2013
1 DURHAM CARY 1125 W. NC HIGHWAY 54 3635 S.W. CARY PARKWAY DURHAM, NC 27707 CARY, NC 27513 (919) 489-6900 (919) 461-7112 HELLO, On behalf of the LGBT Center of Raleigh and the Board of Directors, I welcome you to our 2013 Out! Guide. The following pages are filled with information about the Center, but moreover, organizations and businesses that are engaged in the LGBT community.
The LGBT Center of Raleigh has been growing non-stop, adding additional programs and services every month! But this is only possible because of the dedication of our amazing volunteers and community financial support. The Center opened in February 2010 and since then has greeted tens of thousands of people who have walked through our doors.
The Center itself is a physical meeting place for individuals looking for a safe and welcoming environment, as well as information about the region. People visit the Center from all over North Carolina, from the great Appalachian Trail to the pristine waters of the Outer Banks. The Center hosts many local organizations that meet at the Center such as Crape Myrtle Festival, Gay Straight Alliances of Wake County, Raleigh Business and Professional Network, the Human Rights Campaign, El Centro, and many more.
As you flip through this guide, you will see all of the wonderful programs we offer. We offer the entire spectrum of programming, including Gay & Gray, the Women’s Initiative, MClub, a myriad of Youth Programs, the Transgender Initiative, and much, much more. Keep up to date with us on our website (www.lgbtcenterofraleigh.com) and on the numerous social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc).
With four years solidly behind us, we can’t wait for the community to share in our FIVE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY in October! Keep an eye out, because we are definitely not slowing down anytime soon!
For Equality,
James Miller, MPP MBA Executive Director DURHAM CARY LGBT Center of Raleigh 1125 W. NC HIGHWAY 54 3635 S.W. CARY PARKWAY DURHAM, NC 27707 CARY, NC 27513 WELCOME 3 (919) 489-6900 (919) 461-7112 Welcome to North Carolina’s largest family friendly street festival for LGBT individuals!
A brain child of many dedicated volunteers and the LGBT Center of Raleigh, Out! Raleigh is a chance for our diverse community to come together and celebrate life and love.
This year, while we may mourn the passing of Amendment 1, we are not without the promise of a better tommorrow. We know “it gets better” but we won’t wait. We are MAKING IT BETTER every day. Join us, won’t you?
lgbtcenterofraleigh.com outraleigh.com 4 What you’re holding right now is the Triangle’s premiere LGBT Guide.
Look through it— cover to cover. Find a new restaurant! Shop at new and exotic places! Show some huge love to businesses that are always there for us.
The LGBT Center of Raleigh hosts numerous programs and services in the community that aim at reducing social isolation, as well as building alliances in the Triangle. Please take a moment to read this guide and find out all of the new and exciting things taking place at YOUR LGBT Center.
By the way: Yes, we are the best Center in the South. Come see us at: 411 Hillsborough Street lgbtcenterofraleigh.com Raleigh, NC, 27603 outraleigh.com 5 WOMEN’S INITIATIVE The Initiative aims to address an array of women’s issues within the community through the implementation of volunteer-led projects such as Girl’s Night Out social events, outdoor activities, and family programs. TRANSGENDER INITIATIVE The Transgender Initiative helps to build community with self-identified or perceived transgender, gender variant, or gender non-conforming individuals and trans-positive organizations in the greater NC Triangle region. FIRST FRIDAY The Triangle’s only venue dedicated to showcasing LGBT artists. A percentage of artwork sales are donated to the Center. LGBT GAME NIGHT Free and open to all ages! Enjoy board games in a fun and relaxed atmosphere. This is held every first Friday at Calvary United Methodist Church and every third Friday at Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Raleigh. COMMUNITY OUTREACH COMMUNITY DINE & DONATE Every month, supporters of the LGBT Center are invited to dine-out at a featured restaurant, which will then donate 15% of the sales from that evening directly to the Center. If you know a restaurant willing to participate, let us know!
HEALTHWORKS HealthWorks began as a program of Triangle Community Works, which provided individuals in the LGBT community an opportunity to socialize while participating in fitness-related activities. Programs address our diverse community’s physical, mental, spiritual, financial, and environmental health.
