LGBTQIA+

Vermont’s most well-known claim to LGBTQIA+ rights took place in 2000. In that year, Vermont became the first state in to legally recognize same-sex couples through civil unions. Vermont’s civil unions allowed same-sex couples similar rights to marriage. By 2009, the state also joined others in legally recognizing same-sex marriages as well. While new laws have been passed since the early 2000s to protect the rights of LGBTQIA+ citizens in Vermont, those laws were not the first in the state of Vermont. Laws protecting individuals against hate crimes and laws allowing adoption rights formed in the 1990s. But what about even before then? Civil rights movements focused on the rights of LGBTQIA+ were taking place throughout the 20th century. Protests were taking place across Vermont with many fighting for protection of rights.