Vermont’s largest celebration of LGBTQ+ Pride is this Sunday, September 18, and will include a parade through downtown Burlington.
The co-grand marshal of the parade is actor Alec Mapa, whose resume includes roles in shows like “Ugly Betty” and “Desperate Housewives.” However, the performer is not in Vermont just to celebrate – he’s also coming to advocate.
Mapa, who said he never imagined when he was growing up that he’d ever become a dad, had a big change of heart after building a career in Hollywood.
"My husband and I looked at our place and it just felt like we were missing somebody we never met," Mapa recalled in an interview Friday with NECN & NBC10 Boston. "And when we met our kid, we were like, 'He was our missing piece.' He turned us into a family."
Mapa said he and his husband adopted a 5-year-old boy through the foster care system in Los Angeles 12 years ago.
The actor and comedian now works with the organization RaiseAChild, which recruits, educates, and supports prospective foster families. RaiseAChild will team with the Vermont Department for Children and Families at this year’s Vermont Pride celebration in Burlington to promote foster parenting by LGBTQ+ folks statewide.
"We do not need the cookie cutter families to step up," noted Carrie Deem of the Vermont Department for Children and Families. "We need families that have lived experiences."
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Deem said Vermont has long welcomed LGBTQ+ families to support their communities via the foster system. She explained a need for more foster families statewide has the department now doing fresh outreach.
"This community comes with rich experiences," Deem said of LGBTQ+ Vermonters. "They’ve often overcome struggles and they’ve had to learn to advocate for themselves. So individuals that have this lived experience are able to put themselves in other people’s shoes."
Mapa said research shows LGBTQ+ people are more likely to adopt kids out of foster care, including older kids and children of a different race from their own.
"People often say to us, as adoptive parents, 'Oh your child is so lucky,'" Mapa said of himself and his husband. “And the truth is, we’re lucky."
The Vermont Pride parade hits downtown Burlington Sunday at 12:30 p.m. The Pride Center of Vermont said on social media Friday the event would take place rain or shine.
Click here for forecast updates from the First Alert Weather team.
At the conclusion of the Pride parade, a festival will take place in Waterfront Park in Burlington. RaiseAChild and Vermont DCF will offer information to attendees at the event, Deem said.
For more information on becoming a foster parent in Vermont, visit this website.
