing two objects, and then leaving. The Executive Director of The Pride Center of Vermont, Mike Bensel, stated that nothing seemed to be stolen from the premises and that the individual was not seen entering the building.

The damage was noticed by other tenets of the building that houses the center early on the morning of the 26th. Burlington police are continuing an investigation into the incident.

The incident comes after Laura Ingraham of Fox News attacked a Burlington School District webinar on sexuality, and after the killing of Fern Feather, a Hinesburg trans woman, two weeks prior.

Winooski Rep. Taylor Small, the center’s education program director, said in a Tweet “love will always be more powerful than hate.”

I am holding my #LGBTQ Community in my heart this morning following the news of the devastating vandalism that occurred at @PrideCenterVT. I cannot fathom the hate it took to commit such an act, but love will always be more powerful than hate 🏳️‍🌈💖 pic.twitter.com/uXgLIvNoT6

— Rep. Taylor Small (@TaylorSmallVT) April 26, 2022

Lawmakers from Vermont’s Rainbow Caucus condemned these incidents in a recent press release.

More coverage can be found from Seven Days and VTDigger.org.