Colours Caribbean has opened a new LGBTQIA+ community centre in Cayman, which it says will provide a “safe space” for younger members of that community who face discrimination and harassment.
The group says the Colours Community Centre will serve various purposes, “chief among them being the provision of a safe and secure physical space for vulnerable members of the local LGBTQIA+ community to gather and provide support or seek assistance”.
Colours Caribbean founder Billie Bryan told the Compass the group is not publicly disclosing the location of the centre at this time “for safety reasons”. Those interested in using the space can contact Colours for details.
She noted that before the introduction of the Colours Community Centre, there was no such dedicated space for the LGBTQIA+ community of the Cayman Islands, much less for its younger members.
“Teens and adolescents who identify as LGBTQIA+ are especially at risk of facing ongoing discrimination, harassment and stigma at home as well as at school, from faculty, family and peers alike,” she said. “Our Colours Community Centre serves as a ‘safe space’ where they are free to be themselves without the threat of those risks, regardless of their gender expression, gender identity, sexual characteristics or sexual orientation.”
She said young members of the LGBTQIA+ community, through the Colours Youth Programme and supporters at Cayman International School, for years had been expressing the need for such a resource.
The centre will be used to host regular educational workshops, social events, training sessions and volunteer activities “to better serve our community and further our mission”, the group said in a press release.
It added that it was also welcoming donations from the public, as well as additional volunteers to help to continue to develop the space by contributing their time to the overseeing of day-to-day operations and creating a welcoming environment for LGBTQIA+ at-risk youth.
Bryan said the 558-square-foot centre had been in development since December last year, and the group is announcing its official opening now as a new youth coordinator has been appointed.
“We’ll be further developing the space with the assistance of our dedicated Youth Coordinator, our volunteers and donations from the public,” she said in an email to the Compass.
Prior to setting up the centre, she said, Colours usually held its educational workshops on gender and sexuality at the George Town Public Library or on location at schools, universities and the Government Administration Building, while it held its social events at a variety of venues across the island that had signed the ‘Colours Caribbean Pledge’ or had previously joined the group’s ‘Allies Network’.
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