The Final Community Center 1992-1997
It wasn’t until four years later that Common Bond Community Center finally moved into a new location – 4013 Silver Avenue SE, a half block east of Morningside, next to Sisters’ and Brothers’ Bookstore. Opened in May 1992, the new location was over twice the size of the Tulane Center.
During the first weeks of April, a team of volunteers spent many hours knocking down walls, patching holes, painting and decorating the new center. It included a large entry area, two large meeting rooms, an office/library, counseling room, kitchen area, two restrooms and a large storage room. The largest room, which could accommodate upwards of 60 people, had a small stage for lectures, workshops and entertainment. In addition to a small rear parking area, there was plenty of street parking in front, and the building was wheelchair accessible. A few blocks away were the Albuquerque Social Club and New Mexico AIDS Services. Less than a block to the west was Morningside Park where the Pride Parade began at that time.
In the entry lobby there was a wall for posting information, announcements and community news. The rest of that area was used to display the work by artists in the community -- every month a new artist presented their talent. This gallery also offered a permanent exhibition of crafts by people living with AIDS.
During the first weeks of April, a team of volunteers spent many hours knocking down walls, patching holes, painting and decorating the new center. It included a large entry area, two large meeting rooms, an office/library, counseling room, kitchen area, two restrooms and a large storage room. The largest room, which could accommodate upwards of 60 people, had a small stage for lectures, workshops and entertainment. In addition to a small rear parking area, there was plenty of street parking in front, and the building was wheelchair accessible. A few blocks away were the Albuquerque Social Club and New Mexico AIDS Services. Less than a block to the west was Morningside Park where the Pride Parade began at that time.
In the entry lobby there was a wall for posting information, announcements and community news. The rest of that area was used to display the work by artists in the community -- every month a new artist presented their talent. This gallery also offered a permanent exhibition of crafts by people living with AIDS.
One of the first users of the largest room at Silver SE was the Upfront Theater Company, an on-going writer’s group at the Community Center with plans to present plays, poetry readings and small theater pieces, and conduct on-going acting workshops.
By July of 1992, the volunteer staff had expanded operation of the Community Center into the daylight hours. The Center was now open Tuesday through Thursday from 1-10 pm, Friday from 1 to midnight and Saturday through Monday 7-10 pm. This decision came in response to the community’s requests for daytime use of the facilities, a high daytime demand on the Center’s lesbigay information line, and a desire on the part of the board of directors to turn the Center’s art gallery into a full-time working gallery.
To help defray the operating costs of the Silver Avenue Center, Common Bond leased a room to Blue Angel Video from July 1994 through August 1996. The first such service in New Mexico, the store was a project of David McLaughlin and his partner Michael Pryde. McLaughlin had operated Common Bond’s Sunday Night at the Movies for many years and had participated behind the scenes at Albuquerque’s annual Lesbian and Gay Film Festival. Blue Angel opened with about a hundred VHS titles and added new films every month.
“We have the classics, like The Lost Language of Cranes and Desert Hearts, but we also have lots of things that you can’t find at other video stores,” McLaughlin said. “I’m trying to encourage people to be adventurous in what they watch, so we have a lot of European films and some things that have only played the festivals.”
However, by September 1994, community apathy and disgruntlement hung over the Community Center like a black cloud. As reported in Roy Reini’s Out! magazine, there was a daunting list of needs at Common Bond.
● Financial support
● Between 6 and 12 people on rotation to open and close the Center, and to be hosts to groups and visitors.
● A bookkeeper
● An activities committee of 5 people
● A volunteers coordinator
● A Board President
● A maintenance person or handy person
● A cleaning person or group
● A communications person
● A fundraising committee
Fortunately, after Common Bond’s September 24th annual meeting of members, a new board of directors was installed with PJ Sedillo, President; Leonard Baca, Treasurer; Will Wroda, Membership & Newsletter Director; Jim Effinger, Vice President & Secretary; Avi Milstein, Youth Director; and Jeremy Apodaca and Kelly Rea, Fundraising Directors. The new board was one of the youngest in recent years, averaging age 27.
Plans were in the works to add to the existing groups in order to improve outreach for the Community Center. The Activities Committee and the Communications Committee were seen as essential to restoring Common Bond’s relevancy. “The new Common Bond wants to be a place for everyone in the state’s gay, lesbian and bi community.”
Two years later, in September 1996, a new twelve-person board of directors was elected by the members of Common Bond. Fifty-five percent of members voted in that year’s election—the majority of them with mail-in ballots. The new board was David O’Donaghue, President; Lin Marksbury, Vice President; Theresa Rylander, Secretary; Lisa Wisdom, Treasurer; Stan Estoll, Membership; Bernie Cardell, Activities; Shane Phelan, Education; Lillian Mueller, Fundraising; Leonard Baca, Facilities; Pepe Salmon, Information Line; Steve Ridlon, Communications, and Mick Burke, Community Awareness.
During the first meeting of the new board, they reviewed a list of 49 key community organizations, and all board members volunteered to serve as a liaison to at least one group on the list. The board’s goal was to welcome and affirm the diversity of Albuquerque’s lesbian, bisexual and gay community, so that everyone could feel part of the “family” at Common Bond.
