🌹🏳️🌈 OUR FIGHT IS LOVE — AND PRIDE SEASON IS OFFICIALLY HERE.
You filled our hearts at our Our Fight Is Love Annual Fundraiser on Sunday — now let's fill the streets. 💜 Every act of love, every dollar raised, every dance at the Tea Dance brought us to this moment. Now we carry it forward together.
Save the date: Saturday, June 6.
The Hudson Valley Pride March kicks off at noon from the Community Center, followed by the Kingston Pride Festival at Academy Green from 12–5 PM. This year we're going bigger, bolder, and more fierce than ever.
🗓 10 AM — March Lineup at the Community Center 🚶 12 PM — March Kicks Off 🎉 12–5 PM — Festival at Academy Green
After the festival, the celebration continues at Unicorn Bar and beyond. 🦄
🛍️ Our Fight Is Love merch drops this month — stay tuned!
Want to be part of it? Sign up to march, volunteer, or become a vendor. Link in bio.
🎟️ Pride Raffle tickets are on sale now — link in bio.
Questions? DM us or email [email protected]
Fierce Together, Fierce in Action. 🌹🏳️🌈
🌸 MAY AT THE COMMUNITY CENTER 🌸
Here's what's coming up this month — save the dates and share with your people.
🪩 OUR FIGHT IS LOVE: ANNUAL FUNDRAISER TEA DANCE
This Sunday, May 3 | 3–6 PM
Diamond Mills Resort, Saugerties
Tickets still available! This is our biggest celebration of the year — don't miss it.
🎟️ lgbtqcenter.org
🌈 POLY/ENM SALON & MIXER
Sun, May 3 | 4:30–6:30 PM
A free monthly salon-style discussion and mixer for anyone who is polyamorous, ENM-practicing, or in an open relationship. Hosted by PolyTalk HV.
🎵 MUSIC & MEMOIR WRITING WORKSHOP
Wednesdays in May | May 6, 13, 20 & 27 | 6–7:30 PM
A four-week writing series for LGBTQ+ writers led by Starina Catchatoorian. Using music as a portal for memory and meaning — writers of all levels welcome.
🎨 CROSSWALK PAINTING / MOVED TO MAY 16 DUE TO RAIN!
Sat, May 16 | 8–10 AM
Come help us refresh our rainbow crosswalk in Uptown Kingston! Coffee and light refreshments provided. Out in the Valley will be broadcast live from the Center, sponsored by Radio Kingston.
🎤 TOWN HALL: KINGSTON CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT CANDIDATE FORUM
Sat, May 9 | 2–4 PM
Come hear the candidates speak. Ask your questions. Presently committed: Erika Bernabei, Suzanne Jordan, and Louisa Solomon. All declared candidates invited — list in formation.
☕ COFFEE & COLLEAGUES
Wed, May 20 | 8:30–10 AM
An informal morning for LGBTQ+ mental health providers to connect and think together. Light breakfast served. Hosted by Jonathan Hornig, LCSW. RSVP: [email protected]
🌱💚 SEASONS OF CHANGE: EIGHT-WEEK MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORT GROUP
Wednesdays, May 20–July 8 | 6–7:30 PM
This summer's focus: Root & Rise. A mindfulness-based journey for our LGBTQ+ community. Change is hard. You don't have to move through it alone.
🌤️🏳️🌈 PRIDE IN THE SKY
Sun, May 30 | 3–10 PM
A Pride celebration on the Walkway Over the Hudson with Big Gay Hudson Valley. All-ages, pet-friendly, and covering the walkway in rainbows just in time for Pride season.
Register and explore the full calendar at lgbtqcenter.org 🏳️🌈
🌹 THANK YOU! 🌹
To everyone who showed up yesterday for our Our Fight Is Love fundraiser: whether you joined us for lunch, danced at the Tea Dance, or simply stood at the edge of the Esopus Creek Falls and let the view take your breath away… thank you.
What a way to begin Pride season! 🏳️🌈
Your love, your presence, and your support mean everything to us and to this community. We feel it. We carry it forward!
🌈More photos coming soon. Stay tuned! 🌹
Tomorrow on Out in the Valley! 📻
We’ll be live from the Community Center, talking with Eve Papp from New Paltz Pride, Karen Marder from the Dutchess County Pride Center about Poughkeepsie Pride and Aileen Morgan from Queerly about Woodstock Pride.
Tune in Saturdays 9–10am on Radio Kingston, streaming online, 1490 AM, or 107.9 FM.
Past episodes linked in bio.
Today, our Director of Well-Being Johnathan Hornig, LCSW invites our community to come as you are – and grow from there. 🌿
Change is hard. You don’t have to move through it alone.
Join us for Seasons of Change: Root & Rise – an 8-week journey designed specifically for our LGBTQ+ community. Just like summer anchors us in the warmth of what we’ve built, this group explores finding your footing and rising into who you’re becoming.🌻
✨ What to expect:
→ Emotional regulation tools and techniques
→ A safe, closed group environment
→ Exploring barriers to change in an affirming space
→ The changing seasons as your guide
Led by Scott Williams & Dragan Mitric, MSW Interns.
