Centers Generation Q Program:

Lory Sullivan was looking for anyone to let her know she was normal. Her parents, while tacitly accepting, did not get involved nor offer any support of her sexuality. Making friends in school was also challenging for her.
A couple of months ago, Sullivan was so desperate to find people like herself that she even called 411 and asked if they knew of any gay and lesbian organizations that helped kids in Queens. The best the operator could do was give her the number of an AIDS health center, which turned up nothing.
But by a stroke of luck, Sullivan, while meeting with her social worker in Manhattan, found out about the Queens Rainbow Community Center in Astoria, which offers teens who are lesbian, bisexual, gay, transgender or questioning their sexuality (LBGTQs) a place to meet, talk and hang out a few nights a week.
She fit in immediately.
An Oasis, A Home
"Everyone here had that feeling," said Sullivan, who is bisexual, describing the loneliness she felt before finding Generation Q, the centers youth program that meets formally the first and third Friday night of the month and informally during the weekdays. " You dont have to feel like a nobody here."
The center has become a popular spot for teens having a hard time fitting in socially at school, averaging more than 25 youths on a Friday night.
Most of the attendees find the location refreshing, considering Manhattan has traditionally been the social center for LBGTQs, with sections like Greenwich Village and the piers at Christopher Street as congregating spots.
But for teenagers living in Queens, a trip into the heart of the Big Apple, although only a 10-mile ride, can seem excessively lengthy, especially when considering the boroughs limited-access to public transportation and its glacial bus service.
"There arent too many places to go," said Justin, a gay 19-year-old who has been going to the center for three years, noting the limited outlets for LBGTQs in the borough. Like Sullivan, he found out about Generation Q through word of mouth at one of the other few outreaches, the AIDS Center of Queens youth group.
Ending Isolation
The Queens Rainbow Community Center, which has been around for four years, was founded "as a way to reduce isolation in Queens," said its program director, Marisa Ragonese. For most of its life, the center operated out of borrowed space from the Langston Hughes Library in Corona. But, with a grant from Citibank, it recently gained enough money to rent its own digs. Thursday marks the grand opening of their new location, on Steinway Street in Astoria.
Ragonese said the centers founder started the program as a way to help a few kids find a safe place to meet, free from the trappings of drugs and alcohol that most youth face, and free from adults who may take advantage of insecure teens.
But since that time, it has evolved from an out-of-home safe haven to a full-fledged non-profit, offering a host of youth and adult workshops and social activities for LBGTQs. Workshops run the gamut from relationship discussions with teenagers to lesbian eating-disorder seminars for adults. There are also plans to start a Queer Connections program, where positive adult role models are teamed with younger LGBTQs.
Social activities are equally diverse, ranging from singles nights for gay adults to movie nights an upcoming flick entitled "Trembling Before God" explores Hassidic gays and lesbians to scores of youth events.
Dances Are Popular
According to Ragonese, the centers dances have become a word-of-mouth phenomenon, with upwards of 120 teens attending each one.
"We have to turn kids away at the door, it gets so crowded," said Ragonese, adding that vogue competitions are also a crowd pleaser.
Ragonese said she has seen first hand how the centers social opportunities have positively affected insecure youth. She has watched kids with low self-esteem and stammers join Generation Q and blossom, rattling off a litany of success stories, including one homeless teen who got involved with the center and went on to attend Columbia University.
The impact was visible last Friday night as teens trickled into the center and greeted Ragonese with a hug, then quickly joined their friends in the recreation room, where the sounds of raucous laughter percolated to the main lobby.
"It has changed my life," said Sullivan with a smile. "There are so many people to talk to. And you can talk about anything and not get judged."