At Stonewall Columbus, we stand at the intersection of culture, community, and advocacy, proudly serving as an organization dedicated to the LGBTQ+ community in Central Ohio and beyond.

Regardless of the intersections of our identity, we envision a Central Ohio where ALL of US THRIVE.

Each year, the Stonewall Center welcomes over 9,000 visitors to the facility and the Stonewall staff provides connections to services for nearly 30,000 people (walk-in, phone call, email and website), prioritizing programs for the most vulnerable among us.

Our Annual Campaign ensures the necessary funds to open our doors to our community. 

Your gift makes it possible for the Stonewall Center to provide resources and meet the ever-changing needs of our community. By directly impacting our program pillars your monetary contribution allows us to be an organization that serves the full spectrum of the LGBTQ+ spectrum, serving as a vital hub for providing access to information and resources that address the needs of the LGBTQ+ community.

The work is far from over – help us ensure our community THRIVES

 

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Stonewall has been an organization working to increase visibility, inclusion, and connection for the LGBTQ+ community across Central Ohio so that we all thrive since 1981; as a reimagined community center gifted to the community, the organization is only several years into that journey—having reopened in 2019.

I joined Stonewall as interim executive director, in the summer of 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, during America’s reawakening to the inequities and injustices enacted on Black people in our nation, and what was at the time reported to be the worst year on record for the murder of transgender and non-binary/gender non-conforming members of our community–a record surpassed in 2022.

In 2023 the United States saw more than 1,000 LGBTQ+ focused pieces of legislation passing through our government of which more than 50% is anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, at least 15 reported murders of transgender and gender non-conforming people, and an increased displacement of LGBTQ+ seniors looking for inclusive living communities–all this amid the continued disparities facing Black and intersectional identities within the LGBTQ+ community.

In September 2023 the Stonewall organization recognized 42 years in evolving service to the LGBTQ+ community across Central Ohio–working to increase visibility, inclusion, and connection. When the community’s LGBTQ+ service organization started Columbus, Ohio was the 19^th largest city in the country. Today, Stonewall operates in the 13^th largest city in the country—while our community has grown and continues to grow, some things have not changed.

As we consider the future of Stonewall Columbus, we know that our organization must grow and evolve to meet the needs of the community while existing in a new era of community service needs and expectations—we know we can work to meet those expectations. Our community is more diverse and intersectional, our community needs continue, and they have increased while becoming more complex; notably the economic resources needed to do the work of community support has increased as well.

As an LGBTQ+ community center in the 13^th largest city in the country Stonewall Columbus has an opportunity, with help from the community, to truly be a model of community support and engagement—we have a responsibility to lead, and I believe we can. As a community, we have the power to influence how queer identities are understood and supported, not only in Columbus but all over Central Ohio and beyond. Those of us who can today have a responsibility to ensure the Stonewall organization is thriving for today’s generations and generations to come.

Make a one-time gift or become a sustaining monthly member donor as we work to help create a community where all of us THRIVE!

STONEWALL COLUMBUS, INC., FEDERAL TAX ID 31-1189481, IS A 501(C)(3) NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION RECOGNIZED BY THE IRS, AND ALL DONATIONS TO STONEWALL COLUMBUS, INC. ARE TAX-DEDUCTIBLE IN ACCORDANCE WITH IRS REGULATIONS.