(Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)
A newly released report based on a survey of 175 LGBTQ community centers located throughout the U.S. has found that 76 percent of the centers have experienced anti-LGBTQ threats or harassment either online or offline over the past year due to a hostile political climate.
But the 2026 10th biennial LGBTQ Community Center Survey Report, released on Oct. 15, also shows that nearly all the LGBTQ centers that responded to the survey have continued to provide a wide range of services to the LGBTQ people in their local communities despite the obstacles many are facing.
The 2026 survey and report were conducted and prepared by the Movement Advancement Project and CenterLink, two national LGBTQ-supportive organizations that advocate for and conduct research on LGBTQ related issues.
The report says the two organizations distributed a detailed online survey to 356 known LGBTQ community centers in 43 states, D.C., and Puerto Rico. It says 175 of the centers responded by participating in the survey from 39 states, D.C., and Puerto Rico.
The D.C. LGBTQ+ Community Center and two other D.C. LGBTQ organizations that the report says identified as community centers — the LGBTQ youth services group SMYAL and Rainbow Families DC — were among the centers that participated in the survey, according to the report. It shows that three LGBTQ community centers in Maryland and five in Virginia also participated in the survey.
“Based on survey responses from 175 participating LGBTQ community centers, the report highlights some of the countless important contributions that centers make to the communities they service, impacting both LGBTQ and non-LGBTQ people,” a statement released by the two organizations says.
“The analysis shows that across the country, centers are continuing to work to meet the needs of the community, often while facing political hostility, budget constraints, and other challenges,” the statement says.
“LGBTQ community centers are critical anchors, often offering lifelines to those who needed it most,” CenterLink CEO Denise Spivak says in the statement. “This report not only details the vital role of centers but highlights the urgent need for increased investment and long-term committed support from individual funders, foundations, and state and local governments,” she said.
The statement lists these specific findings of the survey that are presented in the report based on the responses from the 175 LGBTQ community centers:
• The participating LGBTQ community centers collectively serve over 29,000 people each week, totaling 1.5 million people per year, with many centers “primarily serving people and communities that are historically under-resourced and under-served.”
• The majority (66 percent) of LGBTQ community centers directly provide physical health, mental health, and/or anti-violence services or programs. In 2025 alone, centers provided health services to over 92,600 people across 86 centers.
• Almost half of centers (46 percent) offer computer resources or services to the public. In 2025, computer resources at responding centers were used by over 1,100 people every week, or nearly 59,000 people over the year.
• Nearly all (95 percent) of centers engage in advocacy, public policy, or civic engagement activities, including educating the public about LGBTQ people or LGBTQ issues, working in community-led policy coalitions, and supporting pro-LGBTQ legislation.
• Government grants are a key source of revenue for LGBTQ community centers. Although over half (58 percent) of responding centers currently receive government grants, in total more than $124 million, centers report significant obstacles to accessing these grants.
• Overall, 65 percent of responding centers employ paid staff, providing jobs to 3,110 people across 37 states, D.C., and Puerto Rico, but nearly half (49 percent) of all LGBTQ community centers remain thinly staffed.
The statement points out that although LGBTQ centers have shown “tremendous responsiveness” during the past two years, they have identified several continuing challenges in their survey responses.
“The current political climate targeting LGBTQ — and especially transgender and youth — populations pose an ongoing substantial challenge,” the statement says. “Centers continue to name this atmosphere as impacting their work, their safety and security, their staff, the communities they serve, the funding they receive, and more,” it says.
The statement adds, “The vast majority (76 percent) of all centers reported that they had experienced anti-LGBTQ threats or harassment, whether online, offline, or both.” It says many of the centers reported that these threats “were driven by anti-LGBTQ rhetoric broadly and targeted their transgender and/or youth related programs and events.”
The statement points out that although the centers are responding “strategically” to the threats, increased safety measures they have taken require additional funding.
Spokespeople for the D.C. LGBTQ+ Community Center, SMYAL, and Rainbow Families DC didn’t immediately respond to messages from the Washington Blade asking if they have encountered anti-LGBTQ threats or harassment that the report says other LGBTQ centers have encountered.
The report shows that the four LGBTQ community centers that participated in the survey from Maryland are based in the cities of Easton, Annapolis, and Frederick. It shows the five LGBTQ centers in Virginia that participated in the survey are located in the cities of Winchester, Richmond, Norfolk, Staunton, and McLean, which is a D.C. suburb.
Dana Juniel, a spokesperson for the Movement Advancement Project, one of the two groups that prepared the survey and report, told the Blade that the two groups assured all survey participants that their individual responses would remain confidential and that the report would only disclose the “aggregated” response of all of the respondents.
She said the survey was sent to at least two of the prominent LGBTQ centers in Delaware — CAMP Rehoboth located in Rehoboth Beach and Sussex Pride located in nearby Milton. She said neither of those two centers participated in the survey.
A spokesperson for CAMP Rehoboth couldn’t immediately be reached.
David Mariner, executive director of Sussex Pride, told the Blade he was unable to complete the survey in time for its deadline. Like other centers that did participate in the survey, Mariner said Sussex Pride has received some anti-LGBTQ harassing phone calls and messages on social media, but his group hasn’t received threats of violence.
A map of the states in which problems have surfaced for LGBTQ community centers shows most of the centers encountering problems were in so-called red states with conservative Republican governors and state legislatures. By contrast, D.C.’s locally elected mayor and City Council and the Democratic governor of Virginia — Abigail Spanberger and the Democratic governor of Maryland, Wes Moore — have been supportive on LGBTQ related issues.
The full 2026 LGBTQ Community Center Survey Report can be accessed here.
The National LGBT Media Association represents 13 legacy publications in major markets across the country with a collective readership of more than 400K in print and more than 1 million + online. Learn more here: NationalLGBTMediaAssociation.com.
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