RU12? Community Center for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Vermont

RU12?'s LGBTQ Community Dinner Tickets Now Available!!

RESERVE TICKETS

Please join us for RU12? Community Center’s 15th Annual LGBTQ Community Dinner: Emerald. Our signature event, this year’s dinner celebrates fifteen years of RU12?’s commitment to LGBTQA community building across Vermont.

RU12’s Annual Dinner brings together community members and allies for a fabulous evening of dinner and entertainment in support of our vital health and human rights programs as well as our social and educational events. It is a time for us to recognize community leaders, organizations, and businesses dedicated to building and strengthening our community.

The Annual Dinner begins at 5:00PM

The Sheraton Hotel, Burlington

in the Emerald Ballroom  

RU12 Play Group EVERY Thursday!

Come join other LGBT families and children for our playgroup at the Leaps and Bounds Child Development Center in Essex. This weeks theme will be painting and games!

 

Actors Needed for Chandler Pride Festival!

WANTED: Chandler Pride is looking for young men in their 20's to be part of this summer's production of Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde. If you are interested, please email your headshots and resumes to Chandler Summer at chandlersummerpride@gmail.com.  

Chandler Pride on Facebook

The Illustrated Life Of ALISON BECHDEL

Saint Michael’s College is pleased to present:

The Illustrated Life Of ALISON BECHDEL

Tuesday, February 26, at 7 p.m. McCarthy Arts Center

Best-selling author of Fun House: A Family Tragicomedy and Are You My Mother?

Alison Bechdel, internationally-acclaimed lesbian cartoonist/author famous for her long-running comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For, will discuss her latest graphic memoir Are You My Mother?, her creative process and her redefinition of gender roles.

Sponsored by the SMC Center for Women & Gender, Common Ground, Office of the VP for Academic Affairs, Library, English Department, Office of Student Activities, and the Student Association. 

GLAMFlixx: Keep the Lights On: Weds. 2/20

On Wednesday, February 20th, join GLAM as we watch Keep the Lights On! Come to our weekly GLAM meeting at 6:30 and stay after for the movie! Snacks and drinks provided. It's 1997 and New York City is in a state of intense flux when documentary filmmaker Erik Rothman (Thure Lindhardt) first meets Paul Lucy (Zachary Booth), a handsome but closeted lawyer in the publishing field. What begins as a highly charged first encounter soon becomes something much more, and a relationship quickly develops. As the two men start building a home and life together, each continues to privately battle their own compulsions and addictions. A film about sex, friendship, intimacy and most of all, love, Keep the Lights On takes an honest look at the nature of relationships in our times. -- (C) Official Site GLAM is a group of young gay, bi, queer, and trans guys who are coming together, getting out, and enjoying the connections we made with one another. To get involved or for more information, contact Mike or Jean-Denis at glam@ru12.org or 802-860-7812.   Facebook Event

Franklin County: RU12?’s Rainbow Reading Hour Tonight!

*This event will be taking place every 1st and 3d Mondays 5:30 to 6:30, starting January 7th.

Come join us for RU12?’s Rainbow Reading Hour! We want to welcome children of all ages to gather and read a story, and then do an activity together. This is a chance for LGBTQA families to meet and find community at the Bent Northrop Memorial Library in Fairfield.

Feel free to bring a favorite book or friend to join the fun! If you have any ideas, would like to volunteer, or need more information, feel free to email me at Sam@ru12.org

Facebook Event

Lifting the Skirt: Drag Queen Secrets Revealed

Thought about doing drag but not known where to start?

Always been curious about how drag queens look so fabulous and wondered how they do it?

Unsure what to do for this year's Drag Ball?

Come to this event and learn all the best tips and trade secrets from some amazing local drag queens!

Sunday, February 3, 1:30-3:30pm
The North End Studio, Studio B 
294 N. Winooski Ave. Burlington, VT

Admission: $5 suggested donation, to benefit the RU12? Community Center

Featuring Q&A, demos, and performances by Vermont's own Kitty VonTease, Amber LeMay, and Porsche Pink. The event will also include audience participation portions.

