Fred Sargeant, Gay Rights Pioneer, Statement – Calling out the Clownshow OutRight Vermont

Following up on my post from September 30, which includes a press release and detailed explanation about the reason for the October 1 protest being held by LGB Alliance’s Vermont chapter against Outright Vermont (including the assault of gay rights icon Fred Sargeant):

Here are links to the Disaffected Podcast livestream of today’s protest against Outright Vermont: YouTube link, Rumble link.

Here is an episode of Disaffected including an exclusive interview with Fred Sargeant, the gay rights pioneer assaulted and robbed at a recent Burlington pride event.

Here is a recent episode of Disaffected that includes exclusive video from the event and Josh’s in-depth coverage of the dynamics involved.

Here is a fantastic statement from Fred Sargeant:

Most here don’t know me. I’m from Addison County. I was the person who came to Burlington two weeks ago to protest what Pride has become – a misogynistic, homophobic, exclusionary event.

My name is Fred Sargeant. I have been a lifelong gay rights advocate and activist. I joined the gay rights movement before the Stonewall Riots. I was the first manager of the first lesbian and gay bookshop in the world, where I worked alongside my partner, gay rights pioneer, Craig Rodwell. We were at the Stonewall riots together when they began. We remained through all the nights of rioting – leafleting, organizing, and demonstrating.

In the fall of 1969, four of us went on to propose and then organize the very first Pride march, which was not a parade. No floats, no corporations and no massed contingents of drag queens and other fetishists, which is precisely what Burlington Pride has become. Burlington Pride is no longer even held in June, as it traditionally has been to commemorate the riots that started on June 28.

Burlington Pride has now become a platform for misogyny, exclusion and hate. “Gay” is now defined by the Pride Center of Vermont as a term of erasure; no member of their team or board identifies as gay, just as queer. Queer theory seeks not only to erase societal norms and values, it seeks to erase LGB people from the movement that they created.

Three years ago, through the LGB Alliance in the UK, I met people like myself, longtime same-sex rights activists who, like me, had become dismayed at the direction that the movement that we had created had taken. Since then, it’s been my honor to help found a USA chapter of the LGB Alliance and to facilitate the creation of LGB Alliance VT. In three short years, LGB Alliance UK has grown to more than a score of affiliated chapters, spanning 4 continents.

Our purpose as members of LGB Alliance is to ensure that lesbians, gay men and bisexuals can live free from discrimination or disadvantage, based on their sexual orientation.

We are not anti-trans … but will not take a backseat to anyone in the movement that we created.

I have likened the present LGBTQ+ movement to a marriage gone terribly bad. The TQ+ part has become irreversibly domineering and abusive. And like all such chronically abusive relationships, beyond repair. Our interests are too different.

At the LGB Alliance, we achieve our goals and purpose by advancing lesbian, gay and bisexual rights.

We will ensure that the voices of lesbians, gay men and bisexuals are heard in all public and political discussions affecting our lives.

By amplifying lesbian voices, we highlight the dual discrimination faced by lesbians in a male-dominated society.

We protect children who may grow up to be lesbian, gay, or bisexual from harmful, unscientific ideologies that may lead them to believe that either their personality or their body is in need of changing. Any child growing up to be lesbian, gay or bisexual has the right to be happy and confident about their sexuality and who they are.

We promote free speech on lesbian, gay and bisexual issues.

We promote freedom of speech and informed dialogue on issues concerning the rights of lesbians, gay men and bisexuals. We assert that different opinions, even those we may disagree with, should be heard as part of the public debate.

We discuss, propose, and oppose ideas; we do not attack individuals. Disagreement does not equal hate. We do not condone, endorse, or encourage any abusive or discriminatory behaviour toward any group or individual.

As John Adams said, facts matter. Our approach is to consider the evidence to make informed decisions and communicate in a factual and honest way. Legislation, policy, guidance, and decisions that affect lesbians, gay men and bisexuals must also be based on evidence.

We uphold the legal and scientific definition of homosexuality as sexual orientation toward people of the same sex, and of bisexuality as sexual orientation toward people of either sex.

We recognize that sex is binary, female and male, and that (for the vast majority of people) sex is determined at conception, observed at birth (or in utero), and recorded. We reject the co-opting of rare medical Differences in Sexual Development (DSDs/intersex conditions) in order to cast doubt on the binary nature of sex.

We support women’s rights and bodily autonomy. We stand with lesbians in rejecting pressure to accept as sexual partners, or admit into lesbian spaces, males who define themselves as women. We stand with gay men in rejecting pressure to accept as sexual partners, or admit into gay men’s spaces, females who define themselves as men.

We are not a political entity. We are non-partisan. Our membership holds diverse political views.

Again … we are not anti-transgender. My first interview after this event is with a West Coast trans male influencer who shares my concerns.

The Pride Center of Vermont is an organization that has advocated for public disruption in the past.

At the parade, the first person to attack me and steal my signs was from the Outright Vermont unit. Others in that group, and from other groups, joined his attack. Repeated attempts were made by the Burlington Pride gangs to steal my signs and to undemocratically end my silent protest. I was assault by a number of people, and when it was clear that I would not leave and end my protest, I was knocked to the ground by the gang.

I call on Outright Vermont to denounce the violence that originated within their group, commit to educating their membership on respect for civil rights and their elders, and to cooperate fully with the police investigation now underway.

Earlier this week, a British group called Mermaids – that shares objectives in common with Outright Vermont – was placed under investigation by the Charity Commission for offering unsafe and medically unnecessary “chest binders” to children without parental consent or knowledge, in just the same way that Outright Vermont makes these dangerous devices available to Vermont children and also without parental consent and knowledge.

I also call on the Pride Center of Vermont to denounce and condemn the violence at their parade.

Given their failure to conduct a safe Pride event, I call on the Pride Center to relinquish control of the event to a community-wide group of stakeholders, and to commit to restoring the event to June, as it was always meant to be.

I call on Mayor Weinberger to finally issue an unequivocal condemnation of the unwarranted violence by members of Outright Vermont and other Burlington Pride participants … and without the BUT that he seemed to want to add at his September 21 morning meeting. The world is watching, Mayor Weinberger. When a friend, JK Rowling, saw what gender fascists did to the women in Brighton, England, and to me here in Burlington, VT, she said — the violence is not a bug, it’s a feature of this authoritarian gender movement.

See you next year.