Earlier this year, Carrie Diona believed people in the LGBTQ+ community in Barnegat Township needed a safe space. The result was her forming Barnegat Pride, which she said has been very well-received. It also recently attained 501(3)(c) nonprofit status.

“We have around 300 members,” said Diona, “not just people in Barnegat, but other communities as well.”

Diona serves as director. Other executive committee members include Patricia Clark Brescia, vice president; Gianetta Post, treasurer; Caleb Keckler, secretary; Lisa Mazzola, community and corporate outreach director; and Daniel Hoffman, youth director.

“Daniel will be entering his senior year at Barnegat High School in September,” Diona said. “He is a key component because he could reach out to the younger people who may be struggling with gender identity issues.”

She said the group meets on the third Thursday of each month at the Barnegat Recreation Center in the municipal complex on West Bay Avenue at 6:30 p.m.

“We start out with our executive committee meeting, and when that is over, we have a time for socialization and support,” she said. “It has given people an opportunity to make new friends.”

”I am an ally, a mother and a safe adult to many kids who came out to me during my 15 years of working in the Barnegat School District,” Brescia said. “I’ve been a member of the Barnegat community for 22-plus years, and there are a lot of good people in this little town. I work with them, I’m neighbors with them and go to church with them, and we raised our children together. I like it here. Is it perfect? No. But not because the majority of the townsfolk are sewn with division.