At that time Common Bond members received a mailed 8-page newsletter every month, as well as borrowing privileges at the re-cataloged and reopened Russell D. Gray Jr. Memorial Library which now contained over 1,600 books about the gay and lesbian experience.
Sadly, the existence of a LGBTQ+ community center in Albuquerque ultimately came to an end due to the imminent inability to meet the financial obligations of $1,500 a month. It officially closed on October 14, 1997. Writing in Out! magazine, Steve Ridlon, Common Bond’s Communications Coordinator said, “Although it pains me to see the Community Center close, I accept it as a reflection of changing times and changing priorities in Albuquerque’s lesbigay community. Common Bond was the birthplace of many of the community’s most thriving organizations, but as those organizations grew and matured, they found other locations that better suited their size and membership.”
“What I’ve found disappointing is the attitude expressed by so many of the people we tried to recruit for a 1997-98 Board of Directors—that the Center did not matter to them personally, or that it had nothing to offer them. Clearly the need for a place for the continual stream of people beginning their coming out process and for gays and lesbians to congregate and socialize in a smoke-free, alcohol-free environment has not ended.”
”Although finding people interested in serving on the Board of Directors was one reason the Center has closed, the fact that the Center and neighboring Sisters’ and Brothers’ Bookstore have been the target of four burglaries within the last month hastened the closure. The thefts caused the loss of much of Common Bond’s equipment, as well as thousands of dollars of merchandise at Sisters’ and Brothers’.”
“Those of us remaining as a Volunteer Board are still committed to the ideals for which Common Bond was founded – and to the motto ‘forging unity in our diversity.’ We will not be abandoning all of our functions. The Under 21 Group will be moved, and we will eventually be able to provide other services to the community.”
“The Community Resources Database will be updated quarterly and distributed to all the groups and organizations which make up the Greater Albuquerque lesbigay community. The need did not go away – only the people who were willing to make it happen.”
Ian Gioseffi, one of the founders of RISCLEE (the Royal Imperial Sovereign Court of the Land of Enchantment), said, ‘It is disheartening to see such a vital community asset dissolved. Disinterest and apathy are the enemies of a healthy gay community.”
Virtually all of the Community Center’s furniture, equipment and fixtures remained in the community. It was donated to Emmanuel Community Church, Metropolitan Community Church of Albuquerque, St. Stephen’s Parish, RISCLEE, MPower, Albuquerque Gay & Lesbian Parade and Pridefest, and the Coalition for Gay & Lesbian Rights in New Mexico.
For 13 years, Common Bond had provided Albuquerque’s LGBTQ+ community with friendly, safe meeting spaces. Thanks to volunteer Karl Nowosel, Common Bond’s Information Line continued to operate into 2010.
By July of 1992, the volunteer staff had expanded operation of the Community Center into the daylight hours. The Center was now open Tuesday through Thursday from 1-10 pm, Friday from 1 to midnight and Saturday through Monday 7-10 pm. This decision came in response to the community’s requests for daytime use of the facilities, a high daytime demand on the Center’s lesbigay information line, and a desire on the part of the board of directors to turn the Center’s art gallery into a full-time working gallery.
To help defray the operating costs of the Silver Avenue Center, Common Bond leased a room to Blue Angel Video from July 1994 through August 1996. The first such service in New Mexico, the store was a project of David McLaughlin and his partner Michael Pryde. McLaughlin had operated Common Bond’s Sunday Night at the Movies for many years and had participated behind the scenes at Albuquerque’s annual Lesbian and Gay Film Festival. Blue Angel opened with about a hundred VHS titles and added new films every month.
“We have the classics, like The Lost Language of Cranes and Desert Hearts, but we also have lots of things that you can’t find at other video stores,” McLaughlin said. “I’m trying to encourage people to be adventurous in what they watch, so we have a lot of European films and some things that have only played the festivals.”
However, by September 1994, community apathy and disgruntlement hung over the Community Center like a black cloud. As reported in Roy Reini’s Out! magazine, there was a daunting list of needs at Common Bond.
● Financial support
● Between 6 and 12 people on rotation to open and close the Center, and to be hosts to groups and visitors.
● A bookkeeper
● An activities committee of 5 people
● A volunteers coordinator
● A Board President
● A maintenance person or handy person
● A cleaning person or group
● A communications person
● A fundraising committee
Fortunately, after Common Bond’s September 24th annual meeting of members, a new board of directors was installed with PJ Sedillo, President; Leonard Baca, Treasurer; Will Wroda, Membership & Newsletter Director; Jim Effinger, Vice President & Secretary; Avi Milstein, Youth Director; and Jeremy Apodaca and Kelly Rea, Fundraising Directors. The new board was one of the youngest in recent years, averaging age 27.
Plans were in the works to add to the existing groups in order to improve outreach for the Community Center. The Activities Committee and the Communications Committee were seen as essential to restoring Common Bond’s relevancy. “The new Common Bond wants to be a place for everyone in the state’s gay, lesbian and bi community.”
