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AnLGBTQ community centre (American spelling:LGBTQ community center), orpride center (fromgay pride), is a building which hosts services for non-heterosexual youth, seniors, adult men and women, and trans individuals, as well as an organization which owns and maintains such a building on a non-profit, non-political basis.
Common focuses for LGBTQ community center activities include
A number of LGBTQ community centers are youth-centric "drop-in" establishments, allowing usage or participation by young people aged 30 or lower.
LGBTQ community centers are often the most visible LGBTQ institutions in high-density municipal areas wheregay villages are not in effective establishment (e.g., inIsrael, where municipal community centers are established without the presence of a high LGBTQ demographic concentration); as a result of such local visibility, LGBTQ community centers often have come under both verbal and violent attack from anti-LGBTQ individuals and groups.
Opened in 1970, thePride Center of the Capital Region in Albany, New York is the oldest LGBTQ community center in the United States still operating from their original location. TheLAGLC, was established in 1969 inLos Angeles, followed in close succession by other community centers inSan Diego (1973),Chicago (1973),Salt Lake City (1975), andAtlanta (1976). The first LGBT community centre in theUnited Kingdom was theBirmingham Gay Community Centre which opened in 1976,[1] with theLondon Lesbian and Gay Centre following in 1985.[2] More were established in the coming decades in major cities throughout the Western world and Westernized countries due to the increasing visibility and respectability of LGBTQ cultures and society.
In a few countries, LGBTQ community centers and their operators have federated into voluntary organizations for coordination purposes, i.e.CenterLink and theFrench Federation of LGBT Centres.
