In the wake of Encircle Heber’s closing, LGBTQ+ community members in Wasatch County are still searching for a place to call home.  While the center’s former volunteers are working to create opportunities for queer youth and young adults to connect, the lack of a dedicated space has been str aining during an already difficult time. It’s also led to a more fractured community in a place where resources for LGBTQ+ people are already scant.  When the Provo-based LGBTQ+ nonprofit announced it would shutter its Heber City community center, it cited low attendance and engagement compared to its other active locations in Salt Lake City, St. George and Provo, which is where the nonprofit was founded in 2016.  “While need exists among LGBTQ+ youth and families in the region, the broader conditions necessary to sustain a dedicated physical location have not developed to the same degree seen in Encircle’s other communities,” Encircle said in a press release on July 2.  The center closed later that month, leaving the area’s LGBTQ+ youth and young adults without a gathering space in the community. Losing that has been difficult, said former volunteer Jess Judd. “It was truly the first space I’ve ever been to where I could be 100% authentic in how I present myself,” Judd said. “Just having a reminder, even on days you couldn’t go, just being able to drive past a place where you could see there are people there that care about you and will validate you, and knowing that exists for the days that you need support, meant a lot.” Judd spearheaded a GoFundMe with a goal of raising $45,000 to potentially buy the home and turn it into an independently run community center for LGBTQ+ youth, families and young adults.  But fundraising has put a spotlight on the community, for better and worse, Judd said.  “I became the target of a lot of hate and having to defend why I want this, why I deserve to have a safe space … why these kids deserve to have a safe space, and that can be really draining,” Judd said. That pushback has only demonstrated the need for a dedicated space, Judd said. “We were getting a lot of people saying, ‘Why do you guys even need this? Why can’t the homos go somewhere else?’ … and it’s like, well, calling us that kind of proves our point,” Judd said. “This has thrown us in the limelight, and now it has given people an opportunity to attack us.”  Still, they’ve raised $6,005 — not nearly enough for what they’d need for a potential purchase. After considering their options, Judd said for now it seemed more realistic to prioritize creating programming in places that already exist.  The GoFundMe, titled “Help Save Heber’s LGBTQ Safe Space,” is still live, and Judd said any money raised will continue to serve as funds for programming queer events in the area. Their hope is to continue building something that can more fully fill the gap that Encircle Heber left in the community.  So far, that programming has been family dinners, an art night at the Wasatch County Library and a weekly tabletop group for running games like Dungeons Dragons, all of which are facilitated by former Encircle Heber volunteers. Jaxson Persch runs two LGBTQ+ game nights a week out of his home in Midway, one of which he used to run at Encircle Heber. Persch isn’t queer, but he became the nonprofit’s resident game master when he learned through Judd that Encircle Heber was looking for someone to run tabletop games, which are roleplaying games where players advance through a story and make decisions together.  From Persch’s perspective as the group’s “token straight,” the community has become more spread out since Encircle Heber closed. The all-ages Friday games aren’t as well attended as they were when they were at the center, he said. “It doesn’t feel like there’s as much of a cohesive community anymore,” Persch said. “Since I’ve been running both the Friday games and my Sunday games at my house, attendance has really dropped off, and I can see why because it’s kind of weird where it’s like, ‘Hey, come to this random house to play DD.’”  At the same time, Persch said, it was encouraging to attend the art night on Sept. 17 and see that people were still showing up.  “I showed up to help set up a bit, and just seeing a lot of familiar faces alongside a lot of unfamiliar faces, it was like, ‘Oh, OK, good. A lot of people are still here,’” he said.   But Persch said that programming only happens once a month, so it’s a long gap for people to go without seeing each other.  And though the weekly family dinners help close that, they’re still not the ideal replacement for a centralized location open daily, especially for youth seeking a consistent community. Judd originally became involved with Encircle Heber when their younger brother, Ferris, came out as transgender. Their parents were accepting, Judd said, and even drove Ferris to the Encircle Provo center before the Heber City location opened in 2023. Jan, Ferris, Jess and Jim Judd stand in the entryway of Encircle’s Heber City home. Credit: Christopher Reeves/Park Record “But what about the kids where it’s not safe to come out to their parents?” Judd said. “And what about the kids whose parents work and they can’t drive them? Like, where are they supposed to go?” To Judd, having a local, dedicated space is most important for queer kids who have nowhere else to go and is tantamount to suicide prevention, the rate of which is higher in queer youth, who are more than four times as likely to attempt suicide than their peers, according to The Trevor Project, a national nonprofit dedicated to suicide prevention. “It’s helping these kids realize they have a future and that there are other people that are like them, and hopefully helps them feel less alone,” Judd said. The post Former Encircle Heber volunteers are building their own LGBTQ+ community  appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less