The coronavirus pandemic has changed life for all of us, with no one certain of what the next day, or even the next hour, may bring.

In New Jersey, our lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community has found itself particularly hard-hit by the the economic, mental and emotional impact of COVID-19.

“Pretty much every queer person I know is an artist, and I watched every queer person I know lose their job overnight," said Alexandra Abene of Guttenberg.

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Abene, who is pansexual, is among the artists out of work due to the pandemic; she was one of the resident costume designers for Manhattan immersive theater blockbuster "Sleep No More," which announced its closure on March 13 following New York governor Andrew Cuomo's order closing all Broadway theaters.

The sweeping societal changes also shuttering retail stores and restaurants have cost plenty of artists their side jobs that supported their creative pursuits, Abene noted.

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“Unless you worked an office job which, again, a lot of queer people don’t, you don’t have a job anymore," said Abene. "It’s really scary and you don’t even know if after this ends if that retail store, that restaurant, is still going to be there or if they’d even hire you back, if they even have the means.”

It's an experience mirrored by that of Asbury Park's Eric Pinckney; due to coronavirus Pinckey, one of the more public voices of Asbury Park's gay scene, has lost his job as a food and beverage supervisor at Asbury Lanes and The Asbury hotel, as well as his gigs as drag queen Miss Savannah Georgia. He can't report to his third job, working at a local Planet Fitness gym, either.

"I think it’s a nervous time for a lot of people. I deal with anxiety and all that. If you have to go through all that extra stuff it's really nerve-wracking," Pinckney told the Asbury Park Press.

More than 155,000 people filed unemployment claims in New Jersey from March 15 to 21, the week that businesses were told to close and residents were advised to stay home. That figure was an increase of nearly 2,000 percent from the same week in 2019.

By Monday, March 30, there were more than 16,000 cases of coronavirus in New Jersey and 198 known deaths in the state.

The LGBTQ population is particularly vulnerable to the coronavirus due to increased tobacco use (50 percent higher than the rates of the general population); a greater chance of compromised immune systems due to higher rates of HIV and cancer; and continued discrimination, unwelcome attitudes and a lack of understanding from health care providers and staff.

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This three-fold cause of heightened vulnerability was laid out in an open letter initiated by the National LGBT Cancer Network; GLMA Health Professionals Advancing LGBTQ Equality; Whitman-Walker Health; SAGE (a national organization that works with LGBT elders); New York Transgender Advocacy Group; and the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance. The letter was co-signed by more than 100 local and national organizations, including Asbury Park-based Garden State Equality.

Michael Migliore of Jackson, who has worked as a nurse at CentraState Medical Center in Freehold since 2013, is currently also working at the coronavirus testing site at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel. And Migliore, who is gay, said the particular vulnerability of his community weighs on him as he does his job.

“On social media, when I see people doing something they shouldn’t be doing, I try to call them out but people are taking it lightly," Migliore said.

Take, as one case, an individual Migliore recently exchanged words with online.

"I told one person they shouldn’t be, in New York City for example, at the park with eight other people, working out, this is how it spreads. And mind you, there are people in the video walking by," Migliore explained. "And instead of saying, ‘Wow, thanks, you work in friggin’ healthcare, you should know what you’re talking about,’ his only words were for me to go (expletive deleted) myself.”

'We are there to help'

Garden State Equality, the LGBTQ education and advocacy organization, has seen an increase in calls from residents facing eviction, youth who feel unsafe in their homes, and older adults worried about accessing health services, according to executive director Christian Fuscarino.

“In a normal day Garden State Equality and LGBTQ community centers are resources for our community to navigate normal life," said Fuscarino. "And then when you’re looking at a pandemic, these same organizations exist to represent and be resources for the community.”

These days, Fuscarino explained, that means remotely connecting with people to explain their rights relating to possible eviction; under a March 19 law and executive order signed by Gov. Phil Murphy, New Jersey residents cannot be evicted or lose their homes to foreclosure during the pandemic.

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Garden State Equality's Safe Schools team is also working with the organization's network of educators to discuss creative ways to continue engaging with and supporting youth.

The issue of isolation affects people of many different generations, according to Gordon Sauer, a retired teacher and the president of Morristown-based Gay Activist Alliance in Morris County, or GAAMC.

Sauer is also an affiliate leader for the Jersey City chapter of SAGE, and a professional development coordinatior for the Central New Jersey chapter of GLSEN, which works with young people and aims to make schools safer for LGBTQ kids.

