Andy Dalpe and his partner Wally Barnette were the first to get “legally hitched” in Glen Gardner, N.J., just over the Pennsylvania border from Easton.
“When the town clerk signed our papers, she cried,” Dalpe remembered after the April 9 ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center in Allentown. It’s the first LGBT center in the Lehigh Valley and the sixth in the state.
Dalpe and Barnette were together 35 years when Barnette died in 2009. Dalpe said he went to a bereavement group at a local hospital but it was hard because, in addition to grieving, he had to focus on opening people’s minds about his relationship. He said he brought artwork that Barnette had painted.
“If you can’t grieve for your full loss, if you have to keep explaining that away, you can’t deal with the whole of it,” said Anne Huey, who will lead an LGBT bereavement support group at the new Bradbury-Sullivan center at 522 W. Maple St.
“This is a gold mine,” Dalpe said, noting he planned to frequent the center. “This is like heaven on earth.”
Despite the steady snow, hundreds turned out to celebrate the opening of the Bradbury-Sullivan center. It took more than 300 volunteers 3,100 hours to rip up the dingy carpet in the 13,000-square-foot building and scrape off the glue, revealing a well-kept hardwood underneath. The walls were painted purple and rainbow flags were hung in the former ammunition warehouse.
“It’s true that a strong LGBT community deserves a strong LGBT center,” Lt. Gov. Mike Stack said in a video message played at the opening.
Allentown has the third-largest LGBT population in Pennsylvania, behind Philadelphia and New Hope, said Adrian Shanker, executive director of Bradbury-Sullivan.
Letters from President Barack Obama and U.S. Sen. Bob Casey were also read in celebration of the opening. A representative from U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey’s office attended the ribbon-cutting, along with 14 elected officials from the state legislature, Lehigh County, Allentown City Council and the Allentown School Board.
Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski read a proclamation welcoming Bradbury-Sullivan to the city and declared April 9 a day of appreciation for the LGBT center.
“We have a very supportive community,” said Liz Bradbury, an LGBT activist for more than 20 years in the Lehigh Valley. She and her partner, Dr. Patricia Sullivan, are the namesakes for the LGBT center.“This is the first time that an LGBT nonprofit has ever owned its own space here. That offers a sense of permanence, like things won’t go away.”
Bradbury will direct the training institute for cultural competency at the LGBT center. Her first project is to train prison guards in Pennsylvania.
Other free programs and services at Bradbury-Sullivan include an LGBT library with more than 1,200 books, CDs and DVDs by and for LGBT people; two professionally curated LGBT art exhibits; HIV and STI testing every other Wednesday through a partnership with the Allentown Health Bureau and the AIDS Activities Office at the Lehigh Valley Health Network; LGBT bereavement and LGBT drug-recovery support groups; LGBT adoption cafes to run in partnership with Pinebrook Family Answers; a GSA advisory coalition to support LGBT student groups, thanks to a grant from Crayola; and a speaker series.
Ryan Thoreson from Human Rights Watch will be the first speaker April 20. He will cover safe schools and human rights for LGBT youth.
In the fall, staff at Bradbury-Sullivan plan to launch an LGBT community archive with the help of Trexler Library at Muhlenberg College.
Denise Spivak of CenterLink, a national network of more than 175 LGBT community centers, said one of Shanker’s great strengths in leading Bradbury-Sullivan is his ability to build and sustain partnerships.
“When he becomes part of a community, he really becomes part of the community,” Spivak said.
She said it felt poignant for her to fly from Florida to celebrate the opening because she used to work in Allentown. She said when she and her wife lived in the Lehigh Valley about 17 years ago, they had closeted lives.
“To find other LGBT people was virtually impossible,” Spivak told PGN. “People don’t understand the value of a community center until it comes to their town.”
“Centers are often the silent heroes of the LGBT movement,” she said during her public remarks.
In his own speech, Shanker said he was proud to be part of the growth of downtown Allentown. He also thanked the sponsors that came together in support of the local LGBT community: from dating app Grindr, which donated funds for the HIV and STI testing, to ESSA Bank and Trust from East Stroudsburg, which donated $25,000 to the building, making it the largest capital contributor.
For more information, visit www.bradburysullivancenter.org.