COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Columbus City Council awarded a $100,000 grant last week to Ohio’s longest-serving LGBTQ+ youth organization, as part of an effort to combat anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric and legislation.

Passed unanimously on May 12, the ordinance benefits Kaleidoscope Youth Center, a Columbus nonprofit providing housing and programming for LGBTQ+ young people. Councilmember Melissa Green argued the funding is needed given Trump administration and Ohio Statehouse policies are “actively undermining the very existence of our LGBTQIA+ friends, neighbors and loved ones.”

“Every young person in Columbus deserves to know that they are seen, valued and supported, and, at a time of division and fear, places like Kaleidoscope offer a different path, one that’s rooted in compassion, understanding and a belief that everyone belongs,” Green said. “For our LGBTQIA+ youth who may not feel safe or affirmed at home or in school, these third spaces provide critical refuge.”

The grant comes after Kaleidoscope marked its 30th anniversary last year, a celebration that included a fundraising campaign bringing in more than $93,000. The organization then announced plans to expand services outside of Columbus to Findlay beginning this year. Learn more about KYC’s anniversary and expansion plans in the video player above.

(Courtesy Photo/Kaleidoscope Youth Center)

Green said the $100,000 grant will aid in funding various programming and nonclinical resources at the organization’s drop-in center, which is a space for youth to come in for personal care items, community building activities, support, and just to hang out. Kaleidoscope has connected with young people through about 25,000 visits at the drop-in center within the past six years, the councilmember said.

Erin Upchurch, KYC’s executive director, thanked city council at the meeting for the support, noting the organization’s services, which also include a recently launched wellness center with social workers providing counseling, are offered at no cost to youth and their families. Upchurch said, in the almost 31 years the center has been in existence, LGBTQ+ young people “have never been attacked so egregiously and so directly.”

“With our young folks, when they see that our local leaders are investing in what they’re doing, who they are, investing in their future and their sustainability, that means something,” Upchurch said. “I thank you all for stepping up and investing in this way and showing our young folks that you care.”

Upchurch and Kaleidoscope staff regularly condemn “anti-LGBTQ+” legislation advancing through the Ohio Statehouse, like a law banning gender-affirming care for transgender youth that is currently in effect while litigation continues. Upchurch previously told NBC4 that KYC has experienced an increase in youth, along with parents and guardians, looking for support since the law’s passage.

Another law prohibits trans students from using school restrooms that align with their identity. Legislators most recently introduced a bill to recognize the weeks between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day as “Natural Family Month.” Dwayne Steward, executive director of Equality Ohio, condemned the proposal as “discriminatory, dehumanizing legislation” that “takes direct aim at LGBTQ+ families.”

Opponents to such bills believe they are fostering an “anti-LGBTQ+ climate.” A recent GLAAD report found Ohio is among those experiencing an uptick a hateful rhetoric, like when Kaleidoscope hosted a drag brunch last year that was disrupted by Nazi protestors. The center received an outpouring of support after the event, raising around $50,000.

“It’s important for us to create spaces and for us to advocate for spaces like Kaleidoscope, that we are empowering them and believing them,” Councilmember Lourdes Barroso de Padilla said at the May meeting. “That we are giving them the opportunity to explore, the opportunity to be safe in who they are, the opportunity to express that, and it quite literally does save lives.”