Hurricane Irma on Saturday damaged an LGBT community center in central Cuba.

Victor Manuel Dueñas and his family live in the house in the town of Santo Domingo in which the Centro Comunitario de Cultura is located.

Dueñas told the Washington Blade early Monday in an email that Irma damaged the roof and walls. He said Irma also caused damage to the front of his house in which he and other local advocates were planning to open a press center and events space.

Dueñas told the Blade the town has been without electricity for three days. He said Irma has also cut Internet access, which was limited before the hurricane.

“We hope to receive help from abroad,” Dueñas told the Blade. “But the most important thing is life and this has been preserved. Our project will continue despite these difficulties and shortcomings.”

Dueñas and other advocates who support the community center work independently of Mariela Castro, the daughter of Cuban President Raúl Castro who directs Cuba’s National Center for Sexual Education and spearheads LGBT-specific issues on the Communist island. Read more via Washington Blade