NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - There was plenty of pride outside the new Equality hub off Reynolds Avenue in North Charleston Saturday.
Groups Alliance for Full Acceptance and Charleston pride are partnering and sharing the space. It’s a place that’s designed to be used for offices, community advocacy and LGBTQ events.
Tony Williams, CEO of Charleston Pride said it’s the first of its kind for the Lowcountry.
“This space represents the first time that three different organizations are coming together for the betterment of the LGBTQ community here in Charleston,” Williams said.
Chase Glenn, the executive director of the Alliance For Full Acceptance praised the initiative.
“You know for the longest time the LGBTQ community has only had bars and clubs as their designated spaces,” Glenn said. “So what we’re trying to do here is create a space for our community that is a place where anyone can come.”
The hub is neighbors with the Closet Case Thrift Store which is run by the grassroots organization We are Family. Those at the store say the partnership will unify and empower the community.
“It just means creating visibility and having a place where people can come for refuge if they need to,” Nijeeah Richardson, executive director of We are Family, said.
“For people to see other people like them, to be able to see rainbows and like, know that like, there are people in their community that have their backs.”
For those at the event, the opening of the hub is a positive moment after sadness in the LGBTQ community. Recently, two transgender women were killed in South Carolina over a two-week span.
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