Head of LGBTQ center leaving
Jeff Rindler is stepping down as executive director of the Hudson Valley LGBTQ Community Center in Uptown Kingston after four years at the helm.
Rindler announced his resignation, effective Sept. 30, in a statement Thursday, saying he needs to care for his ailing mother.
Rindler joined the center in May 2016 as director of programming. He became executive director three months later.
“The center, when I got here, was this jewel on Wall Street” that provided essential support services and programs to members of the LGBTQ community, Rindler said in an interview Thursday. “I saw there was much more opportunity for us to advocate, but on a local, regional and statewide level.”
Over the past four years, Rindler has raised the voice and presence of the center in the community and in the region, securing for the LGBTQ community a place on numerous advisory councils and boards and in community groups.
In 2018, the Hudson Valley LGBTQ Community Center was the recipient of the Ulster County Regional Chamber of Commerce’s “Commitment to Community” honor.
“It warmed my heart to see how welcomed we were at the table and how people wanted us to be there, they wanted to hear from the LGBTQ community,” Rindler said. “Kingston and Ulster County is an extraordinary place, as is Dutchess and Orange counties, and people wanted us there. They wanted our help.”
During Rindler’s tenure, the budget of the center has more than doubled, and the number of programs for LGBTQ youths has tripled. The center also has doubled its offerings for the TGNC (transgender and gender nonconforming) community and created new programs for older LGBTQ adults.
Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan said Rindler’s departure from the center “will leave big shoes to fill.”
“I think the world of Jeff,” Ryan said Friday. “I think he’s been an incredible leader for the organization. I thank him for his tireless advocacy and service.”
The Hudson Valley LGBTQ
Community Center opened at 300 Wall St. in Uptown Kingston in 2007, but the organization was formed in 2005, a year after then-village of New Paltz Mayor Jason West performed two dozen samesex “solemnization” ceremonies when same-sex marriage still was illegal in New York state.
The center provides advocacy, programs and services to the LGBTQ+ communities in Ulster, Dutchess and Orange counties.