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I am a Keene native and a founding member of Keene Pride. I left my hometown in 2005 and spent 16 years in New York City working in the nightlife and entertainment, and technology industries. I returned to Keene in 2021 and found that the LGBTQ+ community was highly under-recognized and underserved. This is how Keene Pride began. I live in Keene nearby my family and am a very happy uncle to four beautiful children.

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Growing up questioning my sexuality and gender identity in a small town in the late 90’s was extremely difficult. I was bullied severely in school to the point of attempting to take my own life at 16. Luckily I survived, but my high school experience left me battered, with little self confidence and no self love. It took me years and many wonderful people coming into my life who truly embraced me and taught me that I was enough; that I deserved love not just from other people but from myself. More…

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I have called the Keene area my home for the majority of my life. Being involved in the community in a meaningful way was instilled in me by my amazing parents at a very young age. All humans deserve to feel safe and comfortable within their own community and that is why Pride is important. I live just outside of Keene with my pack, two cats and two dogs, who I have been fortunate enough to have been adopted by.

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Levi Barrett joined the Board in October 2023. A Keene native, Levi is a licensed CPA who received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in accountancy from Bentley University. After five years in public accounting, he served as Director of Finance at North Bennet Street School, a renowned craft and trade school in Boston for eight years. In June 2023, Levi relocated back to the Monadnock region. He currently works as the Finance Director at MacDowell in Peterborough. In addition to serving on the Board, Levi coordinates Keene Pride's outdoors program.

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Laina Barakat is an Independent Film Writer, Director and Producer. Her film career began with an internship for Either/Or Films during Post Production and Distributions of The Sensation of Sight (David Strathairn, Ian Sommerhalder, Jane Adams, Ann Cusak). The first film she produced, Only Daughter, premiered at Cinequest Film Festival and picked up various awards across the country including Audience Choice Award at New York No Limits, and NH Film of the Year at New Hampshire Film Festival. While working with Kingston Road Pictures in late 2015, Laina Associate and Line-Produced a documentary film in Grand Rapids Michigan called More Art Upstairs, which premiered at Hot Docs in 2017 and won the Audience Choice Award at Tribeca Film Festival. More…

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I grew up in a very small Southern Vermont town. As a teen, I knew that I was gay but didn’t know of any peers in the queer community. I spent several years not accepting myself. At 19, I moved to downtown Keene and began to learn to love who I am. At 23, I met my now spouse and fellow board member, Paulee. We lived in the Keene area for a few years, but now reside with our two dogs in Brattleboro. More…

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My family and I moved to Keene from New Jersey in the late summer of 2022, following a job offer that came at the perfect time, and it didn’t take us long to start falling in love with the town. From rainbow flags on nearly every street, to the bustling downtown and plethora of local activities and events for the whole family, we started getting more and more connected with the people and the community in our new town. As a same sex and interracial couple with two young children, it was really important to us to seek out a community where our family and ourselves would be represented, which brought me to get involved with Keene Pride. I want my children to grow up in a community where all are welcome, and where people, families and love can exist in countless beautiful and authentic ways; and I wanted to be part of establishing and expanding that community in the town we’re now investing our futures into. More….

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Originally from Monmouth County, NJ, Gene is an artist, a chef, and has been the layout editor for Out in Jersey magazine for nearly 20 years. With a history in publishing, advertising, and graphic design, over a decade working in gay nightclubs in Asbury Park (NJ), and five years living in Europe, he moved to Marlborough, NH with his now husband in 2016. Gene began serving the local community almost immediately. He currently chairs the town Zoning board and Monadnock Music's Events committee. Dismayed by the lack of gay life when he first arrived to the area, Gene was eager to get involved with Keene Pride to help build a robust and active LGBTQ community close to home. Gene enjoys entertaining, fine dining, white wine, and is a proud "geek of the highest order" for [most things] sci-fi, fantasy, animation, comic books, and RPGs.

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I was born in Astoria, Queens, NYC. My parents bought a house out in the suburbs on Long Island, NY when I was 4. I grew up there. My childhood was mostly normal middle class, nothing out of the ordinary. I never played sports in school. I was more of a loner and a bit of a nerd and couldn't connect with the jocks in school. I had always liked working with plants and decided to go to school to study Horticulture. I attended the State University of New York at Farmingdale, and received my AAS degree in Ornamental Horticulture in 1982. I worked at many nurseries and garden centers after graduation. I was always in a retail setting. More…