Erin Garcia arrived at the Mountain Top Library in Tannersville on Wednesday, Oct. 14, with a deck of cards.

Card games make good icebreakers.

“Everybody likes cards,” Garcia said.

Garcia, 25, of Mount Tremper, is a nonbinary lesbian and uses they/them pronouns. They’re leading a weekly support group for LGBTQ+ adults at the library at 6093 Main St.

The idea derived from Garcia’s work as a certified recovery peer advocate for Mountain Top Cares Coalition in nearby Haines Falls. After leading an addiction-focused youth group at the library, Garcia wanted to host an LGBTQ+ group, too.

“It’s a large area with such a small population, so people are kind of isolated,” they said. “After graduating high school and living in such a small town it may seem like you’re the only queer person that exists in that little bubble. That’s really not true, because there’s gay people everywhere you look.”

The group meets Wednesdays at 1:30 p.m. and is open to adults 20 and older. The first session was sparsely attended, and Garcia said they hope to get the word out so more participants join.

“I knew I wanted to start with an age group that I knew I would be comfortable with,” Garcia said. “I eventually want to work more towards working with queer youth, but for now I’m doing 20 plus. It’s kind of harder to work with people younger than 18 because it could create different problems. They might not be out to their parents. I don’t want to be outing anyone, ever.”

The group will focus on conversation, with activities such as arts and crafts shaped by participants’ interests.

“I definitely want it to be mostly group-led,” Garcia said. “I’m going to try and integrate some activities, really just whatever my vibe is. It’s really based on whatever people seem to need. I’ll just be listening to what people are looking for and seeing what I can do to make that happen.”

From Mount Tremper to the Greene County mountaintop, life as an LGBTQ+ person can be isolating, Garcia said. Forging friendships and building connections can help.

“I want to find people who have the same feelings as me, because no experience is an alone experience,” they said.

Garcia’s group joins other LGBTQ+ community groups in Greene County. Greene County Pride hosts queer youth clubs and parent support groups at the Cairo Public Library and the Prattsville Art Center. The Maetreum of Cybele, a pagan church and communal property in Palenville, hosts a “Trans Cafe” centered on the transgender community.

Rural areas pose particular challenges for LGBTQ+ young people, according to the nonprofit The Trevor Project. Its analysis of a 2025 nationwide mental health survey found that 64% of LGBTQ+ respondents in rural areas reported recent symptoms of anxiety, while 51% reported symptoms of depression.

Among rural respondents, 43% had considered suicide in the previous year, compared with 33% of those living in a large city. In rural areas, 13% reported attempting suicide during that period.

Rural respondents also reported higher rates of discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, as well as being threatened with or subjected to conversion therapy. The organization identified barriers including a shortage of providers trained in LGBTQ+-affirming care, stigma, anti-LGBTQ+ policies, and social and geographic isolation.

Advocates across the Catskills have encountered these challenges.

Gene Fischer, a gay filmmaker and photographer living in Woodstock, has spent more than a decade documenting the lives of Ashlee, James, and Amy, three transgender friends in Ellenville. His work explores what it means to be working class and transgender in rural America.

Fischer’s documentaries “Passing Ellenville” and “All About Amy” have screened internationally and won awards at the Woodstock and Williamsburg film festivals. He’s developing a feature documentary, “Transcending Ellenville,” bringing together footage he has shot since 2012.

Fischer recalled the bullying James, a transgender man, and Ashlee, a transgender woman, faced.

“They couldn’t stay in school because they were getting bullied too much,” he said. “It’s just this vicious cycle. There was no community group like what Erin’s doing in Tannersville. There was nothing.”

James and Ashlee found support in Amy, an older transgender woman who took them under her wing. Mentors, Fischer said, are an essential source of support for LGBTQ+ youth in rural areas.

“She was like a mother to these kids,” he said.

Fischer compared Amy’s support to the work of the LGBTQ+ Center in Kingston.

“Amy was doing that for these two people because there was nothing else,” he said.

Offering support and acceptance in a small town can mean the world, said Zack Tashoff and Jade Goodman, co-founders of Greene County Pride. Tashoff uses they/them pronouns and lives in Catskill with Goodman, who uses she/her pronouns.

“I grew up in Rockland County, so I grew up with the Rockland County Pride Center and a bunch of queer resources that saved my life growing up,” Goodman said. “When we first moved up to Greene County in the village of Catskill, we noticed there’s not a lot of explicitly queer spaces for adults or young people.”

Organizing youth support groups in Cairo and Prattsville has brought challenges, Goodman said.

“We post all of our things on local Facebook groups to get it to as many people as possible,” she said. “Especially on the mountain, we’ve gotten death threats. People call us pedophiles, just crazy things.”

Participants have been thankful for the support, Tashoff said.

“We have a couple youths who show up every single time,” they said. “Prattsville is really far out there. There are just as many wonderful queer folks who need support there as well. They don’t have easy access to really any resources, especially considering their nearest hospital is an hour away.”

More advocacy work in Greene County is needed, Tashoff said. Meeting LGBTQ+ people can change the perspectives of those who hold preconceived notions about them.

“When they finally do meet people like us, they realize that actually queer people aren’t a scary group of people,” they said. “There’s no reason to be hateful or afraid of a particular group of people.”

Garcia hopes their group can help build that acceptance on the mountaintop.

“I hope people feel comfortable being out and proud in a small community when it might seem like you’re alone,” they said.

Connor Greco is a staff reporter for The Overlook covering Windham, Hunter, and surrounding Greene County communities. Send correspondence to connor@theoverlooknews.com.