No one believed that schools would allow an openly gay person to address students and faculty. And especially, no one believed that Long Island’s LGBT community would one day have a “home of its own” – let alone three community centers for Nassau, Suffolk, and the East End.
In 1993, what began as a masters of social work graduate thesis project transformed into one of the largest and most well-respected non-profit serving lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals in the nation. At first, LIGALY operated with volunteers and an answering machine in a Levittown apartment: no paid staff, no place for youth to socialize, no place for counseling or community events.
For over twenty years, LIGALY has certainly grown to meet the needs of the LGBT community with more than 2 dozen full-time staff and over 16,000 square feet of community center space for youth to be free to express themselves, and dozens of programs and services happening every week throughout the year.
Long Island Gay and Lesbian Youth works to build community, provide a home and safe space for all, end anti-LGBT bullying, and prevent suicide.
LIGALY does this through providing education, advocacy, empowerment, and social support services to LGBT youth, young adults, and their families for whom sexuality, sexual orientation, gender identity, and HIV/AIDS are an issue.
LIGALY is an organization of the LGBT Network