Center Update!
Mike Doughty, March ‘25 Newsletter
Hello everyone! I just wanted to take a moment to announce to everyone that Pride Season is almost here and the Cortland LGBTQ Center is hard at work to bring a range of events this summer! While Pride is celebrated in June, Pride Season is not just one month, and it is important to remind folks that the LGBTQ community is here year round. The Center will have our normally planned monthly groups and events, so keep an eye out for those as the season gets closer!
May-
Saturday May 10th is the return of our Pride Prom! Are you a 9th-12th grade student and can get to/from the Cortland YMCA on May 10th from 6pm to 8pm? Come to our 3rd annual Pride Prom! We’ll have food, music, a backdrop for photos, and more! Allies are welcome to attend as well, so come join your friends! No enforced dress code either! Want to come in a full tux or dress? Great! Want to come in jeans and a button up? Wonderful! Are you most comfortable in comfy pants and a hoodie? Come on down! You can also register at the door, but if you know you can come please register ahead! The flyer will be listed in the Newsletter, but the registration link can also be found here: https://forms.gle/8FCbmN7XxaCnHr4K7
June-
June will be busy for many folks, with school ending, Pride events all over the state like Syracuse, Ithaca, and NYC, and the Center will be busy preparing for our Pride Festival in July (more info below). We will also be bringing back our Pride Month Workshop Series! If you are interested in hosting a workshop email me at mdoughty@familycs.org before the end of the day this Friday April 4th with your idea! In the next week or two I will be connecting with those who are interested in doing a workshop to finalize the schedule, but they will be held during the month of June! More information, including registration (as needed), date and times, will be coming very soon!
July-
The 3rd Annual Cortland Community Pride Festival will be Saturday July 19th from 10am to 2pm! We are so excited to bring this event back, and are looking forward to seeing how we can continue to grow our Pride event! We will have a drag show, vendors, local agencies, and more! We hope to see as many of you as possible at Courthouse Park in Cortland on July 19th!
Want to be involved with Pride? We are looking for volunteers to help with set up, clean up, and assistance during the event! Email me at mdoughty@familycs.org with the subject line “Pride Volunteer” so I can connect with you! We also have an open call for sponsors for this year’s Pride for both individuals and businesses that want to help our event starting at $50 and go up to folks who want to go above and beyond in supporting the event. Those that are interested can reach out to me or stop by the Center for more information!
Do you run a business or are part of an agency that wants to be at Pride to connect with the community? Register here: https://forms.gle/MEo9g5vQeXZjhaHX9 We are also looking to have another raffle giveaway, so even if you aren’t able to table at the event but want to donate to the raffle use the registration link for that! The deadline for all registration, raffle items, and sponsorship payments are due by end of the day Friday, June 13th.
Beyond those upcoming events, the Center will still offer our trainings and regular drop-in hours during the summer! Due to the planning work required for Pride we will not be scheduling any trainings between June 23rd and July 25th so that we can make sure we can focus on the Pride Festival. Hope to see you all at our monthly events, drop-in hours, our larger events coming up this summer or at a training!