Two years later, in September 1996, a new twelve-person board of directors was elected by the members of Common Bond. Fifty-five percent of members voted in that year’s election—the majority of them with mail-in ballots. The new board was David O’Donaghue, President; Lin Marksbury, Vice President; Theresa Rylander, Secretary; Lisa Wisdom, Treasurer; Stan Estoll, Membership; Bernie Cardell, Activities; Shane Phelan, Education; Lillian Mueller, Fundraising; Leonard Baca, Facilities; Pepe Salmon, Information Line; Steve Ridlon, Communications, and Mick Burke, Community Awareness.
During the first meeting of the new board, they reviewed a list of 49 key community organizations, and all board members volunteered to serve as a liaison to at least one group on the list. The board’s goal was to welcome and affirm the diversity of Albuquerque’s lesbian, bisexual and gay community, so that everyone could feel part of the “family” at Common Bond.
At that time Common Bond members received a mailed 8-page newsletter every month, as well as borrowing privileges at the re-cataloged and reopened Russell D. Gray Jr. Memorial Library which now contained over 1,600 books about the gay and lesbian experience.
Sadly, the existence of a LGBTQ+ community center in Albuquerque ultimately came to an end due to the imminent inability to meet the financial obligations of $1,500 a month. It officially closed on October 14, 1997. Writing in Out! magazine, Steve Ridlon, Common Bond’s Communications Coordinator said, “Although it pains me to see the Community Center close, I accept it as a reflection of changing times and changing priorities in Albuquerque’s lesbigay community. Common Bond was the birthplace of many of the community’s most thriving organizations, but as those organizations grew and matured, they found other locations that better suited their size and membership.”
“What I’ve found disappointing is the attitude expressed by so many of the people we tried to recruit for a 1997-98 Board of Directors—that the Center did not matter to them personally, or that it had nothing to offer them. Clearly the need for a place for the continual stream of people beginning their coming out process and for gays and lesbians to congregate and socialize in a smoke-free, alcohol-free environment has not ended.”
”Although finding people interested in serving on the Board of Directors was one reason the Center has closed, the fact that the Center and neighboring Sisters’ and Brothers’ Bookstore have been the target of four burglaries within the last month hastened the closure. The thefts caused the loss of much of Common Bond’s equipment, as well as thousands of dollars of merchandise at Sisters’ and Brothers’.”
“Those of us remaining as a Volunteer Board are still committed to the ideals for which Common Bond was founded – and to the motto ‘forging unity in our diversity.’ We will not be abandoning all of our functions. The Under 21 Group will be moved, and we will eventually be able to provide other services to the community.”
“The Community Resources Database will be updated quarterly and distributed to all the groups and organizations which make up the Greater Albuquerque lesbigay community. The need did not go away – only the people who were willing to make it happen.”
Ian Gioseffi, one of the founders of RISCLEE (the Royal Imperial Sovereign Court of the Land of Enchantment), said, ‘It is disheartening to see such a vital community asset dissolved. Disinterest and apathy are the enemies of a healthy gay community.”
Virtually all of the Community Center’s furniture, equipment and fixtures remained in the community. It was donated to Emmanuel Community Church, Metropolitan Community Church of Albuquerque, St. Stephen’s Parish, RISCLEE, MPower, Albuquerque Gay & Lesbian Parade and Pridefest, and the Coalition for Gay & Lesbian Rights in New Mexico.
For 13 years, Common Bond had provided Albuquerque’s LGBTQ+ community with friendly, safe meeting spaces. Thanks to volunteer Karl Nowosel, Common Bond’s Information Line continued to operate into 2010.
This history is a LIVING DOCUMENT based on many volunteer hours of research and conversations with community members who have been part of Common Bond over the years. If you have any corrections or suggested additions, please contact us.
Thanks to passionate collector Bennett Hammer and LGBTQ+ archivist Barbara Korbal, an extensive collection of the Common Bond Ink newsletter and the subsequent Out! magazine are available at the Center for Southwest Research in the UNM Zimmerman Library. Both publications were produced by Roy Reini and we are deeply indebted to all those involved in those publications for providing us with a chronological framework and many essential details in preparing this first dedicated history of Common Bond.
Information on this website was obtained from first and second-hand accounts and may not constitute the most up-to-date or factual information. Any reference or links to other third-party sources are only for the convenience of the reader, user or browser. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed by third parties belong solely to the author, and are not necessarily shared by Common Bond New Mexico Foundation.
Thanks to passionate collector Bennett Hammer and LGBTQ+ archivist Barbara Korbal, an extensive collection of the Common Bond Ink newsletter and the subsequent Out! magazine are available at the Center for Southwest Research in the UNM Zimmerman Library. Both publications were produced by Roy Reini and we are deeply indebted to all those involved in those publications for providing us with a chronological framework and many essential details in preparing this first dedicated history of Common Bond.
Information on this website was obtained from first and second-hand accounts and may not constitute the most up-to-date or factual information. Any reference or links to other third-party sources are only for the convenience of the reader, user or browser. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed by third parties belong solely to the author, and are not necessarily shared by Common Bond New Mexico Foundation.