Advocacy & Services
ACT UP — the AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power — is a diverse, non-partisan group of individuals, united in anger and committed to direct action to end the AIDS crisis. They meet with government officials, distribute the latest medical information, protest, and demonstrate. They are not silent.
Their mission is to protect LGBTQ youths from the harms of homelessness and empower them with the tools needed to live independently. It is the largest agency dedicated to LGBTQ homeless youths in the country—assisting nearly 1,400 youths per year through a 24-hour Drop-In Center which provides over 70,000 meals annually, medical and mental health services through an on-site clinic, and a scattered site housing program. The Ali Forney Center provides LGBTQ young people housing and a continuum of supportive services to help them thrive and prepare them for independent living.
AVER: American Veterans for Equal Rights
AVER is a veterans’ service organization of patriotic lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender American armed forces veterans and service members who are proud to have served their country, and their lovers, partners, spouses, supporters, friends and family. AVERNY is the New York chapter of American Veterans for Equal Rights-OutVets.
African Ancestral Lesbians United for Societal Change (AALUSC)
AALUSC provides a community space for and by same gender loving womyn across the African Diaspora, regardless of language, class, or culture, to gather and be active participants in sustaining and growing their community.
The Caribbean Equality Project is a Queens, New York-based 501(c)3 non-profit organization that empowers and strengthens the marginalized voices of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people of Caribbean origin and descent through advocacy, community organizing, education, and cultural and social programming.
The Center fosters a welcoming environment where everyone is celebrated for who they are. They offer the LGBTQ communities of NYC advocacy, health and wellness programs; arts, entertainment and cultural events; recovery; parenthood; and family support services.
Equality New York (EQNY) is an advocacy organization that unites and amplifies the social and political voices of the LGBTQI communities throughout New York State. They work to advance equality and justice for LGBTQI New Yorkers and their families. EQNY uses an intersectional lens to ensure equitable outcomes for their community.
The 31st Annual GLAAD Media Awards recognize and honor media for their fair, accurate, and inclusive representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community and the issues that affect their lives.
GLSEN New York City is a chapter of GLSEN, a national organization fighting for every student’s right to a safe, supportive education.
Hetrick-Martin Institute believes all young people, regardless of sexual orientation or identity, deserve a safe and supportive environment in which to achieve their full potential. Hetrick-Martin creates this environment for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) youth between the ages of 13 and 24 and their families. Through a comprehensive package of direct services and referrals, Hetrick-Martin seeks to foster healthy youth development. Hetrick-Martin’s staff promotes excellence in the delivery of youth services and uses its expertise to create innovative programs that other organizations may use as models.
Housing Works fights for funding and legislation to ensure that all people living with HIV/AIDS have access to quality housing, healthcare, HIV prevention, and treatment, among other lifesaving services.
The Queens LGBT Center (Q-Center) is the LGBT Network's community center located in Long Island City. The Q-Center offers a range of services for LGBT people of all ages, and a safe space for LGBT people to build community.
Numerous social groups exist to provide spaces for the LGBTQ community.
MAP's mission is to provide independent and rigorous research, insight, and communications that help speed equality and opportunity for all. MAP works to ensure that all people have a fair chance to pursue health and happiness, earn a living, take care of the ones they love, be safe in their communities, and participate in civic life.
The New York Association for Gender Rights Advocacy (NYAGRA) is a statewide transgender advocacy organization that was founded in 1998.
NYC Comptroller's Office-LGBTQ Guide of Services and Resources
The LGBTQ Guide of Services and Resources is the most comprehensive directory of LGBTQ resources and services in New York City. For members of the LGBTQ community, connecting to services geared towards their needs can be a challenge. This Guide is intended to help individuals better understand the resources available, from hundreds of community organizations and health care facilities to counseling and support groups, recreational clubs, and much more.
The New York Transgender Advocacy Group is a Trans-led organization. Their mission is to advocate for more inclusive gender-based policies that benefit Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming/Non-Binary (TGNCNB) individuals through building community leaders, educating practitioners, and influencing policy makers.
NYC Unity Project: LGBTQ Youth
The NYC Unity Project’s goal is to build and strengthen our city’s programs so that LGBTQ young people are free to not only survive, but grow and thrive.
PFLAG envisions a world where diversity is celebrated and all people respected, valued, and affirmed inclusive of their sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression. PFLAG Queens is the organization for parents, families, allies, and LGBTQ people united for equality in Queens.
The Pride Center supports the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender citizens of Staten Island.
