Center Blog

The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center is pleased to announce the appointment of George Fesser, LMSW, as the new Director of Center Families. George is a graduate of the Columbia University School of Social Work and specializes in work with LGBT families and immigrants. Before taking this new position George worked for four years as the Center’s Coordinator of Substance Abuse Prevention & Immigration Services where he was responsible for coordinating and providing direct support services to LGBT immigrants from over 50 countries.

George also created the Center’s LGBT Immigrant Social Action Group which helps LGBT immigrants learn more about the laws that affect them and how they can use their stories to promote change in a system that does not recognize the unique needs of the LGBT immigrant population.  

Prior to joining the Center, George worked at several well-known agencies in the NYC area, including: Street Work, a program of Safe Horizon, Montefiore Medical Center, The Hispanic AIDS Forum and AID FOR AIDS.  In his 15 years of experience in working with LGBT immigrants he has successfully assisted over 300 LGBT immigrants through the arduous process of asylum application, by providing culturally sensitive emotional support services.

As Director of Center Families, George will be responsible for organizing education and support services for prospective parents and families in the LGBTQ community, as well as overseeing the groundbreaking LGBTQ Foster Care Project. In its almost 20-year history, Center Families has helped thousands of LGBT people who are and would like to be parents, worked to keep together families when they are struggling with their child’s sexual orientation, assisted family-serving agencies such as foster care agencies and educational institutions in meeting the needs of LGBT families and provided opportunities for families to meet safely with one another for socialization, education, community building and empowerment.