RALEIGH, N.C. — Throughout December, the LGBT Center of Raleigh has been promoting a special end-of-year giving campaign to support the work of its Transgender Initiative. The program provides support, education, activism, awareness and health and wellness resources, among other assistance, to transgender community members.
Raising awareness has also been a touchstone of the giving campaign, as it shares the stories and experiences of community members like Paige.
“Even after I moved to the Raleigh-Durham area, it was not easy for me to come out and transition,” Paige writes in the center’s latest installment. “While I found sympathy in new friendships, finding other people like myself was a challenge. I worked for some major companies with internal LGBT employee groups, but few, if any out transgender people participated. I found a small support group in the local area, but so few people participated, it was hard to get the support that I was looking for. In part, it wasn’t much better than being back home and communicating with people online.”
Paige says the LGBT Center of Raleigh has helped to build “a vibrant and visible transgender community in the Triangle,” and says the group’s Transgender Initiative provided that foundation.
“We can be a beacon of hope to the transgender community both locally and nationally,” Paige writes.
All of the funds donated to the Center before the end of the year will be directed to the Transgender Initiative. Donations are tax-deductible. To learn more and read more community stories, visit lgbtcenterofraleigh.com/about-the-center/center-stories.html.