External Resources

Townhall II  155 North Water Street, Kent, OH 44240, 330-678-HELP (4357) or 1-866-449-8518 Toll Free,  Townhall II in Kent offers mental Health counseling, a medical clinic and HIV testing for uninsured and low-income people, as well as a 24-hour help line for suicide prevention and intervention; An excellent local resource for rape crisis; domestic violence; drug/alcohol concerns; family problems; grief/loss; life stressors; information and referrals; or when you don't know where to call.  

PFLAG of Akron  Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), a national non-profit organization with over 200,000 members and supporters and over 500 affiliates in the United States. This vast grassroots network is cultivated, resourced and serviced by the PFLAG National Office, located in Washington, D.C. This link goes directly to the Akron PFLAG section of the national PFLAG site. It's easy to navigate the website to search for other PFLAG groups across the country.

PFLAG of Kent  Located at 1400 East Main Street, Kent, Ohio 44240. Phone: 330-298-5250. Meetings are the first Tuesday of each month at 6pm. 

Kent State University Stark Campus  Continuum - LGBTQ+ Student Organization (open to all). Advisor: Katrina Bloch, kbloch@kent.edu. Facebook: @ContinuumKSUStark

Stark State LGBTQ+ Student Org.  Advisor: Natalee Hilt, nhiltA@starkstate.edu. 330-494-6170 x 4903

Out Support - Medina  Provides support and resources for LGBTQ+ youth. 

Margie's Hope  Margie's Hope provides support for transgender individuals of all ages. Margie's Kids provides support for transgender youth. 

META Center Akron  Provides resources and programming for transgender youth ages 7-19 years.

TransAlive Support Group  For all ages. Meetings held on the 4th Tuesday of every month, 6-8pm. Fairlawn West UCC, 2095 W. Market St. Akron, OH 44313

TransCEND Canton  Provides advocacy and support for transgender individuals of all ages.

TransOhio  Provides services, support, and advocacy for transgender and ally communities in Ohio. 

Akron A.A. Intergroup  St. John's Church, 2220 2nd St., Cuyahoga Falls. Phone: 330-253-8181

Kent Living Sober A.A. LGBT Discussion  Sundays of every month at 7pm. U.U. Church of Kent, 228 Gougler Ave., Kent

Lambda Study Group, A.A. LGBT Group  Wednesday's of every month at 8pm. Fairlawn West United Church of Christ, 2095 W. Market St., Akron, OH 44313

Christ Episcopal Church:
118 S. Mantua St, Kent, OH 44240 | 330-673-4604 | Website

Unitarian Universalist Church of Kent:
228 Gougler Ave, Kent, OH 44240 | 330-673-4247 | Website

United Church of Christ:
1400 E. Main St, Kent, OH 44240 | 330-673-9534 | Website

Hillel Kent State/Cohn Jewish Student Center:
613 E. Summit St, Kent, OH 44240 | 330-678-0397 | Website

Silver Lake United Church of Christ:
2951 Kent Road, Silver Lake, OH 44224 | 330-928-2991 | Website

Kent Friends Meeting (Quaker):
UCM Lounge at the United Methodist Church | 1435 E. Main St, Kent, Oh 44240
330-928-3041 | Website

United Christian Ministries at Kent State:
1435 East Main St, Kent, OH 44240 | 300-673-5687 | Website

Unitarian Universalist of Akron:
3300 Morewood Rd, Fairlawn, OH 44333 | 330-836-2206

Cascade Community Church:
1196 Inman St, Akron, OH 44306 | 330-400-4218

First Grace United Church of Christ:
1000 Diagonal Rd, Akron, OH 44230 | Facebook | 330-762-8469

Episcopal Church of Our Savior:
471 Crosby St, Akron, OH 444302 | Website | 330-535-9174

Emmanuel Fellowship Church:
60 N. Arlington St., Akron, OH 44305 | Website | 330-376-8725

First Congregational Church of Akron:
292 E. Market St., Akron, OH 44308 | Website | 330-253-5109

The Akron Pride Center, or CANAPI The Akron Pride Center, or CANAPI (Community AIDS Network Akron Pride Initiative), advocates for the rights of the LGBT community, serves as a safe meeting location for several LGBT organizations, and hosts seminars, educational meetings and social events. All of our groups and activities encourage the inclusion of diversity from within the LGBT community.

