Jersey City Lesbian and Gay Outreach

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www.jclgo.org
Our Story:
A vital voice in Jersey City committed to bringing the LGBT community together.
Partners Napoleon Paul Mendoza and Miguel Cardenas co-founded Jersey City Lesbian & Gay Outreach in May of 2001. They moved to Jersey City in 1997 because of the closeness to NYC and the reasonable rent at the time. For the first three years they were not part of any community in Jersey City instead they always looked to NYC to satisfy their social needs and interactions with in the LGBT community. As the years went by, they noticed there was a fast growing population of Queer folks moving into Jersey City, but no real sense of community. That is when Paul started to investigate just what groups were available for LGBT individuals in New Jersey because it was obvious a LGBT identity was needed in Jersey City. To his surprise, the support and encouragement for a Pride Festival was there from both the residents of Jersey City and from other LGBT Community Groups. In May of 2001 Paul and Miguel posted flyers all over Jersey City calling for all LGBT's to join them to meet and form a community group. Out of these meetings came "Jersey City Lesbian and Gay Outreach" later to be called JCLGO for short.
Very quickly JCLGO grew into an all-volunteer group and in only 3 months hosted Jersey City's 1st LGBT Pride Festival on August 25, 2001. The theme of the Festival was "Strength Through Visibility." During this time JCLGO spoke to the Jersey City Council and Major Cunningham on behalf of the LGBT community and has continued to be in contact with them about the needs of our community ever since. JCLGO members knew even then the best way to prove to the larger Jersey City neighborhood that the LGBT community had truly arrived was to show it through visibility. At the 2001 Pride Festival JCLGO did just that with an attendance of over 1,000 strong. In November 2001 JCLGO was honored with a "Special Recognition Award," at Heritage of Pride's "Annual Thank You Party" for our work on our 1st Pride Festival.
The 2002 Festival themed "Come Together-Build a Community" focused on hope in humanity, perseverance in darkness and optimism in life. From the Festival stage, the missing landmark from Manhattan's skyline was a constant reminder of the many people we lost in the terrible tragedy of September 11th. David L. D'Amico an openly Gay police officer in the Monmouth County Prosecutor's office and Tom Ryan from Fire Flag lead our moment of silence. The image from the moment of silence carried over to the 2003 Pride Festival theme, "Power In Pride." In 2004, JCLGO reached a milestone in Hudson County by raising the rainbow flag, a symbol of LGBT Pride, for the first time ever at the Hudson County Courthouse and at City Hall, Jersey City.
Today, JCLGO has continued to be as influential and proactive as it was when it was first founded in 2001. Profound events such as Jersey City Pride, Jersey City Mayoral Forum, LGBT Health Fair, and Getting To Know You are testaments on how JCLGO is truly the voice of the Jersey City LGBT community.
For more info please visit our website.
www.jclgo.org