Capitol Hill may — or may not — end up with an LGBTQ community center in the light rail station development on Broadway, but one of Broadway’s multitude of new banks will become the home of the Seattle LGBT Visitors Center starting Friday.
The 200 square-foot facility inside north Broadway’s newly opened 1st Security Bank is a project powered by the Greater Seattle Business Association — known also as Seattle’s gay chamber of commerce. The center will be staffed part-time and will provide information about Seattle destinations, restaurants and shops. Visitors “will know that each business found inside the visitors center is friendly, supportive and gladly welcomes the LGBT traveler,” the GSBA’s executive director Louise Chernin says in statement announcing the project, below.
SEATTLE LGBT VISITORS CENTER OPENS FRIDAY
City’s LGBT community opens its arms to leisure travelers, newlyweds and
convention groups, underscoring Seattle’s reputation as a premier LGBT destination
SEATTLE – Thursday night the Greater Seattle Business Association (GSBA) will unveil its new Seattle LGBT Visitors Center on Capitol Hill to a select group of Tourism industry professionals. The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) visitor center, is Seattle’s first and one of just two such visitor centers in the U.S. The Center will open to the public on Friday, July 19.
The visitors center is hosted by 1st Security Bank different and is a project of the GSBA. The 200-square-foot visitors center features a street-side space located at the bank’s 614 Broadway E branch. The center is staffed part time and offers a wide array of Seattle visitor information and services including brochures, visitor guides, maps, a 60” TV screen with scrolling information and access to www.travelgayseattle.com, the GSBA web travel portal.
Travel and tourism industry presenting partners include 1st Security Bank different and Visit Seattle, which has maintained an LGBT tourism marketing partnership with the GSBA since 2009. Travel and tourism sponsors include the Sheraton Seattle Hotel, Sound Transit, Amtrak and OutCity magazine.
“Seattle’s vibrant, progressive and welcoming community is the perfect home for this unique resource for the LGBT traveler,” said Louise Chernin, Executive Director of the GSBA. “Open to all, The Seattle LGBT Visitors Center will be a great destination for all travelers to find hotels, exciting nightlife spots, fabulous food, entertainment, shopping and attractions – and the LGBT traveler will know that each business found inside the visitors center is friendly, supportive and gladly welcomes the LGBT traveler.”
“As a local bank, we are deeply committed to the communities we serve. What better way to support Capitol Hill’s vibrant neighborhood than to host GSBA’s ‘Seattle LGBT Visitors Center.’ We thank Louise and the GSBA for this amazing opportunity,” said Joe Adams, CEO of 1st Security Bank.”
Meanwhile, the GSBA is also working with the Pride Foundation and LGBTQ green group Out for Sustainability on an August forum melding queer and environmental issues. Here are the details on Evolution of the Gay-borhood:
OUT for Sustainability, Pride Foundation- LGBTQ Community Foundation, GSBA – Greater Seattle Business Association, and the Bullitt Foundation invite you to an evening at the new Bullitt Center on Capitol Hill to discuss trends in sustainable built environment in areas with a strong LGBTQ identity. The neighborhood is changing and so we’re diving into the history that got us here, the policy and economy that’s shaping current trends, and the buildings that are literally changing the character of the “gayborhood.”
We’ll feature a short panel followed by interactive smaller group discussions with some of the bright minds and active leaders in this emerging topic. More information to come on special guests and other details.
Join us 5:30-8pm with the panel starting at 6:15pm. Capacity is limited so please RSVP today. $7 suggested donation. Light appetizers and refreshing beverages (non-alcoholic) provided.
Justin, do you have any rules related to comments here? I know I have posted on this before, but if you allow statements like the above in this space, it really detracts from its value.
it’s a community — lend a hand and drop us a note at [email protected] if you ever see anything amiss. Or bitch about it in comments :) your choice
Justin, we have gone around about this before.
Have comment “rules of the road” and you would engage way more people in your site. Just look at the WSB comment threads – 100+ people often weigh in on stories. This is because they know they won’t be called pedophiles for being gay.
If you establish a basic rules of civil exchange and decency it will benefit everyone.
CHS moderates its comments through a variety of methods. Your notes have usually been associated with comments that should have been moderated but were not yet. You’ll find similar situation at WSB.
Kudos to 1st Security Bank for providing the space for this venture!…great community involvement!
It will be interesting to see how many tourists visit this center, especially over the winter months when there are very few visitors here of any kind.
[…] Hill neighborhood will become home to the second LGBT visitor center in the country on Friday, the Capitol Hill Blog reported. The center will be located inside the newly opened 1st Security Bank on Broadway and will […]
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