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Rainbow Rose Center fosters an environment of inclusion, equity, and health where all LGBTQIA+ community members thrive in York and Adams counties. We envision an inclusive community where all individuals of York and Adams counties feel safe and welcome in their everyday lives.

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  • Anonymous

    The Rainbow Rose gave me a voice as an LGBTQ+ youth when I felt very alone and was confused about my identity. Through volunteering, I felt connected to my community and I’ve met other people my age apart of the community who have become important in my life. Without the rainbow rose, I wouldn’t have these valuable connections and I’d still feel alone.

  • Nicole

    Rainbow Rose Center has given me a community where I can be my authentic self and feel seen. This community has been accepting of who I am and I can show up unmasked and be welcomed with kindness.

  • Anonymous

    I was nervous about moving back to the area because I remembered the fear and embarrassment and othering I felt 15-20 years ago. Walking into Pride at the York Fairgrounds a few months later, I was blown away by how many members of the community showed up for us. Rainbow Rose Center created and fostered a welcoming, energized event that while unexpected, felt familiar. I've been grateful for the spaces they've built throughout York the rest of the year and met more of 'my people' through RRC than I'd thought were here. With the Center's backing, I feel empowered to help expand their warmth and resources so that our LGBTQIA+ folks here can embrace their lives more fully and safely than I felt I could in decades past.

  • Chrissy Tobias

    The Rainbow Rose Center is incredibly helpful! I contacted the RRC when I was helping my niece through the process of changing her name to align with her gender identity. They offered amazing advice that was invaluable to making this process much easier. Thank you to this incredible community resource!

  • Anonymous

    My therapist recommended coming to Rainbow Rose activities and I have never felt more seen since starting these groups! It is hard to find other people with LGBTQ+ Identities in York county sometimes, but Rainbow Rose allows for connections you may not get to have otherwise. Going to the young adult group, the art group, and other social activities have been really helpful for my mental health and have helped me open up socially! I have even looked into moderating a group recently! Thank you Rainbow Rose for all that you have done and continue to do!

May 25, 2026

Welcome Our New Intern, Hunter!

byHunter Golder

Hello, everyone! My name is Hunter Golder (he/him), and I’m a brand new intern at the Rainbow Rose Center! 

 

I am a rising senior at Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA. At Dickinson, I double-major in English and Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies. I also double-minor in Creative Writing and Film & Media Studies. My research mainly focuses on post-1800s British and American literature, with a concentration on the Victorian novel, modernist poetry, and the lasting legacy of postmodernism. I’m particularly interested in analyzing these texts using queer theoretical concepts such as heteronormativity, gender performativity, and queer time. All of this to say, I love to read, and I love to write even more!

 

When my nose isn’t in a Brontë novel or an X-Men comic book, you can find me behind the counter of the Dover Starbucks, where I moonlight as a barista. In the year I have worked at Starbucks, I’ve had the privilege of meeting a wide array of individuals from different walks of life. Hearing these people’s stories, I’ve come to learn how much I love getting to know the people in my community. It’s an incredible privilege getting to put names to faces, and then stories to names. I’ve learned about customers’ alma maters, occupations, hobbies—even the names of their grandchildren. One sweet old man comes into our cafe each day to draw birds in his sketchbook. When he sees me, he smiles, greets me by name, and asks me what I’ve been writing lately. This kind of intimacy sustains and nourishes me, even after making twenty matcha lattes in the span of one hour.

 

This is precisely what I seek to find during my internship at the RRC: more stories and more ways to forge meaningful connections. This is why I’m especially looking forward to participating in Teen Tuesdays and Teen Support Groups. As a queer person who grew up in the area myself, I know South Central PA can sometimes feel stifling and isolating. Whether in the winding streets of the city or the vast plains of Pennsyltucky, you can feel like the only queer person west of Philadelphia. I hope to show teens that it does, in fact, get better, and that they always have someone to lean on. I also hope to demonstrate how revolutionary community-making can be in times of political unrest. When democracy is under attack, community is the most powerful tool we have at our disposal. Now, it is up to us to use it!

 

I look forward to getting to know you all more in the coming months. Please keep an eye out for more blog posts from me in the near future! Here’s to the beginning of a wonderful summer! ☀️


 

Talk more soon,

Hunter

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