Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT center names new director, and she … – The Morning Call

Ashley Coleman is ready for the tough job of being a voice for one of the Lehigh Valley’s marginalized groups, she showed in her introduction Monday as executive director of Allentown’s Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center.

Coleman, who grew up in Emmaus and previously was an LGBTQ advocate in Philadelphia, said her first goal was to brainstorm with the staff and community about pressing needs.

“I want to hear, ‘What do we need right now?’ And I’m excited to not only make those changes, but to build with you. Let’s create together. Let’s get our hands dirty,” she said.

What she said next is a good indication of what kind of leader Coleman is going to be for the region’s LGBTQ community.

“And let’s kind of give it to those folks that don’t want to see us all succeed,” she said. “Collectively, we are going to succeed and make sure that we are safe and secure and taking care of one another.”

Coleman has big shoes to fill to replace Bradbury-Sullivan’s founding executive director, Adrian Shanker.

Shanker led the center since it opened in 2014. He built it into a resource that gained state and national prominence before he resigned early last year to take a similar role in California. Shanker since has joined the Biden administration as a senior adviser on LGBTQ health equity.

Bill McGlinn served as Bradbury-Sullivan’s interim executive director during the search for Shanker’s successor. He said of Coleman on Monday:

“She has a deep understanding of the role an LGBTQ+ community center can play in advancing the health and well-being of the complex and wondrous community we are privileged to serve. I have complete confidence in Ashley’s readiness and ability to serve as an inspirational leader and assist in realizing the next chapter of our center.”

Coleman previously served as executive director at Galaei in Philadelphia, which defines itself as a “radical social justice organization” for queer, trans, Black, Indigenous and people of color. She also was senior events manager at Mazzoni Center, an LGBTQ health care organization in Philadelphia.

She learned to be an advocate when she was 13, as a middle schooler in Emmaus in 1997.

She worked with her school to create an LGBTQ youth group, and then worked to build a youth group at Emmaus High School.

“It was difficult at first,” she told me. “It was also during a time period where you couldn’t bring a same-sex partner into the prom. So I had to go and get special permission to bring my girlfriend to the prom with me and I got that taken care of. Now we’re seeing so much progress in the last 20 years, which has been really incredible. There’s so much more we can do.”

Coleman, who has moved back to the Lehigh Valley, said she wants to work with schools to create unified gay-straight alliances where students from different districts can come together. She said it’s important for students to have a place where they can connect and feel safe.

“It changed my life,” she told me. “Being at LGBTQ centers … saved my life and changed my life. It made me the woman I am today.”

Coleman said during the news conference that she accepted the position at Bradbury-Sullivan because she was impressed with the center, the staff and the community.

She said she had never been in the building before applying for the post, and when she got there, “It felt like a big hug. I felt like it was home.”

She is back home, where her advocacy started decades ago. And now she’s in a position to do much, much more, for many more people.

Morning Call columnist Paul Muschick can be reached at 610-820-6582 or paul.muschick@mcall.com

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