In a ‘violent climate,’ a new LGBT Center of Raleigh location wants to provide refuge
Kori Hennessey remembers standing outside the LGBT Center of Raleigh, unsure about walking through the door.
“I was questioning a lot about myself and really looking for community,” said Hennessey, who uses they/them pronouns. “It took a lot for me to walk into the center. It is a very vulnerable time in your life.”
It’s scary to question your gender identity, they said, and go into a place that some people find unacceptable.
“I literally walked in, and I didn’t really say anything to anyone,” Hennessey said. “I looked at the library to look through some of the books and just left. But that one experience was enough for me to realize this is going to be OK, and I was going to be OK. And I will figure out how I need to navigate all of this.”
Now, as executive director, Hennessey wants the LGBT Center of Raleigh’s new space to be a welcoming and comfortable spot for people in that vulnerable part of their lives.
The center received a $300,000 grant from Cooper Tacia General Contracting for the new center, set to open late summer or early fall at 128 E. Cabarrus St., next to the Lincoln Theatre.
“We have long worked to support organizations that help build a healthy community,” said John Cooper, CEO and founder of Cooper Tacia and founder of the Cooper Charitable Foundation, in a news release.
“Our company is so pleased to have played a part in providing this safe space for members of the LGBTQ+ community to gather and connect in our city — and to see how this space positively impacts Raleigh for years to come,” he said.
The new center will add resources including helping people find housing. A report published this week from The Center for American Progress found 1 in 10 LGBTQ+ people face housing discrimination and the numbers are higher among transgender people, people of color or people who are disabled.
The center has been a gathering space and offers programs like the Southeast’s largest collection of LGBTQ+ books and materials, a free clothing closet with gender-affirming clothes and a variety of educational, support and social groups.
But this will be the first physical space for the nonprofit since the COVID-19 pandemic, when many of its programs went virtual or were held in a hodgepodge of spots.
“The need is great, especially in this current political climate, and our goal is to ensure that the LGBTQ community receives the support and care that they need,” said Mary-Ann Baldwin, Cooper Tacia’s vice president of Community Relations and former Raleigh mayor.
There are limited spaces for LGBTQ+ people to gather in “casual and comfortable ways,” Hennessey said.
“This is something that improves people’s mental health,” they said. “Having and building community reduces the chances of other issues, especially in the kind of violent climate that we live in right now with a lot of people being afraid to be themselves.”
This story was originally published March 15, 2025 at 8:00 AM with the headline "In a ‘violent climate,’ a new LGBT Center of Raleigh location wants to provide refuge."
