The Atlanta Gay and Lesbian Center (AGLC) founded in 1976, one of the oldest in the United States, may soon be just a part of Atlanta's gay past. The center is facing financial hardship, is in need of donations and the property owner has put the property on 11th street up for sale.
The AGLC cites lack of public support for the financial crisis and says
that donations that once were $50,000 a year are down to zero.
A fundraiser is being planned by the center to help raise an infusion of
money. This might save the place where gay Atlanta came to learn about
AIDS in the early 1980's, and sought testing and counseling for HIV
until last year when funding from Fulton County was stripped in an
effort to save the county money.
Support groups are currently using space at the AGLC for meetings.
Basically without support from our own community another piece of Atlanta gay life is about to vanish and there will be one less advocate on the block for the gay and lesbian community. That's a shame that our people can't support such a worthy cause and invest in our own community. If the AGLC closes I suspect another work of urban renewal will replace the house that was once our place, our house that supported so many in need.
People like me.
The first time I was ever tested for HIV, in 1995, was at the AGLC. It was a scary experience even though I was 99.9% sure that I was HIV negative. But the staff at the center were kind to this newbie and it was comforting to be greeted and counseled by those like me, someone that understood what it was like to be a young, gay man in the gay capital of the south in the 1990s.
My first experience if it had been at some regular health clinic would
not have been so pleasant or comforting. It would have been a cold,
florescent lit, uncaring place. A place where the staff was not like me,
could not relate and honestly would not have cared one way or the other.
They would have wanted my money and then pushed me out the door to
fend for myself.
It wasn't that way for me. I had the AGLC and they cared.
Now is time to return the favor.
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