Recently, we marched in the Pride Center of Vermont’s annual Pride Parade. The parade is a yearly event in downtown Burlington, running up Church Street and travelling to Battery Park, where there’s a big festival to celebrate lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) communities, histories, and cultures.

A recent survey by the Family and Youth Services Bureau and the National Network for Youth found that 40% of homeless youth are LGBTQ or queer-identified.

At our Drop-In Center, youth can participate in queer and transgender support groups and the center is a “safe space” for LGBTQ youth. Our counselors are trained to support LGBTQ* youth, too.

The theme of the Burlington parade this year was “Shine,” so we decorated Stephanie’s car with silver and rainbow garlands from top to bottom and tied star- and heart-shaped balloons to the doors.

Doug Cardin, a parade organizer, said that he thought about 2,000 people would be on the streets to watch the parade. And we heard you! Thank you for cheering us on. Thanks to you, the future is brighter for our youth.

See more photos from the day on our Facebook page!

The post Every day is a day to “shine”! appeared first on Spectrum Youth & Family Services.