What do LGBT centers do...?

Hello! Not sure if it's the same in the US, but in West-Europe in general LGBT centers are places where you can meet up with people of the community, talk to someone who understands your struggles and can help you with the coming out and post-coming out process, answer sex-related questions, or simply care about your well-being. Gay-friendly days out can also be organized (games, movies, sports...). It's also a place for family members of LGBT people to go to in order to get informed of LGBT-specific issues, get passed the denial phase, etc. Some centers also have emergency / crisis cells for gay teens whose family rejected them to the point of kicking them out. They also provide info about helplines, LGBT friendly establishments and employers, and so on.

Again I don't know if centers in the USA do the same thing, but yeah, that's basically what they do here... =) Positive stuff.

 

It sounds like the US is very similar. My center has several groups that meet weekly (men, women, trans, youth). They plan social events for the community such as a Pride festival and parade every year, monthly dinners, movie and game nights, an alternative prom for the youth and referrals for support. I'm very active there and have made some great new friends from the community since I started going.

 

^ All of the above.

I will add that the importance of an LGBT center is in order to build political power and community in the sorrounding area.

If a company or a government agency wants to be more LGBT inclusive or wants to be able to reach the LGBt community, the only way to do so is through an LGBT institution such as an LGBT Center.

In Orlando, what allowed us to react so swiftly so the Pulse mass shooting was that we had the right LGBT institutions in place. We had LGBT leaderships, connections and friends in the right places.

With the LGBT community we are really hard to find, so you need lighthouses that allow people to find each other. LGBT centers are just one tool to do that.

 

All of the above, plus not mentioned - counselling.

My centre has meant so much to me in this journey, it's gotten me through a lot.

 

I have been telling myself I would visit the local center for months, which is about 30 minutes away. This is giving me the motivation to actually do it.

 

Our LGBT Center here in Springfield, IL is pretty similar to what has been described above. It's in an old, historic-looking but nice big ol' house not far from downtown. It has rainbow flags and lots of inspiring art and handwritten poems and notes inside. It serves as a place for LGBT allies to donate and make contact, and for LGBT youth to have a safe space, as well as producing HIV prevention programs like free condom distribution and testing, and educational and social LGBT events of various kinds.

I signed up to be a volunteer, and I have to say it has been very rewarding in the short time since. I did a 4-hour shift at PrideFest hanging up banners and got a couple of new friends and a free t-shirt out of it... LOL. In addition to an unforgettable day. The other benefit I've already realized, which is specific to me and my situation - it seems to be very helpful in explaining to straight friends one of the many reasons why I am coming out publicly as bisexual. They have a hard time wrapping their head around the why question when there is no new relationship to explain. I am married, happy, monogamous, with an opposite-sex wife like most straight couples. It's hard to explain why it's so important to me to be out, to be the real me, to lose the secret, to tell the truth, etc. Straight friends don't immediately see that. They immediately understand the rewarding personal experience of volunteerism, though. So it's been helpful to me in that way. I've gotten a lot from the experience and that makes me want to volunteer more. My volunteer orientation for other activities is in a few weeks.