BRAZOS COUNTY, Texas — The Pride Community Center (PCC) provides a safe space for individuals of all sexual orientations, gender identities, gender expressions. With Pride Month underway, they want to make families aware of their support resources in times of unrest in the community.
“There were a number of public policy decisions made by Texas that were very bad for the LGBTQ+ community,” said PCC Executive Director, Katrina Stewart.
With the signing of Senate Bill 14 last June, the community center says they are still seeing the emotional aftermath of Texas prohibiting medical professionals from providing gender-affirming medical care to minors
“There were a lot of parents and families specifically last year when these policies came about that were up in arms and didn’t know what to do, they were providers from clergy to mental health providers on how do I navigate these new rules," Stewart explained. "We were there to basically say we’re here, the best way we can work on this is work together to figure out how to get through this.”
Their peer support groups give people an opportunity to speak out on their experiences and connect with other LGBTQ+ members to find that sense of community for their mental health.
“Just like anyone else it’s so important for the queer members in our community especially queer youth it’s so important that they have someone that they can talk to that they feel seen and understood by," Peer Volunteer at PCC, Jenn Van-Horn described. "We see time and time again community plays such an integral role for them being comfortable with themselves and the next phase of their lives.”