Alliance was founded as a non-profit to put on an annual youth pride event in Washington, D.C. In 1998 Candace Gingrich was one of the speakers at Washington D.C.'s Youth Pride Alliance, a coalition of 25 youth support and advocacy groups. In 1999, the first annual Vermont Youth Pride Day was held. As of 2009 it is the largest queer and allied youth event in Vermont and is organized by Outright Vermont to "break the geographic and social barriers gay youngsters living in rural communities face". In 2002, a college fair was added to the event to connect students with colleges and discuss issues relating to how to track students and ensure their safety. In April 2003 a Youth Pride Chorus partly organized with New York's LGBT Community Center started rehearsals and later performed at a June Pride concert at Carnegie Hall with the New York City Gay Men's Chorus. in 2004 the San Diego chapter of Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) worked with the San Diego Youth Pride coordinators to organize the Day of Silence throughout the county. In 2005, the Decatur Georgia Youth Pride participated in a counter-protest against Westboro Baptist Church, led by church head Fred Phelps' daughter, Shirley Phelps-Roper, who were "greeting students and faculty as they arrived with words such as "God hates fag enablers" and "Thank God for 9/11" at ten locations. In 2008, Chicago's Youth Pride Center, primarily serving "LGBT youth of color", opened a temporary location and will move into their newly constructed building on Chicago's South Side in 2010. In 2009, Utah Pride Center held an event to coincide with Youth Pride Walk 2009, a "cross-country walk by two Utah women trying to draw attention to the problems faced by homeless LGBT youth". In August 2010, the first Hollywood Youth Pride was held with a focus on the "large number of homeless LGBT youth living on Los Angeles streets." According to a 2007 report "of the estimated 1.6 million homeless American youth, between 20 and 40 percent identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. At larger pride parades and festivals there are often LGBTIQ+ or queer youth contingents, and some festivals designate safe-spaces for young people to provide safety and security. References LGBT pride Youth culture LGBT youth