Pride Center Galveston Builds a Safe, Social Space for LGBTQ Community

When Brandt Matthew Molitor first walked into the old pharmacy building on 39th Street in Galveston, he wasn’t just seeing bricks and mortar—he was envisioning a space where everyone could be themselves in a safe haven for the LGBTQ community.

A Navy veteran, former teacher, and advocate for LGBTQ asylum seekers, Molitor’s life has been rooted in service. His legacy now continues through Pride Center Galveston, a new community hub created to fill a void on the island.

“We didn’t have a community service center here,” Molitor says.

That realization, paired with his background in activism and housing, drove Molitor to turn the building—originally purchased with his former partner—into something deeply personal and needed.

“I chose to continue on with it, thinking that he might rejoin the marriage,” he says. “He has not. So, this project has had to reflect more me than what we were as a couple.”

The 1924 building has a long history of community use—from AA meetings to after-school programs—and Molitor saw an opportunity to build on that legacy. “It already kind of had a legacy of service to the neighborhood,” he explains, “so when I came in here, it was a matter of figuring out what we were going to do in this space.”

Approaching one year since opening in September 2024, Pride Center Galveston is more than just an idea—it’s a growing network. It began with the Galveston Gay Chorus, which started meeting before the building was even open. “We started forming our first group back in June of last year,” Molitor says. “It doesn’t matter how rough a week you’ve had, when you come into that chorus group, it’s a reset.”

Now, the center offers everything from a coffeehouse-style lounge to a redesigned speakeasy space with both alcoholic and nonalcoholic options, mindful of those in recovery. Upstairs, several bedrooms are being converted into affordable long-term rentals for those in need, including veterans and people referred by local housing agencies.

“It’s co-housing,” Molitor explains. “There’s safety in numbers. Our community has some needs.”

The center’s goal is simple: to foster connection. “We need better social friendship connections on the island because you can’t get anything done by yourself,” Molitor says. “You have to have friends that help you.”

Inspired by his work with asylum seekers in Massachusetts—where he and his then-partner helped house LGBTQ refugees in collaboration with a local church—Molitor has long believed in community through shared experience. That belief fuels everything the Pride Center does.

“When it comes down to it, it’s about community and friendship,” he says. “Helping one another.”

Now Molitor is calling on the larger Galveston community to help shape the center’s future. “I’m hoping more people will host events here as they see the space and experience it,” he says. “I don’t want to lead every event, I want others to make it their own.”

Even the building’s location, just a few minutes’ walk from Galveston College and Ball High School, was chosen with clear intention. 

“For locals, it would be easy enough to get to when they learn about it,” Molitor says.

Of all the challenges he’s faced—renovating a historic building, managing evolving programming—Molitor says the hardest part has been personal. “This is the first time I’ve had to do a project completely on my own,” he says. “That was tough. But now at least I have friends here, with the groups we’ve got.”

As the Pride Center approaches its one-year mark, Molitor is staying grounded in his mission and hopeful for what’s next.

“I want people to come here and make a new friend,” he says. “That’s really it. That’s the heart of it.”

For more information, visit pridecentergalveston.org