The Pride Center recently honored a number of community leaders and activists for their ongoing commitment and contribution to the good and welfare of the LGBT community. One of them is Mark Gordon, a benefactor to the community in every sense.

Gordon moved to South Florida from Washington, DC in October 2009.  “I started at the old Pride Center when I first moved to Fort Lauderdale. In DC, we have a great LGBT community but there was nothing like this. I was so impressed with the fact that there was a community center locally that was like this,” he recalls. “I joined the Pride Center, and on Sundays I would play Bridge,” he adds. It was—to use a Golden Age of Hollywood axiom—the start of a beautiful friendship, one which would benefit future clients of the Pride Center, and others who might not even know the extent of his help or generosity.

“I have always believed in giving back,” Gordon explains, “and while I couldn’t make a huge donation to the [Pride Center] Capital Campaign, it did mean a great deal to me that I would be able to contribute,” he says, with sincerity and understatement.

“It is so important for the upcoming generations to have a place to go, especially the younger LGBT community,” says Gordon, who has also seen the good works of other groups that are working towards that good and welfare. “I am also impressed with Equality Florida, and the work that they do.”

Gordon says that Greater Fort Lauderdale and Wilton Manors’ thriving LGBT community needs a thriving community center to support it, nurture it, and help foster leadership, fellowship, and a sense of belonging. “I am very happy to be here in this setting. If we don’t support an organization like the Pride Center, what will happen to it?” he asks.

On September 30, the Pride Center held an invitation-only brunch, to say “Thank You” to the board of directors and community patrons of the agency. Boo praised Gordon and the other benefactors of the Capital Campaign, noting that if not for their generous contributions, “so much of the service we provide would have to be curtailed.”

For more information about the House that Gordon and other community leaders have built, as well as its many community services, visit pridecenterflorida.org.H