PTS (community centre)

PTS - Pink Triangle Services
Motto The Centre for the Celebration of Sexual and Gender Diversity.
Formation 1984
Type community centre
Purpose LGBT community
Location
  • 251 Bank St. Suite 301
    Ottawa, ON  K2P 1X3
Region served
 National Capital Region (Canada)
Executive Director
 Claudia Van Den Heuvel
Staff
 4
Volunteers
 130
Website PinkTriangle.org

PTS, formerly known as Pink Triangle Services, is an Queer Community Centre located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. They are the oldest registered Queer or LGBT-specific charity in Canada, becoming registered in 1984.[1] The organization serves Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Trans, Two-Spirit and Queer people within the National Capital Region (Canada).[2] They provide a number of services including support groups, education, research, advocacy and community space for other community groups.

Organization history

One of the founding members of PTS, Barry Deeprose in 2002 wrote a history of the organization. The forwards starts off as:

"In 1984 a group of directors from the Board of Gays of Ottawa set out to create a non-profit organization with charitable status called Pink Triangle Services in the hopes that such recognition would enable an organization to more-easily raise funds. In the spring of that year the corporation was founded and was granted charitable status under the Income Tax Act, a first for Canada. In the ensuing fifteen years Pink Triangle Services (or PTS as it quickly became known) has flourished and grown, in many ways fulfilling the vision of the founding members.
Those fifteen years also brought tremendous changes to the gay and lesbian community. AIDS decimated a generation of gay men, while at the same time in Canada gays and lesbians won legal rights of which an earlier generation scarcely dreamed.I have had the privilege of being associated with PTS from the beginning and it remains close to my heart. There is no doubt in my mind that it continues to provide much-needed services to the gay, lesbian, and bisexual community."[3]

Until the 2000s PTS was run by a working Board of Directors and was funded primarily by individual donations from those communities.[4] Starting in the 2000s the organizational structure changed to become a policy and governance Board of Directors while the first agency Executive Director was hired.

Another major change that occurred in the 2000s was more focus was attributed to less served members of the community including bisexuals, trans people and those who solely identify as queer. This was also influenced by the decrease of stigma towards gays and lesbians in the broader community that lead to a court ruling making same-sex marriage in Ontario legal in 2003.[5] A bisexual women's group started at PTS which evolved into BiAmore for bisexuals of all genders years later. And in 2004 Trans Youth Ottawa started a group for transgender and transsexual youth and young adults which ran until 2009 and Gender Quest a group for all trans adults started in 2005 and still operates today. In 2005 the Board of Directors added trans, two-spirit and queer[6] to the letters patent to state their official commitment to those communities.

Programs and services

The programs of PTS can be broken up into three prime categories support programs, education programs and resource programs.

Support programs

Historically one of the flagship programs of PTS was based on peer support groups. Over the years PTS has seen many groups come and go based upon need. Over time the programs being more education and social focused including guest speakers and workshop topics. The first group to undergo this change was Pink Triangle Youth (PTY) in 2003.[7] Current support groups include:

Educational programs

PTS has done education and advocacy work since its outset as an organization however, since 2009 a new focus upon educational outreach programs which provide workshops has become a new priority. The three programs include:

Resource programs

There are plans to expand the resource programs at PTS to include a community calendar and to make an updated user-friendly version of their resource directory which can be found on their website.[10] Currently however, the one prime resource is the Dr. Kelly McGinnis Library, which is the largest queer-specific library in Canada.[11]

References

  1. ↑ Smith, Dale (25 March 2011). "25 Years of Pink Triangle Services". Xtra!. Retrieved 7 June 2011.
  2. ↑ "Introduction to PTS". PTS Website. Pink Triangle Services. Retrieved 15 June 2011.
  3. ↑ Deeprose, Barry (2002). A History of Pink Triangle Services. Ottawa: Self-Published.
  4. ↑ Deeprose, Barry (2002). A History of Pink Triangle Services. Ottawa: Self-Published.
  5. ↑ "Ontario men wed following court ruling". CBC News. 13 June 2003. Retrieved 15 June 2011.
  6. ↑ "Pink Triangle Services receives donation of $100,000". Xtra!. 13 July 2005. Retrieved 15 June 2011.
  7. ↑ Trembley, Robbie (13 March 2003). "The New Pink Triangle Youth". Capital Xtra. Retrieved 15 June 2011.
  8. ↑ "Projects Approved for Funding 2010". City of Ottawa Web Page. City of Ottawa. Retrieved 15 June 2011.
  9. ↑ Fagan, Noreen (3 February 2011). "PTS receives grant from Ontario Trillium Foundation". Xtra!. Retrieved 15 June 2011.
  10. ↑ "GLBT Ottawa Services Directory". PinkTriangle.org. Pink Triangle Services. Retrieved 20 June 2011.
  11. ↑ "Dr. Kelly McGinnis Library". Group Details. Xtra!. Retrieved 20 June 2011.

External links

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