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From The Journal Times.com:

Holly Gilvary

RACINE — Following what former staff members called an "unexpected" closing of the LGBT Center of Southeast Wisconsin on May 16, several have formed The People's Center to reestablish services for local LGBTQ+ community members.

In a news release issued Wednesday, Kyle Johnson said The People's Center's most urgent goal is to continue critical programming for the local LGBTQ+ community, starting with youth programming.

The center is working with community partners to secure new spaces and will be publishing a calendar with times, dates and locations for reestablished groups, the release said.

Founding members include Johnson, Patricia Castillo Venegas, Jasmine Alvarez, Haven Slater, Zak Butler, Becky Crowley, Shay King and Elliott Hurd.

Once critical services are reestablished for the area's highest-risk populations, Johnson said, The People's Center will launch "new and re-imagined services" centered on community feedback.

Reconnecting with community members left behind by the LGBT Center's closure is also a high priority, according to the release.

"The LGBT Center was never a building or an institution," Alvarez said. "The Center was the people, and we're not going anywhere."

Johnson said The People's Center is a response to a common refrain that the LGBT Center "did not adequately serve the needs of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) community members." Internal changes made by the LGBT Center to address the needs of BIPOC community members were slow, "where effective at all."

King said they don't want to "simply revive the broken system that existed before."

"Instead, we started envisioning a new organization that would prioritize the needs of those who have been left behind," King said.

Johnson said The People's Center will "serve as a resource and support hub for Queer communities in Racine and Kenosha, with a focus especially on BIPOC, disabled, and otherwise marginalized community members."

The People's Center is working to establish a social media presence and a newsletter, along with an offline presence. It can be found on Instagram and Facebook at @thepeoplescenter and at www.thepeoplescenter.us.

Johnson said the center plans to eventually hold a Pride Prom and gradually build services using "grassroots and non-hierarchical methods of organizing."

From: https://journaltimes.com/news/local/article_31547da3-e2cd-4e9e-9309-4cd4de586224.html#tracking-source=home-top-story

Community demands transparency after sudden closure of Racine LGBT Center

LGBT Center of SE Wisconsin closes Friday, citing finances, 'socio-political climate'

From The Journal Times.com:

Holly Gilvary

RACINE — The LGBT Center of Southeast Wisconsin shuttered its doors Friday, reportedly giving little notice to staff members.

Shay King, who served on the center's board from 2019 through February 2025, organized a gathering of staff, volunteers and community members outside of the LGBT Center, 1456 Junction Ave., Friday morning to request an audience with the board of directors.

King said staff members were eventually let into the center’s building on Friday to speak with board members, adding that the board declined requests from staff and community members to give public comment on the situation.

A post on the LGBT Center’s Instagram page published shortly after 1 p.m. Friday said the board informed staff Friday of the center’s closing and offered “no clear answers.”

The Instagram page and post have since been deleted.

The LGBT Center posted on Facebook at 4 p.m. Friday about the center’s dissolution, citing financial issues and struggles with the “challenging socio-political climate.”

“This decision has been made after careful consideration,” the post read. “Our past fundraising was not at a level to address the needs of unrestricted spending.”

All groups and events at the center are cancelled, the Facebook post said.

LGBT Center of Southeast Wisconsin Executive Director Barb Farrar did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.

King, who uses they/them pronouns, said they’re worried about LGBTQ+ youth in the community who would attending the center’s Youth Art nights. Some LGBTQ+ adults have also told King they would not be alive without the LGBT Center.

“My goal with gathering everybody today was to hopefully establish that the community will not go anywhere,” King said. “We will look for ways to rehome the services and the programs that the LGBT Center of Southeast Wisconsin was (offering) because these services are life changing.”

From: https://journaltimes.com/news/local/article_6b3eb60f-6083-40d7-8631-69a0860a23f7.html#tracking-source=home-top-story

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Wisconsin school district settles with teacher who refused to use transgender student's pronouns

From JSOnline:

Kelly Meyerhofer

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A Wisconsin school district paid $20,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by one of its teachers who was fired after failing to use a transgender student's preferred pronouns.

The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, a Milwaukee-based law firm representing conservative interests, sued in federal court last year on behalf of Argyle High School teacher Jordan Cernek. The teacher said the district tried forcing him to betray his religious convictions in violation of the First Amendment and other laws.

Argyle School District is in Lafayette County in the southwest part of Wisconsin.

Court records show the case was dismissed last month. Superintendent Randy Refsland confirmed the $20,000 settlement, saying the district's insurance company made a decision to settle for that amount. He declined to comment further.

Cernek said the issue began in 2022 when administrators made a policy change to be more inclusive of identities other than heterosexual males and females. His complaint said the district initially allowed Cernek to not use a transgender student's preferred pronouns on the grounds of religious objection, but changed its position two months later.

Cernek said he tried addressing students through gestures rather than names and pronouns. Eventually, he said the school sent a letter saying the workaround wasn't sufficient. The letter also warned him refusal to follow the policy would result in disciplinary action.

About six months later, the district declined to renew Cernek's teaching contract.

"I had to go against my conscience and religious convictions in order to do what the school was saying," Cernek previously told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "I didn't want to take part in promoting lies to kids or anybody."

Abigail Swetz, executive director of Fair Wisconsin, a statewide LGBTQ+ civil rights and political advocacy organization, said last summer that using pronouns affirming a child’s gender identity are essential to their wellbeing and the only moral choice.

Cernek, who has found employment elsewhere, said in a statement through his law firm he will continue encouraging teachers to stand up for their beliefs.

Kelly Meyerhofer covers higher education in Wisconsin. Contact her at kmeyerhofer@gannett.com or 414-223-5168. Follow her on X (Twitter) at @KellyMeyerhofer. 

From: https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/education/2025/03/10/argyle-school-district-settles-in-teachers-trans-pronoun-lawsuit/81984971007/

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