For members of northern Michigan’s LGBT community, there’s a common refrain that repeatedly crops up in conversation.

“The thing I’ve heard over and over for years is: Where is everybody?” says Traverse City resident Eddie Grim. “People feel disconnected. They don’t know how to find each other.” Rebekah Fuller, a fellow TC resident and LGBT community member, agrees: “The sense of social isolation is pretty strong. We’ve gotten feedback from all over northern Michigan of people saying they feel alone, that they have no sense of connection with their community.”

Grim and Fuller are part of a newly formed group working to establish a social gathering hub, organized support system and network of services for LGBT residents in the five-county area. The duo – along with fellow founding members Ruth Spalding and John Young – comprise an exploratory committee that is pursuing opening the region’s first LGBT community center, called Polestar LGBT Center of Traverse City.

“I see it like an old-fashioned wheel with spokes, where it is the hub and joining point that connects people with other people, programs and services,” explains Grim. “It’d be something well-known and recognized, where people knew they could get their questions answered and have a safe place to go.”

The committee envisions the community center hosting LGBT social events, offering classes and workshops, establishing a database of LGBT-friendly local businesses, and providing recommendations for supportive professional resources, such as doctors and attorneys.

“It’s not uncommon for someone – for example, a trans person seeking hormone treatments – to go to a doctor, and to be shamed or treated poorly,” says Spalding, a therapist and social worker who recently relocated to the area with her partner from Ann Arbor. “It can be similar if you need a divorce lawyer and you’re in a gay marriage. LGBT folks are more likely to seek therapy; they’re also more likely to be assaulted or go through trauma. Navigating access to services (that address those needs) can be hard.”

Aside from a weekly meet-up at Brew called Coming Out Over Coffee – where the idea of a community center began to take hold – Traverse City lacks consistent opportunities for LGBT members to socialize, Polestar’s founders say. “There are people doing things, but they’re in pockets and not always working together,” says Fuller. A community center could help host regular social activities, such as movie nights and dinners; it could also promote a calendar of other LGBT events happening across the region.

While one of the group’s goals is to foster a more visible presence for LGBT residents in Traverse City, members says it’s equally important to reach out to citizens of outlying rural areas, who often face more blatant harassment and discrimination than exists in the “progressive bubble” of Traverse City.

“It can get really bigoted (outside the city),” says Fuller. She cites her recent experience distributing Polestar fliers in some rural areas of Kalkaska and Antrim counties. Some businesses refused to allow her to hang them, she says, while others warned her the fliers would likely get torn down. Polestar hopes to be a beacon for residents living in communities where they might feel pressured or intimidated into remaining closeted.

Polestar’s first phase includes soliciting input from as many LGBT members – and “straight allies” – as possible on the community center's programming and mission. A needs assessment survey is online now and will remain up through June to collect feedback. From there, next steps for the group include formalizing as a nonprofit, fundraising and applying for grants, and identifying a site for the center.

“Our goal is to have something concrete (operating) within a year’s time,” says Grim. He envisions the center servicing not only year-round residents, but seasonal visitors and tourists as well. “We can make it known to the larger U.S. that the Traverse City area is a place that's welcoming and safe to visit,” he says. “It doesn’t just help the LGBT community. It benefits the city as a whole.”