In the latter half of 2025, the LGBT Center of Raleigh will be opening up a new center in the downtown area of the city.
After receiving a $300,000 grant from Cooper Tacia General Contracting for the new center, the LGBTQ+ organization set its sights on opening the new location in late summer or early fall at 128 E. Cabarrus St., next to the Lincoln Theatre.
The news came as a mixture of reports from local outlets and the center itself. The LGBT Center of Raleigh’s home page released a short statement.
“We are so excited to announce that we’ve secured a new space,” the statement reads. “There is a lot of work to do to get it ready and we need your continued support. Join our LGBTQ+ History Month Fundraiser by donating today. Help us renovate the space so we can return to downtown Raleigh and provide services and host programs in a central location that is more accessible to the community.”
In a separate report published by The News & Observer, more details are made public about the change of venue and what it would add to what the LGBT Center already offers.
In the new building, the center appears to have more resources aimed at helping people find housing. As reported by The Center for American Progress, 1 in 10 LGBTQ+ people face housing discrimination, with the numbers higher for transgender people, people of color or people who are disabled.There is also slated to be a library that will reportedly hold the Southeast’s largest collection of LGBTQ+ books and materials, along with gathering spaces for the LGBT center’s support & social groups and a free clothing closet with gender-affirming clothes available.
Kori Hennessey, the executive director of the LGBT Center of Raleigh, stressed the need for areas where LGBTQ+ people can gather in “casual and comfortable ways.”
“This is something that improves people’s mental health,” Hennessey stated. “Having and building community reduces the chances of other issues, especially in the kind of violent climate that we live in right now, with a lot of people … afraid to be themselves.”
