Much hailed as one of the region’s most LGBTQ+ pleasant destinations, Key West has n’t had a real gay- focused, resource- based community center in over a decade. Until today.
The non- income party Queer Keys is gearing up to open the area company’s even LGBTQ+ support community center.
The Key West area payment helped pave the way for the business to accomplish its objective next week. Through a assent agenda, they agreed to waive over$ 3, 000 in fees so that the team could operate without a permit.
The project started as a getting-to-know-you chat over an numerology reading in 2020. As Chris McNulty, an expert, began sharing his history and objectives with Janiece Rodriguez, a transgender woman, the couple realized they had a few things in common.
Besides moving to Key West around the same day and being aware of the city’s gay pleasant attitudes, the then co- founders of Queer Keys both found themselves searching, to no avail, for LGBTQ+ resources in area.
“( Janiece ) found in Key West that there was no one who was able to help her, there was no access to medical care, there was just literally nothing down here”, McNulty said.
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Since therefore, Queer Keys has started many applications, including a Trans Trust Fund, which supports people struggling to find sex- affirming treatment. Without a dedicated medical professional on the island who offers hormone therapy, piece of Queer Keys ‘ work with the bank includes driving people over 100 miles to Miami for their initial appointments because professional medical treatment in the Florida Keys is difficult to come by.
Additionally, the organization has a youth program, bimonthly 18+ meetup for trans and non-binary people, and a peer support group for parents and caregivers of LGBTQ+ youth.
However, one of their main objectives has always been to build a community center.
” We’ve just signed a lease for our community center space in January”, McNulty said. ” So, dream coming to fulfillment, and sort of like a next phase in our organizational development”.
On Truman Avenue in the heart of the city’s historic district, Queer Keys is leasing the space. Community centers can apply for what is known as a” conditional use permit,” which allows them to proceed with the plans, even though zoning regulations do n’t typically permit them to open in the area.
But the bill for that application amounts to$ 3, 502.09. Queer Keys is primarily a donation-based organization. ” As a small organization, that’s not a small chunk of change”, McNulty said.
Queer Keys leaders anticipate appearing before the city’s Planning Board in April or May now that the city has eliminated that fee.
Courtesy of Chris McNulty
establishing a resource referral center
McNulty and the group’s board have big dreams for what they’ll offer through the center. ” We want to be a referral center”, McNulty said.
They want to be able to direct people to places both locally and abroad where they can find resources for health, mental health, housing, and social services.
Also in the works: An LGBTQ+ library where people can find books and periodicals on queer history, philosophy, fiction and nonfiction, a deal with the health department to provide monthly HIV testing, wellness space, and a space with computer and internet access for users.
” We want the space to be pretty adaptable”, McNulty said. One thing we’re aware of is that the queer community does n’t exist in isolation and that queer people exist across all races, abilities, immigration statuses, and socioeconomic statuses. And we want ( the space ) to be responsive to that”.
According to McNulty, the Keys residents appear to be excited about the center so far.
” Our island motto is’ one human family,'” he said. ” There is sort of like this environment of,’ Be who you are, celebrate who you are, be as weird as you want,’ and you are accepted here”.
While pushback is n’t an issue, not everyone in the city sees the need for the center.
Key West has a long- running history of being an LGBTQ+ friendly city. In 1983, one of the country’s first openly gay mayors, Richard Heyman, was elected. In 2018, Teri Johnston had a historic victory as elected.
There is a significant difference between being welcoming and actually offering assistance, McNulty said.
McNulty said he would receive either of two responses when we first started talking about Queer Keys ‘ vision with people.
” One being, well,’ I think that’s incredible. Yes, we need a community center,'” he said. ” And then the other answer I would be getting was,’ Well, we do n’t need that here. Everyone’s already so accepted. The work has already been done.'”
But for many the work needs to continue.
City of Key West
since the beginning of the 2000s, no more community space.
Susan Kent, who has been fighting for the LGBTQ+ community on the island since moving here in 1991, is one of the people who is appreciative of the group’s arrival.
” I was so excited that someone would pick up the torch and take over,” Kent said.” We did n’t have those kinds of resources here,” she said.
She has a number of legal responsibilities, including assisting the legal team representing the LGBTQ+ community in Monroe County and serving on the board of the Key West Business Guild, which still operates almost like a chamber of commerce.
The former Gay and Lesbian Community Center ( GLCC), which was the last organization to offer space for the LGBTQ+ community in the Keys, was led by Kent.
The GLCC was a lively group at one point, with book club meetings, movie nights, and a visitor center, according to Kent. The center was the inspiration for the famous event, where Gilbert Baker, the creator of the Pride flag, and thousands of other people cast a rainbow flag that spanned Duval Street from the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean in multi-color.
But in the early 2000s, under changing leadership, the GLCC lost the building they operated out of.
Kent is now appreciative that Queer Keys has pledged to support another underrepresented group.
” Key West has never been a great resource for our trans community”, she said. ” Seeing that Queer Keys have started their trans fund and has already been able to provide some grants is one of the things I’m really happiest about is what’s really exciting.”
Queer Keys to Kent is both preserving significant traditions and facilitating the uplifting of more people.
” We have to remember that, we’re in a little bubble and we’re living in a state that does n’t like us very much”, Kent said. So I’m happy people are surrounded by Queer Keys.
