By Dave Branton-Brown
A long awaited community centre for one of Ottawa’s leading gay activist groups may soon become a reality, says the group’s chair James Bromilow.
Until then the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Trans, Two-Spirit and Queer (GLBTTQ) Community Centre of Ottawa Inc. will be sharing office space with Pink Triangle Services, another non-profit, gay rights group.
Recent surveys conducted by the centre indicate many in Ottawa’s gay community would like to have a community centre of their own.
“Both organizations are dedicated to making this happen,” says Wayne Adams, Pink Triangle Services’ interim executive-director.
“I find the community in Ottawa is not very visible,” says Desiree Massie, a volunteer library technician at Pink Triangle Services. “It would be nice to have a visible, physical space to feel like you’re a part of the community.”
Part of the problem is that Ottawa has no centralized gay community like Church Street in Toronto, says Pink Triangle Services’ community relations manager Darryl Lim.
There is only a cluster of businesses and organizations on Bank Street between Nepean Street and James Street, he says.
A centre would provide at least one physical space where members of Ottawa’s gay community can go and feel completely comfortable, Bromilow says.
Shaun Vollick, a member of the community centre, says he hopes the new location can educate gay youth.
The centre would benefit from Pink Triangle Services’ Kelly McGinnis Library, which houses more than 6,000 books.
The temporary space would also mean the centre can offer health and wellness programs and support groups to the gay community while organizers look for a permanent home, Bromilow says.
The GLBTTQ Community Centre of Ottawa has not occupied a physical space in the past, instead operating a website.
The group could move into Pink Triangle Services’ office as early as January 2007, Lim says.
He says Pink Triangle Services is still negotiating an office expansion to nearly 5,000 square feet with its landlord, District Realty.
Pink Triangle Services’ management plans to separate offices from the program rooms and the new community centre.
Lim says it should help to create a welcoming atmosphere and minimize the corporate feel of the location.
Pink Triangle Services currently occupies about 3,500 square feet on the fifth floor of an office building at 177 Nepean St.
The 22-year-old organization offers programs, such as a gay men’s wellness centre and a library, for Ottawa’s gay community. It is the largest agency in the city.
The GLBTTQ Community Centre of Ottawa’s dream has only become a reality in the last year.
“There was probably a lot more achieved in the last year and a half than in the past 10 years,” Lim says.
This progress is largely because of help from Pink Triangle Services, Lim says. The group held a summit in the summer of 2005 to get the community centre project moving.