Presented by Vermont Gay Social Alternatives and RU12? Community Classes

(Drag King workshop to be held later this spring)

Facebook Event

Tonight RU12? Documentary Film Series!

Out in Silence

Monday
Jan 14th, 6pm     
RU12? Community Center, Champlain Mill in Winooski

Following the story of a small American town confronting a firestorm of controversy ignited by a same-sex wedding announcement in the local newspaper, this gripping documentary illustrates the challenges of being an outsider in a conservative rural community and the change that is possible when courageous people break the silence and search for common ground. Out in the Silence will challenge you to rethink your values and help close the gaps that divide our communities.

RU12? Second Monday Screening is a cooperative effort of Vermont's LGBT and ally community.  Screenings are free and open to the public. Snacks provided please bring your own drink. Learn about the lives of LGBT people - the pain, the victories, the progress, and the challenges that persist.

As the series' name suggests, screenings are held on the second Monday of every month at RU12?. Film begins at 6pm, discussion to follow. Special thanks to VGSA and other community volunteers for making these events possible.

Don't Miss RU12? Documentary Film/Discussion Series Jan. 14th!

Out in Silence

Monday
Jan 14th, 6pm     
RU12? Community Center, Champlain Mill in Winooski

Following the story of a small American town confronting a firestorm of controversy ignited by a same-sex wedding announcement in the local newspaper, this gripping documentary illustrates the challenges of being an outsider in a conservative rural community and the change that is possible when courageous people break the silence and search for common ground. Out in the Silence will challenge you to rethink your values and help close the gaps that divide our communities.

RU12? Second Monday Screening is a cooperative effort of Vermont's LGBT and ally community.  Screenings are free and open to the public. Snacks provided please bring your own drink. Learn about the lives of LGBT people - the pain, the victories, the progress, and the challenges that persist.

As the series' name suggests, screenings are held on the second Monday of every month at RU12?. Film begins at 6pm, discussion to follow. Special thanks to VGSA and other community volunteers for making these events possible.

Big Gay Onion Thurs. 12/20 @ 6:30 PM!

Every third Thursday at the Block Gallery in Winooski, RU12? hosts an open mic night. A coffeehouse featuring 3 open mic slots and a featured performer.  To sign up for the open mic, email BigGayOnion@ru12.org All acts of music, interpretive dance, comedy and poetry are encouraged and welcomed. Live music lovers encouraged to listen and delight in the splendor of community.  Event is free but we will pass the hat for appreciation for RU12? For more information call RU12? 860-7812.   Facebook Event

"8" the Play: at the Chandler

One-night only staged reading

Saturday December 1st, 7:30 PM

Chandler Center for the Arts: Randolph, Vermont

Uncover the truth about marriage for gay and lesbian Americans. "8"—a new play by Academy-award winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black (Milk, J. Edgar)—demystifies the debate around marriage equality by chronicling the landmark trial of Perry v. Schwarzenegger. Learn about the historical context of marriage from expert testimony. See the human cost of discrimination. Uncover the arguments used to justify bans on marriage for gay and lesbian couples. Using the actual court transcripts from the landmark federal trial of California's Prop. 8 and first-hand interviews, "8" shows both sides of the debate in a moving 90-minute play.

Directed by Richard Waterhouse

Chandler Center for the Arts: Randolph, Vermont

Chandler box office 802 728-6464

Starring Equity and non-Equity actors from throughout Vermont.

Sponsored by the Gay & Lesbian Fund of Vermont and the Samara Fund of the Vermont Community Foundation

Facebook Event

Big Gay Onion Turns 2!--This Thurs!

Come Celebrate 2 years of Oniony Queerness at the Block Gallery in Winooski!

Every third Thursday at the Block Gallery in Winooski, RU12? hosts an open mic night. A coffeehouse featuring 3 open mic slots and a featured performer. 

To sign up for the open mic, email BigGayOnion@ru12.org . All acts of music, interpretive dance, comedy and poetry are encouraged and welcomed. Live music lovers encouraged to listen and delight in the splendor of community. 

