Long Island GLBT Community Center CEO David Kilmnick gives a tour to Nassau Distract Attorney Kathleen Rice during the ribbon cutting ceremony for the group's new location.
Eight years after the Long Island GLBT Community Center opened its first office in Bay Shore, the nonprofit gay, lesbian and transgender community advocates unveiled its first Nassau County facility in Garden City during a ribbon cutting ceremony on Friday.
David Kilmnick, the GLBT Community Center’s CEO, was joined at the spacious facility by elected officials and dozens of supporters who packed into a large room decorated with black and white photo’s from the mass gay wedding at Carlyle on the Green earlier this year.
“We always had a dream of having GLBT Community Centers across Long Island,” said Kilmnick. “And today that dream takes another step.”
He also announced a new PTA program involving the nation’s first Gay Parents-Teachers Association focusing on all LI schools and college students.
The new 8,800 square foot facility, in an office park just west of Roosevelt Field Mall, includes a conference room, kitchen and an arts and entertainment room where a shiny black piano sits.
Kilmnick and the board members behind the organization said the new facility will be dedicated to fighting bullying and violence of hate and bias crimes in Nassau schools, targeted at gay and lesbian students. Many of those crimes go unreported, officials said, due to fear of further harassment.
“Our young people are still facing bullying and tormenting in their schools,” Kilmnick said, adding, they are “being treated unfairly and being discriminated against because of their sexual identity.”
He cited an incident at Valley Stream South High School when a group of concerned teens wanted to start a Gay-Straight Alliance after noticing bullying in the hallways. The students approached the principal with the idea and were turned down after they told her about a discriminatory term that was upsetting students. After the GLBT center got involved, the kids started up the group later in the school year.
“These are big issues for every community,” said New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. “That’s why you need a home and you need a safe haven like this.”
Det. Let. Gary Shapiro, the commanding officer of the Nassau County police bias crime unit, said police understand the negative impact hate crimes have on the community, but said police can’t get involved unless people report the crimes. That is something, that he said, isn’t done often enough.
GLBT Community Center CEO David Kilmnick cuts ribbon during ceremony to unveil new location in Garden City
“It’s a big thing for every young person in school. I think a lot of this stuff is unreported,” he said after the ribbon cutting ceremony. “We take it very serious, even one hate crime is a critical thing, and one hate crime can upset a community unlike dozens of burglaries [that] can soon be forgotten.”
The organization signed the lease to the new office only eight weeks ago. The maze-like hallway that directs people through the facility is dotted with images and articles that tell the story of the organization’s history, starting with its inception in 1993.
After cutting the ribbon with a pair of over-sized red scissors, those in attendance clapped as Kilmnick shook hands with members of the community.
“The change that we are making here on Long Island is absolutely groundbreaking and incredible,” he said.
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