Queens Community House (QCH) is a multi-site, multi-service settlement house that serves the diverse neighborhoods of Queens. We serve residents of all ages, races, faiths, and ethnicities while supporting the viability of the borough as a whole.
We are committed to listening and understanding the emerging needs and challenges of the many distinct groups that comprise our borough and translating those challenges into programs that engage, empower, and create a sense of inclusion and purpose. Our programs help thousands of Queens residents to thrive in school and make healthy life choices, to succeed in educating themselves and become engaged neighbors, to stabilize their housing situations, and to make the most of their senior years. Adhering to a model that combines service provision, organizing, advocacy, and community-building, we strive to make the communities of Queens strong, inclusive, and models of civic life.
Queens Pride House (Jackson Heights)
Founded in 1997, Queens Pride House is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization whose mission is to serve the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities in Queens in their full diversity. QPH accomplishes its mission by providing a health information and referral hotline and drop-in center, support groups, monthly social and cultural events, educational workshops, access to legal services, and community health & organizing campaigns.
Q-Wave is a grassroots organization of lesbian, bisexual, trans, and queer women and gender non-conforming/non-binary folks of Asian and Pacific Islander descent. They seek to build a strong and belonging community, create awareness around social justice issues, increase queer Asian visibility, and uplift marginalized voices through their programming.
Reclaim Pride Coalition/Queer Liberation March
The 2019 Queer Liberation March was a grassroots action that mobilized the community to address the many social and political battles that continue to be fought locally, nationally, and globally.
SAGE is the country's largest and oldest organization dedicated to improving the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) older adults. Their mission is to lead in addressing issues related to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) aging.
Translatinx Network increases the capacity of all transgender community members through advocacy, education, and social support.
Archives & Museums
Founded in 1985, the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender (GLBT) Historical Society is recognized internationally as a leader in the field of LGBTQ public history. Their operations are centered around two sites: their GLBT Historical Society Museum, located since 2011 in the heart of San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood; and their Dr. John P. De Cecco Archives and Research Center, open to researchers in the Mid-Market district.
The Lesbian Herstory Archives is home to the world's largest collection of materials by and about lesbians and their communities.
Library of Congress LGBT Resources Portal
The collections of the Library of Congress contain many books, posters, sound recordings, manuscripts, and other material produced by, about, and for the LGBTQ community. The contributions of this community are preserved as part of our nation’s history, and include noted artistic works, musical compositions, and contemporary novels. The Library’s American collections range from the iconic poetry of Walt Whitman through the manuscripts of the founder of LGBTQ activism in Washington, D.C., Frank Kameny.
MIX NYC is the nonprofit home of the annual New York Queer Experimental Film Festival and the ACT UP Oral History Project.
National Museum of American History Resources Portal
LGBTQ+ history is a part of American history that the museum has been documenting since its founding, both knowingly and unknowingly.
NYC LBGT Historic Sites Project
The Project’s groundbreaking work documents historic sites connected to New York City’s LGBT community, giving life to its oft-untold history and influence on America.
NYC Trans Oral History Project
This is a collective community archive working to document transgender resistance and resilience in New York City. They work to confront the erasure of trans lives and to record diverse histories of gender as intersecting with race and racism, poverty, dis/ability, aging, housing, migration, sexism, and the AIDS crisis.
ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives @ USC Libraries
ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives at the USC Libraries is the largest repository of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) materials in the world.
Queering the Map is a community-generated mapping project that geo-locates queer moments, memories, and histories in relation to physical space.
Stonewall National Museum and Archives
The Stonewall National Museum and Archives (SNMA) is one of the largest gay archives and libraries in the United States, now almost 50 years old. SNMA presents an ongoing 12-month schedule of exhibitions on LGBTQ themes and public programs, including author presentations, films, panel discussions, and collaborative events at its museum and library in South Florida and in cities across the United States.
Transgender Archives @ University of Victoria
The Transgender Archives is actively acquiring documents, rare publications, and memorabilia of persons and organizations that have worked for the betterment of trans, non-binary, and Two-Spirit people.
The Museum’s mission is to promote dialogue that eliminates HIV/AIDS stigma through education, artistic expression, and cultural programming.
Arts, Culture & Media
The Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance creates, produces, presents, and supports the development of cutting-edge and challenging works in contemporary dance and all creative disciplines that are empowering to women, Latinos and people of color, and the LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer) community.
Bureau of General Services—Queer Division
The Bureau of General Services—Queer Division is an independent, all-volunteer queer cultural center, bookstore, and event space hosted by The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center in New York City. They aim to foster a community invested in the values of mindfulness, intellectual curiosity, justice, compassion, and playfulness.
