In 1992, Out&About Books on Mills Ave. was Orlando’s hub for the LGBT community.
Bruce Ground, who opened LGBT bookstore, hosted friends and fundraisers until he sold the store in 2001. Since then, Ground has fallen on hard times. He’s had six heart attacks in the past several years and is currently unemployed and uninsured, according to Coco Pazzo, a longtime friend who says she and Ground are “closer than family.”
Now, not only is Ground’s health in danger, but he’s in financial trouble as well. He needs more than $1,300 by Jan. 20 to get current on his mortgage plus a couple hundred dollars for HOA fees. According to Pazzo, Ground’s home has a leaky roof and bad plumbing, and his car needs major repairs. He has no medical care and is unable to afford medications he needs.
Pazzo, crushed that a key figure in Orlando’s LGBT history would find himself in such a desperate situation, created a Go Fund Me account that aims to give Ground the financial boost he needs to get back on his feet.
“Bruce has serious medical problems,” Pazzo says. “I realized that if we don’t help him out of this dark hole he’s fallen into he could die.”
Ground says he wasn’t sure about the account at first, based on pride and a feeling that his cause isn’t as important as others, but agreed to it because he realized, “I simply can’t afford to be proud at this point in my life.”
The account’s goal is set at $10,000. As of press time, $1,020 had been raised.
“I’ve been touched by the support people have shown and all I can do is attempt to repay their generosity by paying forward their kindness in some way,” Ground says.
Pazzo, however, knows more is needed and urges people to remember the contributions Ground has made to the community.
“The important thing is for people to realize is how vital Bruce was to Orlando’s LGBT community coming of age,” Pazzo says. “His store became the place to be. The place to plan. It had a larger role than the community center.”
She says over the years the LGBT community has forgotten Ground, mentioning how he was not included in the LGBT History Committee’s display in city hall last year.
“He’s rarely mentioned,” Pazzo says. “It’s wrong. It shouldn’t be that way. People should care now, not at a funeral.”