“At home, they may have to be totally closeted or if they have a situation that is tense at home because of their sexual identity, gender orientation, whatever it may be, it’s really now amplified because they’re at home all the time," said Sauer. "They may not have necessarily the contact or the opportunity to reach out to supportive people.”

Fuscarino stressed that for the most dire situations, the state has reminded people to report child abuse to 877-NJ ABUSE. SAGE has an LGBT elder hotline, 877-360-LGBT, for older adults to have confidential discussions with caring people to get information on supportive agencies and basic needs.

“Hotlines are nothing new to this community," said Seth Rainess, an author, activist and transgender life coach who serves as a facilitator for PFLAG Jersey Shore.

PFLAG works to facilitate comfort, information and discussion related to LGBTQ issues in a safe and confidential environment, and works with LGBTQ people as well as their parents, other family members and allies. Rainess said people usually call hotlines before coming in for a face-to-face meeting.

"We’re there, and we’ve been there, and the hotlines have been there for years," said Rainess. "And we just try and encourage that right now at this time, if we can’t meet face-to-face.”

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“Continue to reach out," said PFLAG Jersey Shore president William Placek. "Just because we’re psychically isolated does not mean that we have to be personally and emotionally isolated. (Know) that we are there to help, and sometimes you just need to speak to somebody that can kind of understand where you’re coming from.”

On a national front, PFLAG connected with its community online to mark Transgender Day of Visibility on Tuesday, March 31, by launching the social media campaign #TransKids #SoFierce to support transgender kids and call attention to anti-trans bills.

QSpot, the longtime community center in the Ocean Grove area of Neptune, and the Pride Center of New Jersey in Highland Park have been closed to the public since March 12.

Out in Jersey magazine informed its readers on March 24 that copies of its latest issues may be hard to find because many of its more than 250 free distribution locations are closed or operating under limited hours; their content remains accessible online.

Give OUT Day, the national day of giving hosted by Horizon Foundation that purports to have raised more than $6 million for 700-plus LGBTQ organizations since 2013, has been postponed from April 23 to June 30.

“We tried to stay open as long as we could because we have people come in daily, who come in weekly, who come in sporadically, and all of them look forward to the sharing of time, the camaraderie, the community that we’ve built here, and we’re really proud of that and we really wanted to be here," said Robt Seda-Schreiber, chief activist for Princeton's Bayard Rustin Center for Social Justice. The center announced its closure on March 15.

"We eventually realized that keeping our bean bags 6 feet apart was not enough," Seda-Schreiber said. "So sadly we had to close our doors physically, but of course that’s never going to stop us, and the same day we closed our doors physically we opened them virtually.”

The Rustin Center has since launched its nightly Social Justice Power Hour via its Facebook page as a platform for yoga classes, crafting sessions and talks from folks like novelist Ayelet Waldman and transgender youth activist Gavin Grimm.

In the digital space, Seda-Schreiber explained, “We’ve been able to create and explore and give people a bit of solace, a lot of strength and even a bit of entertainment.”

'Struggling to get by'

Along with advocacy organizations, artists are also moving their operations online.

“We’ve always been the kind of nomadic people who are just kind of making our way from one thing to the next, trying to stay afloat," said drag queen Pissi Myles, who grew up in Berkeley Heights and now lives in Somerville. "But when you throw in something as unexpected as a pandemic what do you do?”

Crowd-funding campaigns have been launched to help food service industry workers, there are virtual tip jars for Jersey Shore bartenders and people can send payments to their favorite performers via apps and services such as Venmo, PayPal, Cash App and Facebook.

Myles is also one of several drag performers offering their services on Cameo, a site that lets fans pay for personalized video messages from celebrities. (A Cameo message from Myles costs $10.)

“It’s really leaving it up to the performers, how they want to get out there and create content for people not only to make money for themselves but also to bring some levity to this really awful situation," she said.

In addition to Myles, plenty of New Jersey's drag stars are doing what they can to stay active and maintain a connection with fans.

Cherry Hill's Ariel Versace, a competitor on Season 11 of "RuPaul's Drag Race," has regularly hosted drag brunch festivities at Vera in Cherry Hill; she's now taken the party online, presenting virtual drag brunch gatherings from the comfort of her own kitchen on her YouTube page.

