About Us​

From an afternoon meeting in a north end Boise backyard emerged The Community Center (TCC).  Friends met and discussed how to bring some subtle notice and unity into the small Boise Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual community.  We discussed a community-wide calendar and somehow we began to think bigger.  The Community Center was launched.  We also thought a long time about names to use.  We settled on The Community Center with the subtitle, Resources for Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual people.  We added Transgender folks to our subtitle many years later as we became more aware. The Paper, later Diversity, began as the first gay publication in Idaho.  TCC published Diversity for over 30 years.

For many years, we existed mostly as an organization with library books and occasional activities and no location.  In the 1970’s we had space on the ground floor of a community member’s house across from North Junior High.  Our library grew and we hired a director.  However, we had bigger appetites than funding, so we moved the library into a garage. The community owes many thanks to Nikki and Jae for taking such good care of the books for several years.

Your Family, Friends and Neighbors (YFFN) emerged with a bang in 1990 presenting Boise first Gay Pride Day.  Activities with these organizations along with the Imperial Sovereign Gem Court of Idaho (ISGCI) became the byword for the Boise Gay and Lesbian scene.  All worked together with the ‘NO on One’ Campaign to defeat Proposition One in 19. TCC then rented space on N 27th St and sublet space to YFFN.  At last, we had space for the library, which had grown to the largest GLBT source in Idaho. -Evie