The Fresh Fruit Festival is presented by All Out Arts to celebrate the LGBTQ community’s unique perspective, creativity & diversity, and to build links between LGBTQ artistic communities, be they local or international.
Founded in 2002, Gay City News is the city’s only LGBTQ newspaper, covering news, politics, health, crime, activism and advocacy, leadership, arts, and events around town.
Metrosource has been one of the leading LGBTQ publications since 1990, committed to presenting the vibrant lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer community with ideas, resources, and events to enhance their lives.
NewFest: NY LGBTQ Film Festival
Presented by HBO, New York’s LGBTQ Film Festival features over 160 films, panels and parties, and attracts over 14,000 attendees from around the globe every October. Their annual celebration of the year’s best LGBTQ film and media has grown to become a vital part of New York City’s cultural landscape, and one of the world’s premier gatherings of LGBTQ filmmakers and artists.
Heritage of Pride is a nonprofit organization that plans and produces New York City’s official LGBTQIA+ Pride events each year to commemorate the Stonewall Riots of 1969 — the beginning of the modern Gay Rights movement.
Queens Pride is cancelled due to the ongoing crisis, but that's not to say you can can't celebrate at home!
The place where Pride began!
Flags
Pride.com’s Complete Guide to Queer Pride Flags
Many flags represent LGBTQ+ Pride and more are always being created. Get familiar with them.
Healthcare & Research
ACRIA envisions a world where all people with HIV receive the treatment and support they need to lead healthy, productive lives and where transmissions of the virus have been eliminated.
amFAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research
amFAR’s top research priority is the pursuit of a cure for HIV/AIDS. In 2014, they launched the Countdown to a Cure for AIDS, a research initiative aimed at developing the scientific basis of a cure by the end of 2020. To that end, they initiated a multi-year $100 million investment strategy designed to advance a range of scientific approaches with the potential to achieve HIV remission or cure.
Callen-Lorde Community Health Center provides sensitive, quality health care and related services targeted to New York’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities — in all their diversity — regardless of ability to pay. To further this mission, Callen-Lorde promotes health education and wellness, and advocates for LGBTQ health issues.
VillageCare is a community-based, not-for-profit organization serving people with chronic care needs, seniors and individuals in need of continuing care and rehabilitation services, and persons living with HIV/AIDS, as well as other chronic diseases, for over 40 years.
Legal
Center for Constitutional Rights
The Center for Constitutional Rights is dedicated to advancing and protecting the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. CCR is committed to the creative use of law as a positive force for social change. They do that by combining cutting-edge litigation, advocacy and strategic communications in work on a broad range of civil and human rights issues.
Equaldex is a collaborative knowledge base for the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) movement. The site aims to crowdsource every law related to LGBT rights to provide a comprehensive and global view of the LGBT rights movement.
Lambda Legal, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, is a national organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people, and everyone living with HIV through impact litigation, education, and public policy work.
LGBT Bar NY Podcast (NYC LeGAL)
The LGBT Bar Association of Greater New York (LeGaL) was one of the nation’s first bar associations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) legal community and remains one of the largest and most active organizations of its kind in the country. Serving the New York metropolitan area, LeGaL is dedicated to promoting the expertise and advancement of LGBT legal professionals while serving the larger community.
Works to guarantee that all people are free to self-determine their gender identity and expression, regardless of income or race, and without facing harassment, discrimination, or violence. SRLP seeks to increase the political voice and visibility of low-income people and people of color who are transgender, intersex, or gender non-conforming.
Transgender Law Center (TLC) is the largest national trans-led organization advocating for a world in which all people are free to define themselves and their futures. Grounded in legal expertise and committed to racial justice, TLC employs a variety of community-driven strategies to keep transgender and gender nonconforming people alive, thriving, and fighting for liberation.
Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund
Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund is committed to ending discrimination based upon gender identity and expression and to achieving equality for transgender people through public education, test-case litigation, direct legal services, and public policy efforts.
UnLocal’s Queer Immigrant Justice Project
UnLocal's Queer Immigrant Justice Project helps with LGBTQ+ immigration issues. Contact them if you have been a victim of crime, abuse, human trafficking or any other form of violence as an immigrant.
Other
Big Apple Recreational Sports is New York City’s non-profit, community-minded co-ed sports league for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and LGBTQI-friendly New Yorkers who want to play competitive sports in an athletic environment free of harassment, discrimination, and drama. Their leagues are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all participants.
International LGBTQ+ Travel Association
IGLTA, the International LGBTQ+ Travel Association, was founded in 1983 and is the world's leading network of LGBTQ+ welcoming tourism businesses.