Versace and current "Drag Race" Season 12 competitor Jan, who grew up in Old Bridge, are both taking part in Digital Dragfest. Streaming via Stageit through April 12, the online festival gives viewers the chance to see 30-minute performances for $10 each. Versace's "Bratz Doll Live" airs 4 p.m. Thursday, April 2, and Jan's "Just Jan" happens 10 and 11 p.m. Wednesday, April 1 and 6 p.m. Sunday, April 12.

Pinckney is bringing Miss Savannah Georgia to Facebook for virtual "Cocktails and Conversation" sessions, the next scheduled for around 3 p.m. Saturday, April 4.

“I think everybody’s kind of questioning how they can come out of this and stay relevant and important," said Myles. "And not only that in terms of your career but also because as a performer you develop relationships with the people who come to your shows and you want to make sure that they’re doing well by themselves and that they’re getting through this alright, too. It seems silly to think that having your favorite drag queen tell you to wash your hands or not go outside would make a difference, but to some people it does.

“And if that’s what it takes to inspire people to just hunker down and get through it and trust that in a couple of weeks we’ll all start to rebuild this thing, then that’s all it is.”

Penny Praline of Trenton lost her jobs as a server, bartender and a burlesque performer due to coronavirus restrictions. But as of last week Praline was still reporting to her day job as a pre-school teacher at a child care center working with the children of essential employees.

While her class size had been upwards of 15, “I now have maybe four to five kids in a room at a time," Praline said, "and we’re practicing social distancing with 2- or 3-year-olds, and it’s a really crazy concept for them. They’re having to come into the building and have their temperature taken first thing when they walk in the door. I can’t imagine how scary that must be for a tiny human to be going through.”

Praline recently staged a live go-go set via Instagram for tips on Venmo and Cash App but the performer and educator, who lives with three fellow queer women, said she and the rest of her core group of friends are "all just kind of struggling to get by."

"There's that added stress of (the fact that) I am going into the world every day, coming home, going out, coming home," Praline said. "Am I exposing my roommates to this? But if I stop working, I lose my very-needed health insurance."

The Old Bridge-based rock duo Virago, featuring Amy Schindler on guitar and vocals and her wife Maire Tashjan on drums, saw all of their traditional concerts and work sub-contracting as instructors in schools absolutely stop in recent weeks.

“Every bit of work we had has ceased,” said Schindler.

Meanwhile, the band can't get in on the virtual concert trend yet because Tashjian is still weeks away from finishing work toward her bachelor's degree from New Jersey City University.

The coronavirus hit to those living gig economy life "is devastating to people like us," Schindler said. "I know a good portion of my neighbors right in our little cul-de-sac where we live, they’re still able to do their jobs. Maybe their hours are cut back, but most of them are still working, either from home or on a reduced schedule. I’m like, ‘Wow.’ ”

“My heart goes out to the LGBT people who don’t have a home, who don’t have health insurance, who don’t have a job," added Tashjian. "Amy and I, we’re going through what we’re going through right now. We don’t have income coming in right now, but truly we can manage for a while. I think more of those people who don’t have any resources, who are in need.

"This is such a domino effect: one thing affects the other affects the other, and I think it’s a time where we all just need to stop and do what we can do to help one another because it’s a humanitarian issue, no matter who you are.”

'We can find hope'

Members of the community are finding ways to give back. Jan announced on Instagram that she will be donating half of her tips from Digital Dragfest to gay bars including Therapy Lounge and Industry in Manhattan, and Icon in Astoria, Queens.

Abene is putting her costume designing skills and resources to use; she spoke with us last week after spending the day delivering elastic to friends with sewing machines because New York City's Garment District is closed and they are all making masks for personal use. Abene is also making re-usable, washable masks for a friend who works in an area hospital.

“Personally, I wear a mask when I go everywhere so I don’t touch my face and it just signals to people (that) this is serious, we should all be doing this and taking it seriously and giving each other a wide breadth," she said.

Migliore, the nurse of nearly a decade from Jackson, has some simple yet crucial advice.

“Stay home, wash your hands, and if you appear symptomatic I would self-quarantine," he said, advising that people should only go to the emergency room or an urgent care facility if they are having trouble breathing or can't breathe.

"Besides that, the best thing you can do is stay home, stay hydrated and get your rest,” Migliore said.

Ultimately, there is hope that through solidarity and compassion, the community can persevere through this pandemic together.

“These are obviously dark times, they’re extraordinary times," said the Rustin Center's Seda-Schreiber. "But we always believe here at the center that we can find hope. We can find community. We can find respect. We can find love in any time.”