Event is free but we will pass the hat for appreciation for RU12? For more information call RU12? 860-7812.

Facebook Event

RU12?'s Bring a Bottle Wine Auction

Please join RU12? Community Center on Monday, December 3rd at Burlington City Arts for the RU12? Wine Auction. From 6PM to 8PM, guests will mingle, hear fabulous music by accomplished cellist Mo Citro, enjoy tantalizing hors d'oeuvres from Catering by Dale, and catch up with friends at Vermont Creamery's cheese table. 

Need some wine for gifts or dinners in the coming holiday season? Are you adventurous about trying new wines? Want to build up your wine cellar?This is the event to attend. 

Guests are asked to bring a bottle of your favorite red or white. At the end of the evening, two lots of wine, the table of reds and the table of whites, will be auctioned. We also plan to have a couple other wine related auction items for those who may not want to bid on an entire table of wine! 

All proceeds will benefit RU12? Community Center, which celebrates, educates, and advocates with and for LGBTQ Vermonters. 

For more information, contact RU12? and speak with Kim Fountain at 802-860-7812 or email her at kim@ru12.org. 

Facebook Event

Film Series Concludes This Sunday With- Chris and Don: A Love Story

In honor of October LGBT History Month the RU12? Community Center will present a series of films that highlight the relationships that foster growth, compassion, understanding, and affirm individuality through community. 

Join us at the Fletcher Free Library in Burlington this Sunday which concludes the RU12? discussion series with the film:

Chris and Don: A Love Story 

Sunday Oct. 28^th 2:00 pm - Pickering Room

Chris & Don: A Love Story is the true-life story of the passionate three-decade relationship between British writer Christopher Isherwood (whose Berlin Stories was the basis for the beloved Cabaret) and American portrait painter Don Bachardy, thirty years his junior. From Isherwood's Kit-Kat-Club years in Weimar-era Germany to the couple's first meeting on the sun-kissed beaches of 1950s Malibu, their against-all-odds saga is brought to dazzling life through beautiful, rare home movies and reminiscences from Don and many of their friends, including Leslie Caron and Liza Minnelli. With Isherwood's exemplary status as an out-and-proud gay hero, and Bachardy's eventual artistic triumph away from the considerable shadow of his life partner, Chris & Don: A Love Story is above all a joyful celebration of a most extraordinary couple. 

 

October (Domestic Violence Awareness Month) SafeSpace Happenings

It's DVAM (Domestic Violence Awareness Month) and our SafeSpace program interns have been busily tabling at local colleges. Community College of Vermont (Winooski), St. Michael's and Champlain College happily welcomed our program for community outreach, education, informal discussion and at two of the three sites, the showing of an impressive art exhibit produced by our commuity partners Women Helping Battered Women (WHBW) titled, "A Survivor Stands Beside Me". The exhibit consists of powerful life-size photos viewing domestic violence as an issue that crosses into all ages, cultures, and socioeconomic statuses. At St. Mike's campus, we joined WHBW and HopeWorks (formerly Women's Rape Crisis Center) for the Abuse Awareness Project, a statistics and awareness event that highlighted the number of survivors served by WHBW, HopeWorks and SafeSpace with purple, white and rainbow flags. These events were a great success. Our interns were not only able to make some new friends and allies, but raise awareness out about an important issue in the LGBTQ community (and our culture at large), as well as spread the word about RU12?'s SafeSpace anti-violence program and the work it does with LGBTQ survivors.

In solidarity with local agencies working to end domestic and sexual violence, SafeSpace advocates and supporters will have a presence at WHBW's Candlelight Vigil and Survivor Speak Out at 6pm on Thursday, October 25th in front of City Hall on Church Street. This will consist of a candle-lighting ceremony in honor of those who have lost their lives as the result of domestic and intimate partner violence, followed by a silent march to the Unitarian Universalist Church at the top of the Marketplace, where survivors will be able to share their stories in a healing space. We hope you will spread the word about this incredible event, and that we will see you there!

