The USDA and the National Center for Lesbian Rights are working to meet the needs of rural LGBT residents in the valley. FM89’s Ezra David Romero reports over 200 people attended the California LGBT Rural Pride Summit Thursday in Visalia.
Housing for the elderly LGBT community, immigration problems as well as issues of safety for transgender residents and communities of color were among the top concerns voiced at the event. USDA Outreach Coordinator Christine Chavez says the agency wants to learn how to better increase services to this population in the Valley.
“You have a lot of outreach in San Francisco and Los Angeles and we wanted to make sure that the LGBT community in rural communities knows about this," Chavez says.
Speakers chatted about everything from housing issues, farming, as well as how to make it easier and safe for LGBT people to access health and mental health services. Nick Vargas with The Source LGBT+ Center in Visalia says there’s a need for more services in places like Tulare County.
"We were noticing there are gay people here," Vargas says. "We see that that person could use a center. We noticed this gap in services and what it should be like.”
Vargas recently opened the center because he says there was no real place for LGBT people in his community to find help. He says the Rural Summit is important to this region of California that he says is behind the times in terms of equality.
“This is the time now for Visalia and for rural pride," says Vargas. "LGBT people exist in spaces outside of big cities and they services and they need visibility.”
He says this event is already helping connect agencies that provide services to this marginalized population. The last of the 12 rural pride summits will be held in Iowa later this summer.
