Beloved community:
2025 was a year of big transitions for the LGBTQ Center of Durham. We felt the political and social landscapes shift rapidly under our feet, in Durham, in North Carolina, and in this country more broadly. Two long-time staff members moved on from the organization, and funding constraints have led us to pause our housing program. In a new leadership model, Vanity Reid Deterville and Raye Dooley took the helm as Co-Executive Directors and we are now laying plans for a fierce, sustainable, sovereign future for the Center.
Through it all, we have continued to offer free mental health therapy; services to survivors of relationship violence; food pantry; name change clinics, queer youth Prom, drop -in, and summer camp; STI testing; a gender-affirming closet, and more. In 2025, we served 71 survivors of relationship violence, dispersed $25,000 to roughly 40 LGBTQ+ survivors (most of whom were Black and Brown Trans people), distributed 15,000 pounds of food through our pantry, had roughly 410 contact hours with over 300 LGBTQ youth, and welcomed 150 volunteers through our doors. Despite two tropical storms converging, we sang, ate, marched, and communed with 10,000 community members at Pride. The Center celebrated its 10 year anniversary in a sweet gathering with our founders, food, and a bounce house. We were also thrilled to add the Southern Queer Families Network, a program intended to build networks of solidarity and support for queer and trans families across North Carolina. We couldn’t have done any of this without you, our community.
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| Reflections at our 10 year anniversary celebration |
2026 will undoubtedly bring more change to our organization and our communities, as the proliferation of racism, transphobia, xenophobia, and Christian nationalism threaten so much of what makes us brilliant. We remain resolute in our right to exist and in our mission to serve you. We are here for and with you.
To this end, we are looking toward a number of changes. Following community feedback and a reorientation of priorities, we intend to hold 2026 Pride over the course of one day rather than a weekend. We hope this condensed schedule will provide more clarity and opportunities for connection. The Center, which currently relies heavily on government funded programming, will reorient toward community-led and community-funded programming. And, we are moving our physical location back to our original home at 114 Hunt Street, with the addition of an open warehouse space next door at 118 Hunt Street. We intend to hold these spaces for whatever joy, celebration, and mourning 2026 calls for, reasserting the Center as a place where organizing happens, ideas flourish, and people can be at home.
Please help us reach and exceed our $25,000 target for our 10 for 10 End of Year Fundraising Campaign. Ten dollars today, ten dollars each month, we appreciate your ongoing financial suport at whatever level works for you. We’d also be grateful for volunteers to help us during our transition to our Hunt Street Location in Q1 of the New Year.
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