A Community Center is More than Just a Building
It’s no wonder radical right organizations are so resistant to our struggle for equal rights – the momentum we create generates energy, effects change, inspires courage. It builds and it grows.
Last year’s weddings motivated Denise Jelley and Corrine Lesko to call a meeting and propose another historic event: The New Paltz Pride March and Festival. Most of the folks in the room worried how little time remained before the proposed date for such an undertaking. The June date was a bit more than two months away. Despite that, the enthusiasm of the conveners and the strong desire to keep the momentum moving forward prevailed.
On June 12, 2005, members of the community from all over the Hudson Valley welcomed New Paltz into the Rainbow Nation.
Over the course of the eight weeks of planning, the founding group came together as a team and made obstacles melt in the face of its energy and commitment. No one could imagine this team dissolving until the next Pride. When the suggestion was made to turn our Pride into action, to have it generate a response to the evident need, it required very little persuasion to convince the group how much this community needed a Center.
On July 6, 2005, Pride team members became the founders of the Hudson Valley LGBTQ Community Center.
The Center’s Progress:
- Written our by-laws.
- Selected a Board of Directors.
- Submitted our 501(c)3 to the IRS for not-for-profit status.
- Been awarded $35,000 by the Gill Foundation to cover start-up costs and we’ve accepted it under the umbrella of our neighbors and friends in Sullivan County, the Day To Be Gay Foundation.
- The Gill Foundation has invited
the Center to re-submit for
additional funding.
- Delegations from the Center have met with Assemblyman Kevin Cahill and Mayor Jim Sottile of Kingston obtaining their enthusiastic support for a Center.
- Center Legal Chair Tricia
Kakalec has been appointed to the Kingston Human Rights Commission.
- Most important, since July, many more have become part of the team working towards making the Center a reality.
- Close to 200 people became Charter Members of the Hudson Valley LGBTQ Community Center.
While the marriages in New Paltz last year made network news and front-page headlines, much of our history in the Hudson Valley is the sum of stories yet untold.
Stories can be found in the softball teams, in the many social networks, at the gay and lesbian owned businesses. Among the artists, musicians, and writers. On the campuses, and in the nursing homes.
Helping to tell those stories has contributed to the milieu in which we find ourselves today. Social groups such as Sojourners and The Valley Boys; groundbreaking programs such as Women’s Studies and Queer Studies; the scores of initiatives for equal justice and the environment publications such as In The Life and the award-winning InsideOUT magazine have raised our issues, our visibility, and our expectations.
With every step forward, you can feel the energy. We’re busy, we’re building, and we’re growing.
- Ginny Apuzzo