Diversity S e pecial
dition
July 17, 2019
Page 11
photo by D anny p eterson /t he p ortlanD o bserver
An Aging with Pride discussion group at the Q Center’s library draws participants Margaret Ann Jones (from left), Peggy Hackenbruck, Ricki Coleman, Janet Martinez, and
Busch. Thanks to a community fundraising camping, the library ceiling will undergo repairs, along with other upgrades in the next year, the first maintenance done to the Q
Center building in 10 years.
On Stronger Footing
C ontinueD from f ront
mated to be completed by June of
next year, the first upgrade to the
building in 10 years, Busch said.
Whitten said the organization is
launching a “Colorguard” mem-
bership program this month that is
especially geared for community
members to make monthly contri-
butions of $10 or more to help keep
the facilities and services running.
Their goal is to recruit 40 monthly
donors by the end of summer.
Ricki Coleman, a retired former
Q Center volunteer, said she looks
forward to the continued support
for helping keep a valuable com-
munity resource open.
The Q Center was created
to provide a culturally diverse
and emotionally and physical-
ly safe place for members of the
LGBTQ+ community, an outreach
that helped Coleman find foot-
ing as a trans-woman when she
moved to Portland 11 years ago.
The fact that the Q Center, which
was founded in 2005, had a phone
number for people in the LGBTQ+
community to call and find resourc-
es, was fundamental to starting a life
here, Coleman explained. She later
volunteered to answer similar calls
for people interested in moving to
Portland on behalf of the Q Center,
as a receptionist.
“They ask about housing, they
ask about the community in gen-
eral: is it safe to be out and vis-
ible? And then people who walk
through the door the first time,
that is, that’s pretty special. That’s
what gets me right here,” Cole-
man said, tapping her chest.
Margaret Ann Jones, a senior
African American community
activist and co-chair of the Resil-
ience Campaign, said the Q Cen-
ter was key to finding acceptance.
“As a woman of color, as a
black woman, there are not a lot of
places I go into my own commu-
nity, to the black community here.
There are a lot of us that have
been rejected by our families and
all like that. So this is where I’ve
come, my chosen family I’ve met
here,” said Jones, who came to
Portland in 1992. “This is my port
in the storm, so to speak, when
things get insane out in the larg-
er community, where I know that
because I’m a black woman and
because I’m a lesbian woman that
I’m not accepted in a lot of places,
but I’m accepted here. This is my
place, my safe place.”
Jones added that she’s devel-
oping a discussion group at the Q
Center to cover topics for people of
color, such as police shootings and
other topic where people “will not
be judged and share what they feel.”
“And be supportive,” added
Peggy Hackenbruck, also a mem-
ber of the senior LGBTQ+ com-
munity.
“I come here for activities, for
community, and just feeling like
it is such an important place in
Portland, so that we have a place
to meet and have lots of activities
going on,” Hackenbruck said.
The Q Center has been a great
place for LGBTQ+ seniors to re-
ceive services through their Ag-
ing with Pride program, which
provides information, education,
and social events for the elderly.
Hackenbruck, in addition, is also
part of a Services and Advocacy
for Gay Elders program at north-
west Portland’s Friendly House,
the only other program geared to-
ward queer seniors in the city, of
which Jones is also a member.
Hackenbruck, Jones, and oth-
ers meet regularly at the Q Cen-
ter’s Aging with Pride discussion
group in its library, which is filled
with donated LGBTQ+ literature,
which Hackenbruck said is anoth-
er valuable asset for gay commu-
nity members.
“If I were coming out now—
I’m 76 now—If I were coming
out now, I could come in here and
read the things that are about who
I am and the stuff I couldn’t read
40 years ago when I was coming
out,” she said.
“We can just be ourselves, with-
out ridicule, without judgment,
without censure,” Busch added.
In addition to serving the
LGBTQ+ senior community, pro-
viding information and referrals,
and fronting fiscal sponsorship of
other, smaller nonprofits whose
aim complements their mission,
the Q Center also hosts nearly 50
support groups and provides spac-
es available for rent, which have
often been utilized by Mississippi
Business Association, for example.
Films that are not in wide
release or that hold an import-
ant milestone for the LGBTQ+
community are also sometimes
screened at the center, Coleman
added.
The Q Center also raises aware-
photo C ourtesy Q C enter
Community activist Margaret Ann Jones said coming to the Q
Center helped her find acceptance as a black lesbian woman.
ness on how to deal with hate
crimes and what constitutes the
mentality that fosters violence. Q
Center Program Coordinator Page
Smith facilitated pubic discus-
sions on the topics in the wake of
back-to-back bias assaults in the
community.
To find out more about the Q
Center, located at 4115 N. Missis-
sippi Ave, visit pdxqcenter.org or
call 503-234-7837.
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