A 25-Year-Old Gay Landmark, Built Before the Civil War

[ccharles000]

“Did you know you were writing history?” asked Tom Kirdahy, a board member of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center at 208 West 13th Street. He was referring to a short article that ran on Page B5 in The New York Times on Dec. 20, 1983, under the headline “Sale of Site to Homosexuals Planned.”

Conveying no sense of the hard-won drama of the moment, I had written, “A city-owned building would be offered for sale to the Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center for use as a health, counseling and social facility, under a tentative agreement announced yesterday by city officials.” (The article appeared next to an ad for leather pumps in a “rainbow of colors.”)

This turned out to be the first mention in The Times of a center that is now 25 years old, woven into the fabric of gay life in New York City and used by 300 groups, some weekly, some monthly, some annually; with 6,000 visitors a week, 80 employees, an $8 million annual budget and a $50 million capital campaign under way. (Full disclosure: I am among its donors.)

I didn’t know I was writing history, though history runs deep at the site. And that history involved helping New Yorkers who were otherwise overlooked.

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/08/a-25-year-old-gay-landmark-built-before-the-civil-war/

[Divine Discontent]

1. cool! more power to them! eom

[xchrom]

2. recommend

[Duncan Grant]

3. The "Keith Haring" bathroom.

Only in New York... :D :loveya:

[Smarmie Doofus]

4. One of the most interesting places in NYC.

Spent a lot of time there in the 90's. Cut the excitement in the air with a knife.

Grand Central Station for GLBT's: everyone stops by there eventually.