RALEIGH IS COMING OUT RICO is an annual, week-long event held in October that coincides with National LGBT History Month and National Coming Out Day. It is an opportunity to spotlight the Center’s accomplishments and to discuss new ways to move forward in the future. This year, we are renaming and rebranding our awards dinner; the ‘LGBT Center Awards Gala’.
SAGE RALEIGH (Gay & Gray**) This initiative grew out of the desire to respect and advocate for our mature LGBT members, who often find themselves socially isolated and ignored. Some of the approaches that we have implemented for these individuals include a robust social calendar, a health initiative, and a senior housing component. **Formerly known as the Gay & Gray Initiative
LGBT LIBRARY Opened in October 2011, the collection has increased to nearly 2500 volumes focused on celebrating LGBT life. The Library is a welcoming place for family members and allies of LGBT people, offering access to indispensible resources not available elsewhere. ASPYRE YOUTH CAMP The ASPYRE Youth Camp is a program of the LGBT Center of Raleigh, aimed at empowering our youth and young adult leaders to be the best they can be. This year’s cam p will take place in early March over a weekend at Camp Weaver in Greensboro, NC! Youth from across the state are encourgaged to apply. Diversity makes us strong GENERATIONS GENERATIONS is a group for our LGBT parents and their children to meet monthly for social playtime activities at the Center as well as outings in our community. GAY PARENTS INITIATIVE This initiative seeks to provide programming and events of interest to LGBT parents and their kids of all ages. YOUTH COFFEE HOUSE This program is aimed at youth, ages 12-18, who are questioning, or have self-identified but are not yet ready to be out to the general public. Events are also open to any youth in the community who want a safe place to make new friends. Meetings are currently held monthly with notices posted on the Center’s event calendar. MAKING IT BETTER This youth project aims at showing our young adult population that it just doesn’t get better on its own, we have to MAKE IT BETTER. YOUTH OUTREACH YOUTH Whatever the need is, the library at the LGBT Center of Raleigh has a resource to help. Thanks to contributions from community members and the dedication of our volunteers, the library opened in October of 2011. We offer an important service to the LGBT community, their family members and allies by providing books that celebrate the LGBT life.
The library is the largest LGBT library in central North Carolina and quite possibly, the entire South! We have 2500 volumes of LGBT friendly books, resource and reference materials and DVD’s. There is a special collection of rare and vintage books that are available for viewing at the Center as well. The library is responsible for several of the Center’s more popular programs including Rainbow Reading Group, Family Story Time and Meet the Author, which spotlights an LGBT author several times a year.
We welcome visitors from around the Triangle and beyond. Feel free to stop by and check out the LGBT Center of Raleigh’s library, you’re sure to find something you love! LIBRARY The ASPYRE Youth Camp promoted leadership among LGBT youth and provided opportunities to network and build advocacy skills in a safe and supportive environment. The curriculum was constructed using a Positive Youth Development Model and focused heavily on self-advocacy in their personal space.
But it was not through education that they found their voice; it was from the interpersonal relationships that were developed over the 72-hour camp. Many left with a new definition of ‘family’-- family with whom they know they could share and depend upon in the future.
ASPYRE offered these youth a safe space to voice their concerns about local, state, and national issues, and how these events would affect them not only today, but also well into the future as members of the community. With the leadership of the LGBT Center of Raleigh, Equality North Carolina, and OutRight Youth Catawba Valley, this small group of young leaders identified opportunities in their own communities that could be improved upon: ideas ranging from starting new GSA’s in their schools to giving presentations about marriage and employment rights to their county’s commissioners. Everyone involved in this camp was genuinely touched by the dedication and passion these youth showed, and we can’t wait to put it on again next year. ASPYRE YOUTH CAMP YOUTH ASPYRE I was feeling increasingly alienated when Amendment 1 was passed and people rose to power who I didn’t think were going to take care of the LGBT community. I was feeling depressed, thinking that this is my home, where I have lived for 10 years, but I would never get to share my life with someone I love in this state. So when one of my friends told me about the LGBT Center needing volunteers, I was excited.
