The groups who use our space have enjoyed the new setup; it’s much more friendly to both large groups and small meetings. One of the most frequent comments we’ve heard from community members is how light and friendly the space is. They also love the bright green doors, the air conditioning, the access to public transit and parking, and the proximity to local businesses. Everyone is excited to see the many new possibilities that come with this new space. We hope you’ll come visit (2215 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, WA 98402) and share your thoughts.

Thank you all for making this space a reality through the Oasis and Rainbow Center Creating Community Campaign!

Tacoma tests Thursdays from 6-8 pm!

Celebrating over 20 years of Tacoma Pride Festival through Out in the Park and Out In Tacoma, we have seen a single day of public celebration cultivate a yearlong commitment to our LGBTQA community. This year our city hoisted our Pride Flag for the third year in a row to display for the whole city. We received national recognition as being the official “Gayest City In America” for 2013. Our Ringlets of Joy decorated flagpoles throughout the downtown neighborhoods and our attendance expanded to well over 10,000 throughout the festival — and we look forward to increasing our numbers next year.

Next year when you head out to attend a Tacoma Pride Festival event, I hope you carry yourself with dignity knowing that your support makes a difference in the most unexpected of ways sometimes — even if you don’t see it — even if it is only to a stranger in a laundry mat. Carry yourself proudly because your PRIDE looks big.

Personal message from Rainbow Center Event & Development Coordinator, Lisa Fruichantie. 

In 2007, Oasis Youth Center created and implemented O.P.E.N. (Oasis Peer Education Network), an LGBTQ youth peer education training program to encourage healthy relationships and prevent sexual violence. Now in our sixth year, O.P.E.N. continues to help create a healthy LGBTQ community because peers teach other youth how to identify and have healthier relationships, and how to intervene on unhealthy or violent situations safely, early, and effectively.

Weekly O.P.E.N. activities and programming empowers youth to become the leaders and teachers in their community outside of Oasis as well. O.P.E.N. provides the tools with which we can all take action and the space for youth to use their personal assets to prevent sexual assault in the LGBTQ community and beyond.

Billy* came to the RC shortly after, this is his story.

I discovered I was gay at age 16. Because it is illegal to be gay in Uganda, for many years I hid this fact from all but a few other gay men in my village. One night about five years ago I was discovered in my home with two other gay men. Our attackers beat us with wood and metal, stabbed us, and sexually abused us. I was left for dead in a ditch – I do not know what happened to my friends.  Through the help of a kind woman in my village, my injuries were treated and she helped me come to the US.

This was when I found the Rainbow Center. They have helped me change my life for the better. Ever since I visited this center I’ve never been the same — this is the only place I’ve felt so welcomed and free again.

With the assistance of the Rainbow Center I applied for asylum in the US, and my application has been approved. I now feel that my life is on track and I can think about the future again, now that the Rainbow Center has restored my hope.

Thank you all for making a story like this possible through your contribution to the Oasis and Rainbow Center Creating Community Campaign!

The purpose of our annual prom is to affirm and celebrate LGBTQ youth and their right to express their identities. Many youth shared with us that they had never had such a fun dance, and would not feel safe attending their high school prom with their boyfriend or girlfriend. Yoslynn, a member of Oasis Youth Council, said, “I had a really great time. It was the first prom I had ever been to–I didn’t go to my own senior prom.” Adult volunteers told us that they wished they’d had a prom like this when they were in high school. And youth allies in attendance said that they will do more in the future to help ensure that all youth can go to prom and feel safe and welcomed.

In addition to dancing and fun, the youth raised $360 towards our new center, bringing total youth contributions up to almost $500.

Yet our main constituents are our own members, many of whom are just beginning a long and arduous journey of self-discovery and self-creation. This journey often involves pain and loss, sometimes crushing in its scope. The secure and friendly space of the Rainbow Center, and the smiling faces always encountered there, are incredibly important for our members. The RC represents a little sanctuary of safety, community, acceptance, respect and hope to the members of GASS. And none of those are small things.

Thank you all for your support during the Oasis and Rainbow Center Creating Community Campaign!