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LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland breaks ground for new facility

CLEVELAND, Ohio – The LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland broke ground on its new facility in the Gordon Square Arts District on Wednesday.

The original co-founders, John Nosek and Leon Stevens, were fifth in the nation to open a LGBT Center when they opened in the 1970’s.

“We incorporated an organization called GEAR — gay education, awareness and resources,” said Nosek.

Nosek and Stevens said Cleveland was never an anti-gay city, but they still had a lot of work to do.

“At that time, gay marriage was way beyond the horizon, maybe on the dark side of the moon,” said Stevens. “Besides bringing the gay community together, our other focus was to educate straight people, specifically to let them know that we weren’t criminals and sociopaths that just needed to be locked up.”

Read the full article on News 5 Cleveland.