When Ayda Parsa moved to Montgomery County from Iran two years ago, she was frustrated. As a trans woman, she was pleased by the region’s laws protecting her access to health care but struggled to find community. She felt isolated.

“There are LGBTQ+ flags everywhere, but there isn’t a single person to talk to,” Parsa said. “I couldn’t find anyone who looked like me.”

She’d wanted to participate in Thanksgiving as part of her new American life, so when she saw a post on social media advertising the MoCo Pride Center’s Chosen Family Thanksgiving dinner last month, she was intrigued. She attended the event in hopes of meeting other queer people.

It was a success. Parsa met her first queer friends in the area and had a safe space to celebrate the holiday. Now she’s looking forward to spending Christmas Day at the Pride Center with her chosen queer family.

“I’d much rather be at any party with my own LGBT family rather than going to another family who has nothing to do with me,” Parsa said.

The MoCo Pride Center has been operating in Montgomery County since 2017 but didn’t have a physical space until August, when it opened in the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Services Center in downtown Bethesda.

MoCo Pride Center CEO Phillip Alexander Downie said the organization started hosting the dinners this year to provide a safe space for queer people who don’t have family or friends to spend the holidays with, whether due to a lack of acceptance of their identity or physical distance.

“Our chosen family dinners have been absolutely fabulous, and we provide that as another affirming safe space, to reduce isolation, to ensure that people have community,” Downie said.

Downie said the new physical center has made it easier for the organization to bring the LGBTQIA+ community together for events.

Lyric Brown, who works for the Pride Center, organizes the chosen family dinners. He said he planned for 25 people for Thanksgiving and 50 showed up. Several of them were new to the Pride Center.

“I was blown away,” Brown said. “We had people who came from as far as Baltimore just because they needed a safe, affirming space to spend the holiday.”

The dinners are donated and catered by Botanero, a small-plates restaurant in Rockville, and include vegetarian and vegan options to accommodate dietary restrictions.

Brown said the guests range in their personal experiences. Some attendees came to support the event in addition to their own family dinners, while others were experiencing homelessness.

Brown was inspired by how people from diverse backgrounds who hadn’t met before could come together over a shared meal to form friendships.

“I think the theme of the night was just appreciation and gratitude for each other,” Brown said. “At the end of the dinner, everyone just seemed happier.”

It’s also an opportunity to connect community members in need with resources, Brown said. At the Thanksgiving dinner, the Pride Center distributed “survival kits” — packages of basic health and wellness supplies and necessities — to people with limited finances and access to health care.

Brown is excited for the Christmas dinner, for which he expects at least 75 attendees. The popularity of Thanksgiving encouraged him to up the ante for Christmas. He said there will be a surprise special guest, but he can’t announce who it is yet.

But for people like Parsa the real highlight isn’t the food or decorations — it’s being among other queer people who bond over common experiences.

“I’ve come out of the loneliness I had in Maryland, now that I have [the Pride Center],” Parsa said. “Our people are being harmed and harassed, and we need places like this. We need to be around people who are just like us.”

The MoCo Pride Center’s Chosen Family Holiday Dinner will be held from 2-5:30 p.m. Thursday at the center’s office at 4805 Edgemoor Lane in Bethesda. Register to attend here.