Lesbian Resource CenterJump to: Overview // Our Mission // Our Goals // Our Core Values // Our Herstory
Overview
The Lesbian Resource Center (LRC) is an all-volunteer, grassroots 501(c)3 organization
that grew out of the Lesbian Health Advisory Council of the NC Gay and Lesbian Health
Project.
Since the Lesbian Resource Center's founding in 1994, the organization has been dedicated to
educating, inspiring, and assisting individuals and organizations regarding the diverse needs
of lesbians, bisexual women, and other women who partner with women. We do this with the hope
of helping to build a healthy and empowered community. We work to promote our health and
well-being by providing health education, information, resources, and referrals in North
Carolina's Triangle area.
Crape Myrtle Festival, Inc.,
The Susan G. Komen Foundation,
and private contributions form the majority of our current funding.
Our Mission
The mission of the Lesbian Resource Center is to visibly and actively promote the health and well-being of the diverse community of lesbians, bisexual women, and other women who partner with women through education, advocacy, resources, and referrals in the North Carolina Triangle area.
Our Goals
- To foster women’s emotional, physical, spiritual wellbeing and ability to advocate for themselves by providing individual and group education and referral services.
- To actively seek and engage in collaboration with individuals, groups, and organizations in assessing the dynamic needs of lesbians, bisexual women, and other women who partner with women specifically and within the context of the larger LGBT community.
- To recognize and promote inclusivity, integration, and respect for the diversity among the lesbians, bisexual women, and other women who partner with women we seek to serve.
- To increase the visibility and understanding of lesbian and bisexual women’s needs through professional, educational, and civic activities.
Our Core Values
In order to ensure an environment that supports effective and respectful teamwork, the LRC has adopted a core set of values to guide volunteers in working together. Our core values establish a common expectation for how volunteers relate to each other internally, and with other individuals and organizations externally.
- We have the right to be treated with respect.
- We have the right to express our feelings.
- We have the right to ask for what we need.
- We have the right to say “no” and not feel guilty.
- We have the right to change our mind.
- We have the right to take time for ourselves.
- We have the right to create and maintain boundaries for ourselves.
- We have the right to act in ways that promote our dignity and self-respect, as long as the rights of others are not violated in the process.
Our Herstory1
In 1994, the statewide North Carolina Lesbian and Gay Health Project (NCLGHP) surveyed the lesbian community and determined that there was strong support for creating a lesbian health center. An advisory council of health care providers, activists, and community members was formed to begin planning such a center. When NCLGHP ceased operations in January 1996, the lesbian health center advisory council continued its effort to provide the Triangle lesbian community with a vitally needed health resource center. This advisory council formed the independent, grassroots organization, the Lesbian Health Resource Center (LHRC). In 2002, the LHRC adopted an alternate name—Lesbian Resource Center (LRC)—to represent the broad range of social, emotional, and physical health services and activities offered.Unless otherwise specified, all of the LRC’s events, resources, and information are available to any woman in the community who identifies as lesbian, bisexual, or as a woman who partners with women.
1. Adapted from Shirah, M.K. (2002). “Homophobia in Healthcare Is Unhealthy:” Development of a Provider Curriculum on the Health Care Needs of Women who Partner with Women in the Triangle Area, NC. Unpublished master’s paper, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC.