The Progressive Pride Flag flown above the LGBT+ Center Orlando. (Photo by Tomas Diniz Santos)
The biennial 2024 LGBTQ Community Center Survey Report, which was released Oct. 16, shows that 73% of 199 U.S.-based LGBTQ+ community centers that participated in the survey reported they had experienced anti-LGBTQ+ threats or harassment during the past two years.
The survey, which included LGBTQ+ centers in 42 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, is prepared by the Fort Lauderdale-based CenterLink, which provides services and support for LGBTQ+ community centers, and the Boulder, Colorado-based Movement Advancement Project, a research organization that focuses on social justice issues impacting the LGBTQ+ community.
“The biennial survey series started in 2008 and highlights the crucial role these centers play in the broader LGBTQ movement, offering an invaluable link between LGBTQ people and local, state, and national efforts to advance LGBTQ equality,” a statement released by the two organizations reads.
The statement and the findings in the report point out that most of the LGBTQ+ centers that faced anti-LGBTQ+ threats or harassment said they were triggered by “anti-LGBTQ politics and rhetoric” that has surfaced across the country in the past several years.
“As attacks on LGBTQ people escalate year after year, we applaud these centers’ ongoing dedication to serving on the front lines – meeting both the immediate and long-term needs of LGBTQ people, their families, and their communities across the country,” Tessa Juste, a MAP official, said in the statement.
“This report illustrates the vital difference these centers make in people’s everyday lives, while also highlighting the urgent need for continued funding and support of these centers and the lifelines they provide,” Juste said.
“A majority of centers said they had experienced these threats or harassment offline (63% of centers) as well as online (68%),” the report states. “Almost half of centers (47%) said they had experienced both online and offline harassment in the past two years,” the report says.
“Numerous centers mentioned in open-ended comments that these threats or harassment were specifically in response to anti-LGBTQ politics or rhetoric (77%), transgender-related events or programs (50%), and youth-related programming (42%), again reflecting the current political environment and its targeted attacks on LGBTQ and specifically transgender youth,” according to the report.
Although the report lists in its appendix the names of each of the 199 LGBTQ+ community centers that participated in the survey, it does not disclose the names and locations of the LGBTQ+ centers that reported receiving threats or harassment.
Dana Juniel, MAP’s director of communications, told the Washington Blade in a statement that the two organizations that conducted the survey have a policy of not disclosing the centers’ responses to specific questions in the survey.
“Not identifying the specific centers has been our policy since the inception of this report and it is a typical policy for this type of report,” Juniel said. “It’s important to understand that the goal of the survey is to better understand the landscape and capacity of the movement as a whole, not to identify gaps or challenges for specific organizations,” she said.
The report shows that among the LGBTQ+ community centers that participated in the 2023-24 survey were the D.C. Center for the LGBTQ Community; the D.C. LGBTQ youth advocacy group SMYAL, which the report lists as an LGBTQ+ center; the Delmarva Pride Center in Easton, Maryland; the Frederick Center in Frederick, Maryland; the CAMP Rehoboth LGBTQ center in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware; the Sussex Pride center also in Delaware; and LGBTQ centers in Virginia based in the cities of Richmond, Norfolk, Winchester, Oakton and Staunton.
Nearly two dozen from Florida were also involved, including the LGBT+ Center Orlando, Orlando Youth Alliance and Zebra Youth in Orlando, the Institute for LGBT Health and Wellbeing in Tampa, Metro Inclusive Health in St. Petersburg, and ALSO Youth and the Fabulous Arts Foundation in Sarasota.
Spokespersons for the D.C. Center and CAMP Rehoboth did not immediately respond to a Blade inquiry on whether they were among the centers that experienced threats or harassment. Sussex Pride Executive Director David Mariner told the Blade that his center was among those that had not received anti-LGBTQ+ threats or harassment in the past two years.
The Blade reported in August of this year that D.C. police were investigating threats made against SMYAL following the publication of an article criticizing SMYAL’s programs supporting LGBTQ+ youth in the conservative online publication Townhall.com. A D.C. police report said the threats were reported by SMYAL Executive Director Erin Whelan.
The statement released by CenterLink and Movement Advancement Project also points out that the LGBTQ+ center survey shows LGBTQ+ community centers in the U.S. serve more than 58,700 people each week, or three million people each year, “with many centers primarily serving people and communities that are historically under-resourced and under-served, including low-income, people of color, transgender people, and those under the age of 18.”
Denise Spivak, CEO of CenterLink, says in the joint statement that the report “is a crucial guidepost for us to see the positive impact of LGBTQ centers across the U.S. as well as what areas need additional resources.” She added, “As we celebrate our 30th anniversary, this report makes clear the importance of LGBTQ centers in our communities.”
Among other things, the report includes these findings:
- 66% of LGBTQ+ community centers directly provide physical health, mental health and/or anti-violence services or programs.
- Half of the centers (50%) offer computer resources or services to the public, providing needed tools for job searching, career development, social services and schoolwork.
- Nearly all centers (92%) engage in advocacy, public policy or civic engagement activities across a wide range of issues and areas.
- While nearly half of all centers remain thinly staffed, 84% of responding centers employ paid staff, providing jobs to 3,100 people.
- In 2023, roughly 11,600 people volunteered more than 421,000 hours at responding community centers, helping centers with and without paid staff to significantly expand their reach and impact.
The 2024 LGBTQ Community Center Survey Report can be accessed here.
