To better serve our members, all correspondence will be through our OutWilmington.com website. We encourage everyone to email us with your questions or comments. If you would like to attend a meeting, or submit questions, email us or click on the link below.
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Like many aspects of contemporary life, the Out Wilmington Community Center can trace its origins to the ubiquitous internet. In 1999, when L.S. “Bo” Dean moved to Wilmington from Chapel Hill, he soon realized that there was no comprehensive source of information that addressed the special needs of the local LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community. To reach a wide audience quickly and inexpensively, he founded LGBT Wilmington News, an internet club on Yahoo patterned after Charlotte’s successful Carolina Rainbow News; in less than a year, membership swelled from under a dozen to more than 300. Says Bo Dean of his groundbreaking effort, “It was understood that a means for an otherwise unconnected community segment of like-minded people had been found.”
In 2000, Mr. Dean upgraded his e-mail list into a weekly newsletter and later a website called Outwilmington.com, which ultimately gave its name to the Out Wilmington Community Center and continues to this day as a prime source of information for more than 3000 members of the LGBT community. Continuously updated, OutWilmington.com is widely recognized as the authoritative local source of information on a range of topics including LGBT-friendly businesses, local politics, health care, domestic concerns, civic and social events, housing and employment. By 2003, other local groups, including St. Jude’s Metropolitan Community Church and the Southeastern Alliance for Community Change, began exploring the feasibility of securing a physical location for a local LGBT community center. They applied for and received a Gill Grant, named for the openly-gay founder of popular Quark desktop publishing software, merged with Bo Dean’s OutWilmington group and established the Gay and Lesbian Community Center in modest office space on Wrightsville Avenue. Of this initial undertaking, former OWCC board member and prominent Wilmington antique dealer, Michael Moore, says, “It was good to start small so that we could we generate and manage the momentum we needed to make this really successful.” Eventually, the name was changed to the Outwilmington Community Center, and in June of 2005 the OWCC moved to the century-old building at 317 Castle Street in Wilmington’s emerging “antique district.”
In its Castle Street location, the center blossomed. The emergence of many consistent events and programs developed, attendance swelled, and the allied climate in Wilmington began to shift favorably. Wilmington Mayor Spence Broadhurst stopped by at a “Third Thursday” social gathering, as did Earl Sheridan, a candidate for city council. Many of the Center’s members and volunteers actively supported openly-gay, former County Commissioner Julia Boseman’s successful candidacy for the North Carolina State Senate. And New Hanover County Sheriff Sid Causey sent a congratulatory letter and a donation to the center.
Under the high-energy direction of then Board President Bo Dean, Wilmington Housing Authority, and former administrator with the Honors Scholars Program at UNCW, the Center’s all-volunteer board, other members and volunteers provided numerous community-oriented programs, including the annual Wilmington Community Spirit Awards, the Boseman–TenHuisen Scholarship at UNCW and the Youth Outreach Program. The Center also participated in activities with other groups and institutions, including PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays), NC Pride, UNCW Pride, Stonewall Democrats, Lob Cabin Republicans and the Office of Campus Diversity at UNCW. The Center became a clearinghouse of information and referrals on a host of topics including health care, domestic violence, substance abuse, local politics, community services, support groups, social events, discrimination and hate crimes. An extensive library of LGBT books and periodicals, a film library with numerous titles relevant to the LGBT community, exhibit space for local artists, a/v equipment, meeting facilities and space for LGBT and allied businesses to display promotional materials—all great improvements and additions stemming from the Castle Street location.
In 2006, Out Wilmington, with a host of other allied groups sponsored the first Wilmington PRIDE festival in Wilington “Celebrating Our Families”. This week-long event further elevated the presence of Out Wilmington in the LGBT community and the LGBT community within Wilmington. In June 2007, the 2nd Annual Pride Festival took place for a week of activities. Wilmington Pride was then established as a yearly event. With this momumental stride under our belts, OWCC took the success of its second PRIDE as a cue from the LGBT community that they were behind us. With the election of Amy Horgan as the new President of the Board of Directors and the induction of several new board members, the center moved its location to Dock Street.
Previous Out Wilmington Community Center on Dock Street.
In its Castle Street location, the center blossomed. The emergence of many consistent events and programs developed, attendance swelled, and the allied climate in Wilmington began to shift favorably. Wilmington Mayor Spence Broadhurst stopped by at a “Third Thursday” social gathering, as did Earl Sheridan, a candidate for city council. Many of the Center’s members and volunteers actively supported openly-gay, former County Commissioner Julia Boseman’s successful candidacy for the North Carolina State Senate. And New Hanover County Sheriff Sid Causey sent a congratulatory letter and a donation to the center. 
