The ‘connecticuT View’ (or cTView) has been in existence for 20 years, a 10 year segment from 1982-1992 and restarted again in 1994 to now,  2005. We tried to hold  motel meetings, but it was costly and when only a few members attended it was cost prohibitive. When a lot of members attended, we couldn’t fit everyone into one room, and we had to sit on the bed, the bureau and lean against the walls. It just didn’t work.

We tried holding meetings on Saturdays only, but a few members wanted us to hold meetings on different days, so we tried Wednesdays and then Thursdays…and we found we received the smallest participation of about 2-3 people, so we went back to Saturdays. We also tried holding motel meetings in different parts of the state. We held them in New London, Hartford, New Milford, Fairfield, Wallingford, Milford, and Stamford, and  found that we averaged about 8 members per meeting…BUT it was the same 8 members plus or minus one or two, so all we were doing was the same group was traveling around the state to meet…which made no sense.

We contacted the Triangle Community Center in Norwalk, and held a few meetings there. We then called the New Haven Gay and Lesbian Community Center to see if they had facility for us and they were thrilled to have a Transgender group join them to fill out their GLBT. (Gay/Lesbian/Bi/Transgender)

The facility is a large brick building of two stories, in which a multitude of GLBT groups meet and fill a calendar of use, nearly every day and evening during each month. We chose the 3^rd Saturday of every month as our meeting date, and we have been meeting there for the past 5 years, 12 months a year, from 8 until the last person leaves. We do open the doors at 6 or 7 PM do that if anyone needs to dress at the site they may use one of our two private rooms or our two spotless bathrooms. On occasion there might be another group in a different part of the building, but it hasn’t been a big problem in the past. In addition, there is a bar in the right bottom side of the building, but we haven’t had any problems. I think this might be an opportunity for us to visit the bar and introduce ourselves to them and hopefully have a place to party after meetings. 

To get to our meeting room/s, you enter the main doors, enter a 20 x 20’ lobby, go straight to the elevator and go up one flight. Exit the elevator and turn right. The first doors you come to are those of our meeting rooms. Please enter and you will find a living room setting of three couches, 4 over stuffed chairs, a 48” television and sound system, a computer area and library and plants, three rooms all having couches and chairs, plus a pool table, kitchen, table and chairs, refrigerator, microwave, stove, sink…God, what else do we need.

For all of this, we MUST pay the NHGLCC rental of $3./person per meeting. Therefore, we charge each TG who attends $5. so we can have $2. to buy refreshments. Most of the time we have coffee, soda, tea, and snacks like cookies, cupcakes, pies and cakes, pizza, lasagna, meatballs and spaghetti…or whatever anyone cares to bring.

We would like to have a speaker or some planned activity scheduled each month. In the past we have kicked off our Year in September by holding an Outreach Transgender Seminar. The last one had 40 people attend, including professional Drs./Psychologists and Endocrinologist. (By the way…some of these people are also members of the club, though they are not TGs, they are there to serve us if we need medical help, hormone therapy, psychological help etc.) We usually have some kind of Halloween activity and of course our annual Xmas Pot Luck Supper and Sing-a-Long. We have an occasional Makeup night, or Electrologist speak, but we also enjoy just sitting around and chewing the fat. Oooopps…ladies don’t do that do they. We sit and chat, have our tea and cookies and just enjoy being feminine.

Clothing is optional, no I don’t mean you can wear clothes or not. I mean, you usually can wear anything you like. BUT we prefer that you respect us as we you, and wear something proper for the evening.  Leather and whips are for Leather Night.  If you like ultra minis, please be sure you tuck your privates away and cross your legs. After all this is a meeting of women. Oh, and if you smoke, you are allowed to do so, in the hallway outside the meeting room doors. The NHGLCC allows us to bring limited wine and beer, at your own risk. Any other alcoholic beverages will not be allowed.

After the meeting, everything must be cleaned up, coffee maker cleaned, garbage bagged and thrown into a dumpster outside and the rug vacuumed if we made any mess. That’s not too much to ask, but it can be if everyone runs out and leaves the last girl to do it all. So, please plan on doing your part and we can clean up in 10 minutes.

Once again, those who brought their clothes, makeup and wig, can now avail themselves of the bathrooms to wash up and evolve into their male selves.

You will notice that we have not talked about the address of the meeting place. You can find it on the secure pages listed as Member Directory, which also has directions to the meeting site as well as copies of our last 5 monthly newsletters. A code is necessary to enter this section.

Please take a second to look at pictures of one of our meetings and the facilities. We’ll try to take more pictures of all the rooms, but this should give you an idea of the comfort and secure level of the facility. Oh yes, parking. We are off street fenced in parking in a lit lot which can house probably 80 cars. Only steps away from the front door.

Please take that first step and enjoy the safety of our facility. We have worked hard to protect you, and if you don’t ‘come out’, you might be in that closet for life. It’s yourchoice. If you have questions that have not been answered, please read our other pages.