📅 Wednesdays starting May 20 | 6:00–7:30 PM
📍 Wellbeing Group Room | 300 Wall St, Kingston NY
🔗 Register by May 15 – link in bio
You deserve to be here! 🌻
We were proud to support the Hudson Valley LGBTQ+ Community Center's Annual Fundraiser hosted recently at Diamond Mills. This event was an afternoon celebrating love, joy, and community. Members of our team enjoyed cocktails and mocktails on the terrace overlooking the beautiful Esopus Creek waterfall. Followed by a delicious farm-to-table luncheon prepared by Escoffier award-winning chef John Doherty.
Since their founding in 2005, the Hudson Valley LGBTQ+ Community Center's purpose has been to strengthen, support, and celebrate LGBTQ+ individuals. Learn more about their mission and upcoming events here: https://bit.ly/-LGBTQplus
NEW ANNOUNCEMENT!🏳️🌈✨
FREE Films Celebrating Pride 2026:
Tangerine (2015)
Selected by Hudson Valley LGBTQ Community Center @lgbtqcenter
Wednesday, June 17th at 7:30 PM at UPAC in #Kingston, NY
The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love (1995)
Selected by Dutchess Pride @dutchesspride
Friday, June 26th at 7:30 PM at the Bardavon in #Poughkeepsie, NY
No reservation required. All tickets are available at the door on the day of the event.
More Info:
📞 845.339.6088 (UPAC) / 845.473.2072 (Bardavon)
⏰ Open 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM, Tuesday - Friday
🔗 Bardavon.org
#HudsonValleyPride #PoughkeepsiePride #KingstonPride #Pride2026
🌷A Celebration of Life for Michele Jade Johnston 🌷
Sunday, May 10th | 2–4 PM | Hudson Valley LGBTQ+ Community Center
We are honored to host a Celebration of Life for Michele Jade Johnston, organized by her eldest child Katrina. Michele was a trans woman, music lover, and patron of the arts who lived fully and happily as herself in the Hudson Valley for nearly two decades.
🗓 Sunday, May 10th
🕑 2–4 PM
📍 Hudson Valley LGBTQ+ Community Center
This is a gathering for chosen family, those who knew her as herself. Come ready to share, to listen, and to celebrate her life. Bring a song that reminds you of her, flowers if you feel moved, and something to share if the potluck spirit calls to you. Drop-ins welcome.
You can support Katrina and the family in honoring Michele’s life and legacy through their GoFundMe, link in bio. 🔗
Questions: [email protected]
Very excited to be partnering with @lgbtqcenter and @poetswritersinc and leading this workshop in May!
Join me this May for Music & Memoir Writing Workshop — a four-week, generative series for LGBTQ+ writers ready to explore the stories only they can tell.
🗓 Wednesdays | May 6, 13, 20 & 27 ⏰ 6:00–7:30 PM
📍 Kingston, NY 🌈 Free & open to all levels
Through guided listening, curated playlists, and writing prompts, we’ll use music as a portal into memory, emotion, and meaning.
Bring a piece you’re working on—or just show up and begin.
Come write in community. Your story matters. 💫
🔗 Learn more + RSVP: lgbtqcenter.org
#LGBTQWriters #Memoir #WritingWorkshop #kingstonnyhappenings #hudsonvalleywriters
🏳️⚧️Kingston Pride, June 6th, is a little over a month away!🏳️🌈
Applications for vending at the festival and marching are open. This year we will be in Academy Green 🌲 for the festival. The march will line up along Wall Street between John Street and N Front Street starting at 10am. At 12pm sharp we step off on our way towards the festival!
If you have ever been interested in volunteering for Pride, this is your sign to start. There are many ways to get involved including being a marshal in the march, helping vendors set up, assisting festival attendees navigate crosswalks and more. All Pride volunteers get their own free ‘Pride team’ shirt to wear the day of.
You can find all the forms to fill out in the link in our bio! Or you can visit lgbtqcenter.org/pride
Missed it on Saturday? No worries. Local attorney Amy Ingram joins host Richard Heyl de Ortiz to discuss the Community Center’s soon-to-launch legal clinic.
Check out the full archive of episodes on the Out in the Valley page on our website here: /out-in-the-valley
#hvlgbtq #hvlgbtqia #richardheyldeortiz #radiokingston #wkny #amyingram
Artist, photographer and storyteller Stephen Honicki generously included me among the subjects of his ongoing project.
He recently captured me with his camera at my collage table and then asked me to unravel the mysteries of my deeply-rutted road of a life. It was a cathartic experience.
Join me on June 11 at the Hudson Valley LGBTQ+ Community Center as Stephen discusses his years-long art project and his motivation for chronicling the lives of greying queers.
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@lgbtqcenter #gayelders #artisticphotography #hudsonvalley #stephenhonicki
