Aging with Pride to Cruise in Pittsburgh

On September 5th, members of Aging with Pride (AWP) will travel to Pittsburgh to meet and socialize with members of Older Wiser Leaders (OWLS) from the Persad Center.  The day will include a luncheon and a trip on the Gateway Clipper, Pittsburgh's famous river tour boat. AWP members will carpool from Erie to Pittsburgh.  This is the second time that members of AWP have met with the OWLS; the first being a trip to Erie by the OWLS earlier this year.  This is also the second time that AWP members have traveled to Pittsburgh.  The first trip was to visit the Warhol Museum and to have lunch on Pittsburgh's North Shore.

Both organizations focus on providing social activities for older LGBTQ+ individuals.  Social isolation is often cited as a significant issue affecting older people generally, but in particular, members of the LGBTQ+ community.  Erie's proximity to Pittsburgh provides a convenient connection for older individuals to socialize in both communities and to take advantage of other activities available.  This planned activity in September also presents new opportunities for further collaboration between older LGBTQ+ populations.

For more information about Aging with Pride Erie, visit https://agingwithprideerie.org.

Aging with Pride, an organization of senior LGBT+ members and allies, develops and sponsors social/recreational and educational events to promote healthy leisure activities, community and an active, enjoyable lifestyle.

For more information about the Persad Center in Pittsburgh, visit: https://persadcenter.org.

Persad Center, is the nation's second oldest licensed mental health center specifically created to serve the LGBTQ+ community.

Founded in 1972, Persad was created in response to the demand for specialized, nondiscriminatory services expressed by LGBTQ+ individuals through an underground Pittsburgh gay hotline. Started by a group of gay activists in Allegheny County, the hotline was originally established to provide LGBTQ+ people with information regarding safe places to meet one another, and as a communication network to make LGBTQ+ people aware of happenings in the community.

In an effort to meet the community's requests for safe, non-judgmental mental health services, our founders, Dr. James Huggins and Randal Forrester, along with their friends, sketched out the plans for Persad while traveling on a bus headed to DC to protest the Vietnam War. The name Persad was chosen by merging the words "personal" and "adjustment". The agency was established by a board of directors formed at a meeting that took place at Calvary Episcopal Church and included among its members two clergy, a University of Pittsburgh Social Work Professor and a physician who all recognized the need for this unique agency.