LOUISVILLE, Ky. — People in Louisville's LGBTQ community will soon have a safe space to gather once again. 

The CommTen Center hasn’t operated since the 1980s. It provided a crisis line and educational cultural programs for LGBTQ people. 

J.R. Campbell is the chair for Louisville Trans Men, a volunteer-based support group for people assigned female at birth but identify with masculinity. 

“It's seen a lot of different iterations and helped a lot of people along the way,” says Campbell. 

Since the organization does not have a permanent physical location, Campbell’s workplace isn’t the typical office. Sometimes it’s his home, a coffee shop or any place with Wi-Fi. 

“We have been struggling a bit to keep up with everyone, as well as even just having a large enough space for everyone to get together to socially distance safely, and even from getting physical mail to a place to be able to just work,” says Campbell. 

It’s been over 30 years since Louisville has had a community center dedicated to LGBTQ people, but things are about to change as years of planning and work are finally coming to life. 

The Louisville Pride Foundation is opening an LGBTQ community center on the second and third floors of the Asia Institute — Crane House. 

Louisville Pride Foundation and the Asia Institute — Crane House partnered together to hold a COVID-19 vaccine drives. 

Louisville Pride Foundation executive director Mike Slaton says the initial goal for the center will be threefold — create a safe space, close the service gap and provide support to existing LGBTQ organizations that are making a difference. 

“Maybe they need a place to meet or a place to have their mail delivered or help with bookkeeping, or all those administrative things that take a lot of work for nonprofits, so we want to kind of be a backbone organization,” said Slaton. 

Campbell works in human resources helping people with disabilities find employment. 

His co-worker Julian Adams is also an active LGBTQ advocate.

Adams is the executive director of Drag Queen Storytime which provides programming for LGBT youth. 

Adams is excited about possible partnerships with the community center.

“I'm excited about possible partnerships working with the community center, having opportunity to do readings and provide content for the community as well,” says Adam. “Understanding that we all may have been that young individual hiding under our blankets with our flashlights reading LGBT literature, I think that if we have more resources out there for the LGBT community that will become stronger and become more educated. 

Adams believes the center will be a driving force toward that progress.

“Learning about Stonewall and how important it is, and learning about trans rights and how important those things are, and making sure that we're really being truly inclusive, and really striving for equity among ourselves in our community is really going to allow us to really blossom as a community,” says Adam. “When we blossom as a community, we'll be able to go forward and put forward better legislation, we vote for better community programming and we'll create an entire generation of individuals who were educated about the dangers of being queer in America. 

In a matter of months, what some have only imagined will soon be a reality. 

“This hasn't been around since the 1980s, so for a lot of folks here some of us weren't even born until after that, so we've gone our entire lives thus far without having some form of community center for LGBT individuals, so I think it's going to be a big game changer here locally,” says Campbell. 

A group called Sweet Evening Breeze provides support services to LGBTQ youth experiencing homelessness.

“Prior to Sweet Evening Breeze residing in the space, it was formerly used as a dental office so there is a lot of room for creativity as we build out the use for operating,” said Glenn Martin, executive director of Sweet Evening Breeze.“ Like LPF, we will need to update the space a bit, add some furniture, and some of our own finishing touches. Once we make it our own, we will be ready for full operation. Until then, we also expect to open with limited access and programming in the first few months, but will gradually increase to full operation as we get further into the new year.”

The organization has also found a home where they will provide shelter. They will be located at 801 Barret Avenue in the Highlands Professional Plaza building. 

“We see our two organizations as partners offering a complimentary set of services, programs, and events for the community. We’ll be working together closely, and we think the entire community will benefit from having these two facilities open,” said Slaton.

Both facilities are moving into their facilities and are anticipating to open early next year.