Civil rights communities celebrate milestones together

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(Host) The African-American community and the gay community both celebrate historic milestones in June. This weekend in Burlington, the two civil right movements will celebrate together for the first time.

The emancipation of slaves in the United States in 1865 has been commemorated with a holiday called Juneteenth. The gay community also commemorates the Stonewall Rebellion – a spontaneous protest in 1969 that started the modern gay rights movement.

Christopher Kaufman is an organizer of the event. Kaufman says he sees the Juneteenth and Stonewall celebrations as a way to bring together two parts of the civil rights movement:

(Kaufman) “And we’re really hoping this is the beginning, that it’s a start of a discussion of how the gay movement and the African-American anti-racism movement can work together. So we’re hoping we can do a lot more together in the future, that this is just a start.”

(Host) The Juneteenth and Stonewall celebration starts at noon in City Hall in Burlington.

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