If you or anyone you know has experienced domestic, intimate partner, sexual, transgender, hate violence or discrimination, SafeSpace advocates are available to offer support and advocacy services by calling 802.863.0003, or you can report violence anonymously to SafeSpace. If you'd like to make a donation to SafeSpace in honor of your own or a loved one's survival experience, you can donate here and make a designation for the SafeSpace Program.

 

Big Gay Onion --This Thurs!

FACEBOOK EVENT

 

Every Third Thursday, 6:30pm-8:30pm, with featured performer Antara! At the Block Gallery in Winooski, RU12? hosts an open mic night featuring community performers. Anyone and everyone is encouraged to participate: musicians, comedians, puppeteers, spoken word artists, and more! Event is free but we will pass the hat for appreciation for RU12? For more information call RU12? 860-7812. Email BigGayOnion@ru12.org to sign up for a performance spot, or just show up!

2nd Annual LGBT History Month October Film/Discussion Series

In honor of October LGBT History Month the RU12? Community Center will present a series of films that highlight the relationships that foster growth, compassion, understanding, and affirm individuality through community. 

Join us at the Fletcher Free Library in Burlington every Sunday afternoon in October as we celebrate the history of the LGBT community.

 

We Were Here

Sunday Oct. 7^th 2:00 pm - Community Room

This honest and engaging documentary chronicles the lives of five very different people as they experience the AIDS crisis at its terrifying beginning.  Focusing not only on the way in which the gay male community was devastated by the disease, but the way in which the disease bridged the gap between lesbians as gays, as well as the larger queer community. 

 

Passionate Politics: The Life and Work of Charlotte Bunch

Sunday Oct. 14^th 2:00 pm - Community Room 

The story of how Charlotte Bunch rose through the ranks of activism for women’s rights and lesbian rights to become one of the leading figures in human rights in the world.  This intimate documentary showcases one woman’s path to community greatness. 

 

Prodigal Sons

Sunday Oct. 21st 2:00 pm - Community Room

Kimberly Reed documents her return to her hometown for a High School reunion, and to reunite with her adopted brother, Marc.  This documentary bravely charts the journey one transsexual woman undergoes in order to combine her past and present, as well as navigating family strife by reuniting it. 

 

Chris and Don: A Love Story

Sunday Oct. 28th 2:00 pm – Pickering Room 

Their love was condemned by some, laughed at by others, embraced by still more, but it was the single greatest adventure in both of their lives.  We conclude the LGBT Film Series with this touching documentary about the romance between Christopher Isherwood and Don Bachardy, who showed the world that love is really all you need.

 

Maple Creemee's PEEP SHOW: Burlesque

Wednesday Oct 3rd at Monkey House, Winooski A night of drag and burlesque, benefiting RU12? Community Center. Presented by Maple Creemee, starring Quechee George, Porsche Pink, Tula Jiddymit, Jonathan Bitchman and all the way from New York City, the bodacious BIANCA DAGGA! $5-10 sliding scale admission at the door Doors at 8pm Show at 9pm +++Dance Party to follow with DJ MAPLE CREEMEE+++   Facebook Event

Big Gay Onion is Back!! --This Thurs!

 

Thursday September 20th, 6:30pm-8:30pm

RU12? and Antara Present:

An open mic night featuring community performers. Anyone and everyone is encouraged to participate: musicians, comedians, puppeteers, spoken word artists, and more! Event is free but we will pass the hat for appreciation for RU12? For more information call RU12? 860-7812. Email BigGayOnion@ru12.org to sign up for a performance spot, or just show up!

Facebook Event

LGBTQ Fiber Arts Group: Sunday @ Noon

The Fiber Arts Group meets 2nd and 4th (and sometimes 5th) Sundays of every month at RU12? Community Center. Knitting, crochetting, weaving, ebroidery and more for people of all ages, gender identities, sexual orientations, and skill levels to come together in a queer space. If you have questions or you'd like to join the group please contact RU12? at 860-RU12 (7812) or email TheCenter@RU12.org.

Join our online Fiber Arts Group!