EDITOR:

Great to read that the Seattle City Council, as well as many within the gay community, are working on establishing a gay and lesbian community center.

Toward that end, I'd propose that a metro area survey be taken to determine:

o In what parts of the city do lesbians, gay men and transgender people live?

o What services does the LGBT population want and need?

o Does this population have wheels, or does it depend on public transit?

o Would a 24/7 live hotline be useful? Or just an automated information line and or Web site?

o Should the community center offer counseling, entertainment, referrals, books, rainbow flags?

Surveys are good at determining what actions to take, as long as an extensive outreach is made via newspapers, Web sites, and leaving surveys with the scores of our lesbian and gay organizations, as well as at gay-friendly businesses.

A survey could determine, for instance, that the gay population is spread out throughout the metro area, and a community center would not need to be established in the very expensive, parking space deficient, Capitol Hill area. While there are a concentration of gay-friendly bars on the Hill, it is not the center of the gay and lesbian universe.

Surveys have already shown that more than 50 percent of the lesbian and gay community is in a relationship. We can also assume that many are now legally married. This profile would suggest different needs than a population of singles.

For three years, I worked on Dr. Ruhland's proposal to have a free and low cost natural healing clinic at the now unused Fire Station #6 in the Central District. While that clinic has yet to materialize, such a space could be shared by multiple organizations. Seattle likely has more abandoned facilities that could also house and fund multiple community endeavors.

Demian

ec: Seattle City Council, Seattle Mayor Ed Murray

Dr. Demian is director of Partners Task Force for Gay & Lesbian Couples, founded 1995. http://buddybuddy.com

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