Brooklyn plans first LGBT community center

Brooklyn plans to open its first LGBT community center, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz announced earlier this month.

Markowitz and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn have each set aside $1 million to be used by the Brooklyn Community Pride Center to purchase a building that will operate as the LGBT community center.

Markowitz said he realized the need for an LGBT-specific center after he attended a Stonewall Democratic Club meeting, where a member asked him why Brooklyn didn't have such a center. Though Markowitz said he hadn't thought about the issue prior to the meeting, he now realizes its importance.

"Brooklyn has one of the largest LGBT communities in the country," he said.

Karalyn Shimmyo, program director of the Brooklyn Community Pride Center and an NYU alumna, believes it is important to have an LGBT community center in Brooklyn.

"There are a lot of groups in Brooklyn who are really not receiving the types of services they need," Shimmyo said. "We really need to think about our own borough."

Many NYU students are excited about Brooklyn's future LGBT center.

CAS sophomore Irene Ginakakis, who works as an office assistant in NYU's Office of LGBT Student Services, is optimistic.

"I would say even people that don't live in Brooklyn would be interested," Ginakakis said. "With a whole community center, you'd have access to all sorts of different things that a university's LGBT center might not have access to."

However, students like Ginakakis will need to wait for the new center. Tom Smith, president of the Brooklyn Community Pride Center, was unable to give an exact date as to when Brooklyn's LGBT center would be ready.

"I would like to say one year. In all honesty, it takes a long time to find a building in the right location," Smith said.

But he added that he's confident about the project: "It's a big task, but it's what needs to be done,"

Samantha Cook is a staff writer.