My friend had volunteered while she was unemployed. I also started when I was unemployed, but wanted to keep volunteering here. I feel a sense of community, a kind of safety and family connection here. The moment someone walks through the door, they are greeted and treated as family, which is very important because a lot of us have bad relationships with our families. The LGBT Center is here for us, and we must be there for it. By serving and volunteering, I know I am helping our community become stronger, and that gives me a great source of pride and hope in our future battles for equality.
Jen Buchan Center Volunteer WHAT IT MEANS TO VOLUNTEER MEANS TO IT WHAT WHAT THEY DIDN’T EXPECT… Last May, the great state of North Carolina took a step backwards, codifying a DOMA amendment in our Constitution. While many in this state were devastated by the loss, the LGBT Center took a different approach: empowerment. Setbacks are merely temporary, and the growing public policy polling is obviously swinging in our favor. The night of the vote, the Center opened its doors and engaged the community in a public dialog: a dialog that was more raw and more powerful than anything we’ve done before.
Since that night, the Center strives to EMPOWER all visitors to do three things:
1. Register to Vote and VOTE- Voting is the best way to have our voices heard, especially in this political en- vironment. Register to vote, find your representatives, write letters and make sure you get out on election day! In fact, take a friend or two to vote together!
2. Have Conversations- Pew Center research proves that by coming out and being out, we have the ability to change perceptions about LGBT individuals.
3. Volunteer- Help your local LGBT organizations mobilize and protect our community. Be it Equality NC, SafeSchools NC, or even the LGBT Center… every non-profit could use a hand!
12 AMENDMENT ONE: BECOME A MONTHLY SUSTAINER! The Center and our programming are almost exclusively funded by the generous donations of our incredible community. One of the easiest and most effective ways to give is through an automatic monthly draft that you can set up online! Whether it is $20, $50 or even $100 a month, every dollar of your donation goes toward creating and sustaining the myriad of programs that strengthen our community. You can fill out a sustainer card online or at the Center table at Out! Raleigh. All donations are completely tax-deductible, too! ENGAGE YOUR WORKPLACE! Many of the organizations in the Triangle are incredibly generous when it comes to charitable giving. But did you know that organizations like GSK, IBM, BCBSNC and Bank of America (to name just a few) will actually MATCH your donation to the Center? That DOUBLES your donation to the Center and it also builds bridges in our community to the for-profit world! BUY/DONATE BOOKS FOR THE LGBT COMMUNITY LIBRARY The LGBT Center of Raleigh’s Library is now one year old, and in that time, we have become the largest LGBT community library in the South! The mission of the library is to provide access to resources for LGBT study and entertainment, and to encourage exploration of the LGBT experience in a safe and welcoming environment. You can buy books for us from our wish list online and receive a charitable donation receipt for your expense. For complete information on the library, go to: http://www.lgbtcenterofraleigh.com/site/lgbt-center-of-raleigh-library.html VOLUNTEER! The Center is almost entirely run by our incredible volunteers. We can always use help, be it answering phones, greeting our guests, mentoring programs, or working the event functions. You’ll grow emotionally and spiritually from helping in these capacities and make a huge difference to the Center. Find out all about volunteering and more by visiting http://www.lgbtcenterofraleigh.com/site/volunteering.html “FRIEND-RAISE” Friend-raising is a new buzzword, but everything is about networking these days, right? All we ask is that you tell your friends and family about us! Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, chat us up in your workplace… you would be amazed how many people will engage in a positive conversation about us! HOW CAN I HELP THE CENTER? THE I HELP CAN HOW 13 Your perspective is our advantage
When you want a fresh perspective, you need to look from a different angle. That’s why Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina supports Out! Raleigh. Because how you understand the world may help others understand it better, too.
