A number of grassroots organizations supporting suburban Boston’s LGBT community say they are having to “make do” when it comes to programming, without having a space to call their own.

Whether it’s a night at the Arlington Center for the Arts, or perhaps an afternoon at the Robbins Library, one local advocate said a designated space for LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) programming is vital.

Anna Watson, president of the Mystic LGBTQ+ Youth Support Network or Queer Mystic, said her group has joined a number of local groups in a search for a permanent home for regional LGBT programming.

“There is a lot of hope and desire for this kind of meeting place,” she said.

Watson said Boston had a space like this in the 1990s, but it has since been closed. She didn’t know the exact reason, but speculated equal marriage played a part.

“I think it [closing] may have something to do with complacency, probably in part with equal marriage,” she said.

Watson said a community center like this has always been something in the back of her mind, though recent events have spurred action.

“We need each other more than ever, especially after Orlando,” she said.

There are more than 150 LGBT community centers across the United States, according to CenterLink.

Watson said the western suburbs of Boston are in need of a center to provide support, especially to youth who receive mixed messaging. Area youth are often told being LGBT is acceptable, though their experiences don’t match that, Watson said.

“In the suburbs there continues to be this disconnect between message and lived experience,” she said.

In the early planning stages for this center, Watson said the group is looking to find a location in the western suburbs of Boston. She mentioned Arlington, Lexington and Belmont as a few potential locations.

She imagined the space providing support, offering social activities, teaching sexual education and supplying sexually transmitted disease testing.

“It would be this vibrant, wonderful, colorful place where we would be able to let our imaginations run wild,” she said.

Her overarching goal is to find a permanent space for programming and guidance for the LGBT community in the Boston suburbs.

“I can’t begin to say how lifesaving these queer spaces are,” she said.

In order to get this community center space off the ground, Watson said she’s looking for graphic designers, public relations professionals and lawyers to potentially help launch a nonprofit organization to fund the center.