User:John D. Allen, Ed.D./Rainbow Support Group for LGBT People with Intellectual Disabilities

The Rainbow Support Group (RSG) is an unprecedented social and support group for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or questioning. All components of the sexual minority community are represented---gay men, lesbian women, and people that identify as bisexual and transgender.

Transgender is an umbrella term that refers to people that cross-dress, including males that wear feminine clothing and females that wear masculine clothing. It also includes people that are in various stages of having gender reassignment surgery, or become transsexual. RSG includes a 55 year old male member that identifies as heterosexual, has a girlfriend, and yet has cross-dressed his entire life.

RSG is not a dating service, but just like any other social group, members are able to develop friendships outside of the meetings. As members become more comfortable with one another over time, they have begun friendships outside of the group.

The group meets monthly at the New Haven Pride Center Center in West Haven, Connecticut. There are several reasons to meet at the gay center. As the focal point for gay life in Southern Connecticut, the Center hosts many other social and support groups and publishes a newsletter, a web site, and produces many events during the year.

At the very least, the Center offers the members an opportunity to be part of a community. For some, the time spent in the Center is their only gay experience, so it is not an insignificant detail. The Center is a clearinghouse for gay literature, periodicals and has a bulletin board for community postings.

The Center is also home to many other groups and activities, which members are free to access on their own and indeed do. There are movie nights with current videos shown on a large screen television, dances, other groups and holiday parties. Through the RSG, the Center is more user-friendly for the primary reason that the members have developed their own friends and a new reason to be in the space. When new members first attend, there is a visible sense of satisfaction displayed on their expressions with a feeling that, “I’ve come home, I’ve found others that think like me. I’m not alone.”