For more information about BCBSNC, including employment opportunities, visit us at bcbsnc.com
® Marks of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. U9123a, 4/13
14 RESTAURANT GUIDE
The Borough Blue Corn Café Char-Grill 317 W Morgan St 716 9th St 1125 W NC Highway 54 www.theboroughraleigh.com Durham, NC 27705 Durham, NC 27707 (919) 832-8433 www.bluecorncafedurham.com www.chargrillusa.com (919) 286-9600 (919) 489-6900 PieBird 618 N Person St Humble Pie West 94th St Pub www.piebirdraleigh.com 317 S Harrington St 4711 Hope Valley Rd (919) 508-7612 www.humblepierestaurant.com Durham, NC 27707 (919) 829-9222 http://www.west94stpub.com/ Market Restaurant (919) 403-0025 938 N Blount St Café Caturra www.eatatmarket.com 432 Woodburn Rd Fiction Kitchen (919) 754-0900 Raleigh, NC 27605 428 S Dawson St www.cafecaturra.com www.thefictionkitchen.com Remedy Diner (919) 835-9463 (919) 831-4177 137 E Hargett St www.theremedydiner.com Sugarland 18 Seaboard (919) 835-3553 2031 Cameron St 18 Seaboard Ave Raleigh, NC 27605 www.18seaboard.com Bu•ku www.sugarlandchapelhill.com (919) 861-4318 110 E Davie St (919) 835-2100 www.bukuraleigh.com Sadlacks (919) 834-6963 New World Coffee 2116 Hillsborough St 4112 Pleasant Valley Rd www.sadlacks.blogspot.com/ Benelux Café www.newworldcoffeehouse.com/ (919) 828-9190 309 Blake St (919) 786-0091 www.beneluxcafe.com Nofo @ the Pig (919) 900-8294 Irregardless Café 2014 Fairview Rd 901 W Morgan St www.nofo.com/ Busy Bee www.irregardless.com (919) 821-1240 225 S Wilmington St (919) 833-8898 www.busybeeraleigh.com Five Star (919) 424-7817 Poole’s Diner 511 W Hargett St 426 S McDowell St www.heatseekershrimp.com/ www.poolesdowntowndiner.com/ (919) 833-3311 (919) 832-4477 15 A proud supporter of community events and organizations
All of us at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC) are proud of our long tradition of support for community events like Out! Raleigh – and for all the other events and organizations that help make our communities stronger, richer and more vibrant.
For more information about BCBSNC, including employment opportunities, visit us at bcbsnc.com
® Marks of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. U9123b, 4/13 A cultural city that welcomes 618 N. Person St. all cultures.
Raleigh, NC 27604 A proud supporter919.508.7612 of community events andPieBirdRaleigh.com organizations Tuesday thru Saturday: All of us at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC) are proud 11 :00 a.m. to 11 :00 p.m. 618 N. Person St. of our long tradition of support for community events like Out! Raleigh – visitRaleigh.com/lgbt and for all the other events and organizations that help makeWe our are communities open for lunch and stronger, richer and more vibrant. Raleigh, NC 27604 dinner and have a full bar. We 919.508.7612 For more information about BCBSNC, including employmentalso cater. opportunities, Call us for details. OSCAR visit us at bcbsnc.com PieBirdRaleigh.com Tuesday thru Saturday: GARCIA GRAPHIC DESIGNER 11 :00 a.m. to 11 :00 p.m. BRANDING • PRINT • DIGITAL We are open for lunch and dinner and have a full bar. We also cater. Call us for details. OSCAR 919.288.5237 GARCIA GRAPHIC DESIGNER BRANDING • PRINT • DIGITAL
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® Marks of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. U9123b, 4/13 WE DELIVER!
17 Work-Life
Global EAP
Legal/Financial
Health/Wellness All are different. Celebrate that difference with us. Workplace Options is proud to continue our support Training/Consultation of OutRaleigh and we remain steadfast in our Network Management commitment to promote the global embrace of diversity and acceptance in our Call Center Support workplaces, communities, and schools.
3020 Highwoods Blvd. www.workplaceoptions.com Raleigh, NC 800-699-8011 18 Work-Life
Global EAP
Legal/Financial
Health/Wellness All are different. Celebrate that difference with us. Workplace Options is proud to continue our support Training/Consultation of OutRaleigh and we remain steadfast in our Network Management commitment to promote the global embrace of diversity and acceptance in our Call Center Support workplaces, communities, and schools.
3020 Highwoods Blvd. www.workplaceoptions.com Raleigh, NC 800-699-8011 19 20 The Monkey