Pride project nets award for 4 Wilton Girl Scouts
WILTON — Two years ago, then-12year-old Charlotte Halliwell of Wilton enjoyed attending Ridgefield’s Pride celebration, calling it a fun and joy-filled community event.
After seeing the participation in Ridgefield, including the many decorated store windows and fun activities, when she headed home with her parents she was taken aback to see — or not see — any signs of similar supportive enthusiasm for Pride Month and support for the LGBTQ+ community in her hometown.
“It was kind of disappointing to see that Ridgefield had done all of that and we had the bare minimum,” Charlotte said, which she remembered as a few lawn signs.
“I was kind of confused about why that was,” she said. Charlotte decided it would be a worthwhile project within her Girl Scout troop to help welcome the colors, concepts and community of LGBTQ+ Pride into Wilton.
The initiative became the Girl Scout Silver Award project for her and three other local girls. None of them identify as LGBTQ+, but all of them have strived to advocate for and educate about acceptance of that community.
“Charlotte’s idea really stuck out to me because it felt like it would make a big difference in Wilton,” said McKenna Rooney, 14, one of members of Troop 50798 who choose the project from among several ideas to get involved with to pursue her Silver Award, the secondhighest award in Girl Scouts.
The two were joined by Reagan Hurley, 14, and Annabelle Shultz, 13, setting out on their work as The Wilton Pride Committee.
“It brings light to the LGBTQ+ community,” Annabelle said of their efforts, including awareness of its challenging history of fighting bigotry and advocating for civil rights, as well as notions of “how they can be treated better.”
In hindsight, the scope of their project was “incredible,” Reagan said.
“Before last year, Pride in Wilton was essentially just a sign that people would put in their yards,” she said.
The girls initially embarked on their work that fall. In the spring of 2022, they began approaching local businesses, hoping to encourage owners to decorate their windows or display signs to show support for Pride as part of a community effort.
“A lot of them were really hesitant . ... It was kind of slow-going,” Charlotte said.
She and McKenna speculated that some people may have been uncomfortable to be the first to show their support as part of the Pride initiative.
“They didn’t want to be the only ones, in a way . ... They wanted to see what everyone else was doing,” Charlotte said. Through the spring of 2022, however, momentum slowly grew, with more and more residents giving their support to the effort.
Emma Halliwell, who has been a coleader of Troop 50798 for eight years, remembered the girls’ enthusiasm for the project.
“Between the four of them, they became this force which was hard to stop. ... They didn’t grumble about it. They wanted to do it,” she said.
Despite some initial frustrations in response to the decision by Wilton’s town government not to display a flag for Pride Month last year, the girls moved forward in organizing a Pride Month
event at the Trackside Teen Center for the last day of June 2022.
The event drew a large crowd of supporters, including several town and state officials. Then-State Rep. Stephanie Thomas, a Democrat who is now secretary of the state of Connecticut, presented the girls with a proclamation honoring their efforts.
On the heels of that event, several local supporters who were already separately active in pushing for local recognition for the LGBTQ+ community, officially formed Wilton Pride as a nonprofit group.
“Wilton Pride owes its roots to the Girl Scouts,” said Farah Masani, president of the group. “They started the Wilton Pride movement and laid the foundation for the starting of Wilton Pride the nonprofit.”
She commended the girls for their organization and determination to bring about change in town, with their work ultimately helping to bring out this year’s Wilton Pride celebration on the
Village Green in June.
“I think the Girl Scouts were the push and inspiration that everyone needed to make this happen,” said Vanessa Elias of Wilton, a mental health activist who initiated the first Pride signs in Wilton.
“A lot of adults thought about it, but when the kids got involved, it made it clear this was something we should do,” she said.
The girls are now pushing forward on new interests as they prepare to enter Wilton High School this fall as ninth graders.
Although they have passed the reins to others on the Pride issue at this time, all four girls say they still believe in the principles of equality and equity that helped motivate their Silver Award project.
“I think that when I hear people talking about an issue, I’ll probably stand up for what I think is right,” Annabelle said.
The group now needs to focus on their Gold Award projects, Charlotte said, but their prior work will remain in place and only be expanded upon.
“It’s sort of like we set up the building blocks,” she said.
Reagan concurred.
“In making pride such a big celebration, we also helped many people to feel included within the town they live in,” she said.
McKenna pointed out that part of their goal was to help normalize a recognition and celebration of people’s differences, in part so other people who aren’t familiar with the LGBTQ+ community might feel less threatened by it.
“In general, people aren’t really open to new things,” she said, but once they’ve had the chance to see it firsthand, it might be easier to accept.
“It’s like turning the confusion ... into something that people can learn from ... really recognize and start to accept,” she said.
Her mother, Tara Rooney, expressed pride in the work of her daughter and the other Girl Scouts, noting their message is a good one.
“I’m a big believer in love is love,” she said, “and people shouldn’t be ashamed of themselves or of how they live their life.”
The girls’ work, she said, has helped to eradicate some of those negative feelings about Pride Month and, hopefully, bring more compassion and acceptance to Wilton.
“It’s going to be a legacy for them,” she said.