The Stony Brook Southampton Hospital’s David E. Rogers Center, which provides care to people with HIV/AIDS on the East End, will be renamed the Edith Windsor Center in 2019 to honor the life and legacy of the LGBT rights pioneer.
With the new name, the hospital also plans to move the center to a new facility in Hampton Bays next year.
“The leadership of the hospital felt that Edith was both an iconic figure in American history and a friend of our hospital, and her passing meant to lot to our community,” said Steven Bernstein, chief development officer at the hospital. “It’s the right thing to do.”
The David E. Rogers Center provides outpatient medical and mental health care, support services and HIV testing to people living with HIV/AIDS, as well as education and outreach services to the community.
Edith Windsor was a Southampton resident and civil rights activist who paved the way for same-sex marriage in the United States. She led the landmark 2013 U.S. Supreme Court case “United States v. Windsor,” which challenged the constitutionality of the federal Defense of Marriage Act. Its victory opened the door to nationwide marriage equality.
She died in 2017 at 88, leaving behind her wife, Judith Kasen-Windsor.
Mr. Bernstein said that the hospital wants to raise more than $1 million for the center to move from its current location in Southampton to a new facility in Hampton Bays in 2019, as well as to support its existing programs and expand its range of services. He said that the extra resources and ongoing support are needed on the East End.
Mr. Bernstein added that the hospital, which is putting together a fundraising plan right now, hopes to use the fundraising efforts “as a vehicle to promote our image, talk about what we do, what our mission is going to be moving forward, and garner new friends and funds to support those programs.”
The announcement came last week amid the hospital’s major revamping efforts to transform the East End’s health care landscape, including plans to move to a brand new $300 million hospital on the Stony Brook Southampton campus, and to open both a satellite emergency room facility in East Hampton and a cancer treatment center on County Road 39 in Southampton.
In addition to the renaming, the center will also offer a new annual award to someone who represents Ms. Windsor’s dedication to social justice and LGBT rights. The award will be presented at the annual Edie’s Backyard BBQ on Memorial Day weekend in Southampton, hosted by the LGBT Network.
“I think it’s great that they’re honoring [Ms. Windsor’s] life and legacy. If she were here, I think she’d be thrilled that the hospital is doing that,” said Adam Grossman, chairman of the Southampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals, and also a board member and co-chair of East End Gay Organization, adding that he knew Ms. Windsor personally.
Mr. Grossman was one of the first patients at the Rogers Center when it opened in 1994 at its previous location in East Hampton, and is considered one of the center’s long-term survivors. He spoke highly of the center’s staff and services, and said that expansion would be great for the community.
When he was first diagnosed, treatment currently available was not around back then.
“It was a different universe at that time than it is today,” he said. “When it had initially started, they were just treating people who were dying. I easily could’ve been one of those people—but, luckily, I made it.”
Staff Writer on Dec 10, 2018