Akron Children's Hospital - Center for Gender Affirming Medicine  Provides care to individuals up to 25 years of age. 215 W. Bowery St., Akron, OH 44308. Phone: 330-543-8538

BRAVO - Buckeye Regional Anti-Violence Organization  Provides support and services to members of the LGBTQ+ community who are survivors of hate/bias violence, discrimination, sexual assault, and more. Phone: 1-866-862-7286

Cleveland Clinic Center for LGBT Care  Chagrin Falls Family Health Center - 551 E. Washington St. Phone: 440-893-9393. Lakewood Family Health Center - 16215 Madison Ave. Phone: 216-521-4400

Equality Ohio  Equality Ohio works towards transforming legal systems and institutions to ensure equality for LGBTQ+ Ohioans. They also have a Legal Clinic. 

Equitas Health Akron  636 W. Exchange St. (Next to the Post Office), Akron, OH 44302. Phone: 330-409-9505

GLSEN Northeast Ohio  The Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN) offers support and resources for LGBTQ+ students (high school and below), and works to ensure safe school for all students. 

MetroHealth Pride Network  Provides care for LGBTQ+ adults and children. Adult Primary and Gender Care: 216-957-4905. Kids Primary Care and Kids Gender Team: 216-778-8564

Summa Health Pride Clinic  1260 Independence Ave., Akron, OH 44310. Phone: 234-867-7740

Greater Cleveland LGBT community links Cleveland has a wealth of resources for gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, and transsexual residents, and this site has links to many of them. Read here about community centers, college centers, and community outreach programs for the Greater Cleveland LGBT community as well as their family and friends.

The Bayard Rustin LGBTQIA Resource Center The Bayard Rustin LGBTQIA Center is a non-profit organization based in New Jersey. They have partnered with the Akron AIDS Collaborative. Read here about their mission and the work they are doing. 

Below are national resources providing services to residents all over the entire U.S. Please email us at lgbtqsc@kent.edu if there are any other relevant national resources we should add to the list. 

Campus Pride The national website for LGBT issues in higher education. Campus Pride represents the only national nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization for student leaders and campus groups working to create a safer college environment for LGBT students. The organization is a volunteer-driven network "for" and "by" student leaders. The primary objective of Campus Pride is to develop necessary resources, programs and services to support LGBT and ally students on college campuses across the United States.

The Princeton Review Survey is a company that specializes in test preparation courses and admissions consulting, also ranks "gay friendly" universities. Students can go to the Review's Web site or get a printed survey form, where one question asks whether they think students, faculty and administrators at their university treat people equally "regardless of their sexual orientation and gender identity/expression."

National Coalition for LGBT Health National Coalition for LGBT Health is committed to improving the health and well-being of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals through federal advocacy that is focused on research, policy, education, and training.

The ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) LGBT Project The ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) LGBT Project fights discrimination and moves public opinion through the courts, legislatures and public education across five issue areas: Relationships, Youth & Schools, Parenting, Gender Identity and Expression and Discrimination in Employment, Housing and other areas.

National Gay & Lesbian Hotline  The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender (GLBT) National Help Center is a non-profit organization that provides vital peer-support, community connections and resource information to people with questions regarding sexual orientation and/or gender identity. Utilizing a diverse group of GLBT volunteers, we operate two national hotlines as well as private, volunteer one-to-one online chat, that helps both youth and adults with coming-out issues, safer-sex information, school bullying, family concerns, relationship problems and a lot more. Please call if you need to talk 1-888-843-4564

The Trevor Project  Founded in 1998 by the creators of the Academy Award®-winning short film TREVOR, The Trevor Project is the leading national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) young people ages 13-24.  The Trevor Project is a national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning (LGBTQ) young people ages 13-24.  The Trevor Project has a 24 Hour Crisis Line: 1-866-488-7386

Human Rights Campaign  As the largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans, the Human Rights Campaign represents a force of more than 1.5 million members and supporters nationwide — all committed to making HRC's vision a reality.  HRC envisions a world where lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people are embraced as full members of society at home, at work and in every community.

National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Foundation  The National LGBTQ Task Force advances full freedom, justice and equality for LGBTQ people. We’re building a future where everyone is free to be themselves in every aspect of their lives. Today, despite all the progress we’ve made to end discrimination, millions of LGBTQ people face barriers in every aspect of their lives: in housing, employment, healthcare, retirement, and basic human rights. These barriers must go. That’s why the Task Force is training and mobilizing millions of activists across our nation to deliver a world where you can be you.

It Gets Better Project  The It Gets Better Project is a non-profit global movement working towards creating a better life for LGBTQ+ youth across the world.

Matthew Shepard Foundation  The Matthew Shepard Foundation was created in honor of Matthew Shepard after he died as a result of a hate crime. The non-profit works to inspire individuals, communities, and organizations to ensure the safety, visibility, and inclusiveness of LGBTQ+ individuals.