For five years, LGBTQ+ Rolla created community wherever it could — in basements, outdoor parks and borrowed restaurant corners.
But as Pride Month came to a close Monday, the group that advocates for equality and acceptance for LGBTQ people in Rolla celebrated the opening of a space to call its own, tucked inside a small strip mall off U.S. Route 63.
“I think it adds an element of legitimacy,” said Shasta Johnson, the group’s president, at a grand opening for the community center.
“We've been building this group since 2020 and we're not going anywhere,” she said. “Now is the time to show that we have a strong community here and that we are working together and that we care about each other and we care about Rolla.”
The center can hold about 20 to 30 people. Johnson said at first the gatherings will largely be social in nature, though the group has ambitions to expand programming to include support groups and other resources to help LGBTQ people.
The organization is paying rent with money raised through private donations. It has also collected clothing for a gender-affirming closet and a small library with queer literature and resources.
45-year-old Nicoya Benton grew up in nearby Salem and attended the center's opening with her partner. She said her coming out process was difficult, and having a place like this when she was growing up would have been amazing.
“I knew literally no out gay people when I was growing up, and just to know that there would have been a safe place to come [and be] cherished for who I was would have been wonderful,” she said. “I'm so grateful it exists today.”
Benton said the LGBTQ community needs a physical space as its members feel increasingly unsafe as the state has restricted access to gender-affirming care and school districts have removed books with queer characters and themes from libraries.
“Visibility matters,” she said. “That's also why people are fighting so hard for there to be no visibility, to remove books from libraries and to threaten people who fly flags. But I think — I hope — that we will win in the end.”
