staff bios
Peggy Borgstede, President
Peggy Borgstede has always found a way to give back to the gay community through her work with faith-based institutions. She and her partner of 11 years, Kathy Green, have been active in Westchester County sponsoring a series of gay symposium and, working with Memorial United Methodist Church, established the Safe Space covenant group which enabled local gay organizations to meet at the church, usually free of charge. This evolved into an Interfaith LGBTQ Group consisting of seven member churches and two temples. During her years as a resident of New York City, Peggy was a SAGE volunteer, visiting homebound gay seniors; she served on coop boards and has been active in several assemblyman campaigns.
In 2005, Peggy and Kathy attended Metropolitan Community Church where they first became aware of the plight of LGBTQ homeless youth. They were moved to create the Interfaith Task Force to raise the awareness of people of faith to the crises of homeless LGBTQ youth in New York City. They partnered with Empire Pride Agenda’s Pride in the Pulpit program to host a meeting where people could visit Sylvia’s Place, a groundbreaking facility for LGBTQ homeless.
Peggy is the owner of Best Bookeeping, Inc., which she opened 12 years ago, serving bookkeeping and tax clients in New York City and Westchester County. She holds a BA in Psychology and an MBA in Finance from NYU’s Graduate School of Business, where she was the first female student body president.
Kathy Green, Vice President
Kathy Green has a long history of working with faith-based institutions for social justice. She was moved by the plight of LGBT homeless youth to create the Interfaith Task Force on LGBTQ Homeless Youth to raise the awareness of people of faith to the crises of homeless youth in New York City.
With her partner, Peggy Borgstede, she created the LGBT Covenant Group at Memorial United Methodist Church in White Plains, which later evolved into The Westchester LGBT Interfaith Partnership. The organization hosted a conference for LGBT seniors offering seminars on LGBT senior issues with representatives from lower Westchester groups and local government liaisons. The group also launched a yearly interfaith service for the LBGT community during Pride Month at the Universal Unitarian Church in White Plains, and a monthly Safe Space prayer service at Memorial United Methodist Church.
Kathy came out at age 45. A lifelong resident of Yonkers, she joined the Loft, the LGBT Center in White Plains, where she served on the board for four years. During her tenure, she lobbied Albany for gay rights, increased fundraising efforts, developed organizational planning methods, and strengthened the non-profit’s fiscal responsibility. The mother of a son with cerebral palsy, Kathy has also been involved with a task force dedicated to bringing awareness to the exclusion of people with disabilities within church communities. Working with United Cerebral Palsy in Harrison, New York, she helped raise $75,000 for a new playground for children with disabilities.
