I had been looking for ways to help the LGBTQ community specifically because it is my community. I saw that the Center had opportunities for volunteers who could make food deliveries to clients’ homes from Pride Pantry. I’ve always loved to help, and I love to drive. So, delivering groceries and seeing different areas of my city has been really fun. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, my interactions with the clients I’m delivering groceries to is pretty limited, but I really enjoy seeing the Center staff and other drivers every week. Volunteering at the Center has provided me with a schedule…
Author: Greg Hernandez
By Greg Hernandez The fact that 1 in 4 Black trans women are living with HIV and may not even know it is one of the biggest factors that drives Blossom C. Brown in her job as a Health Services Linkage to Care Coordinator for the Los Angeles LGBT Center. “The call to action for me is to continue to reach out more to Black trans women who are dealing with HIV,” Brown said during a March 17 TogetherRide In Conversation virtual event moderated by San Francisco AIDS Foundation’s Chief Advancement Officer Russell D. Roybal. Brown shared her thoughts on…
When Rebecca Levison’s mother died last year after contracting COVID-19, the educator and her wife, Kathleen Sullivan, were suddenly faced with some decisions to make about her inheritance. Since they were both former employees of the Los Angeles LGBT Center and have remained donors, they decided to also include the Center in their estate plan through its Circle of Life program. “We’re not spring chickens but we’re also not very old,” Levison pointed out. “It’s kind of surprising to be working on an estate plan and thinking about the will and where money is going. Unfortunately, this life event has caused…
I worked at the Los Angeles LGBT Center for eight years and then I moved away from Los Angeles. I knew if I ever returned to L.A., which I did five years later, I wanted to also return to the Center. My heart has always belonged at the Center because not only is it my community, but also I have been able to see it grow into the amazing organization that it is today. The pandemic has shown me that, at the Center, we are survivors and will push through any challenge we face. My motto is “Make it Work,”…
One day while delivering groceries for Pride Pantry, I stopped at the address given to me. It was an old, rundown commercial building. Getting out and looking around, I prepared to go on to my next delivery thinking there was a mistake in the address. Just then, a woman my age came up and asked if I was with the Pride Pantry. She said she used that building’s address and, pointing to an old broken-down car, she said, “That’s where I live.” That was one of the most moving experiences I’ve had since I began occasionally volunteering for various events…
By Greg Hernandez The Los Angeles LGBT Center joined a multi-racial coalition of civil and human rights leaders on Wednesday to speak out against the dramatic rise in hate crimes against the Asian/Pacific Islander (API) community over the past year. “The Center is here today to stand up against hate—to stand up against the attacks against our API siblings, including API members of the LGBTQ community,” the Center’s Director of Policy and Community Building Terra Russell-Slavin said during a morning press conference on the steps of the Los Angeles County Hall of Administration which included Asian Americans Advancing Justice LA…
By Greg Hernandez When Lauren Flans agreed to become co-facilitator of the Center’s popular HerStories social networking group, she never expected one of the participants to be videoconferencing from France. When the COVID-19 pandemic prevented in-person meetings to continue being held at the Center’s Village at Ed Gould Plaza, the group, geared for LBTQ women who seek great conversation, began meeting online. And word spread—around the country and the world. “We just had no idea it would take off and continue. We have people from Arizona and Texas, and we have this amazing woman who wakes up at 4 a.m.…
While in Chicago preparing to film another season of Showtime’s The Chi, cast members Jasmine Davis and Miriam A. Hyman found time to participate in the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s annual celebration of Black History Month known as The Future is Black. During their captivating virtual conversation, the pair opened up about LGBTQ representation on their own show, and on television overall, and shared powerful words of wisdom. “I love what Showtime and The Chi are doing. We’re opening people’s eyes to life, co-existing with others,” said Davis, who plays Imani, the show’s first transgender character. “That’s our job to…
I needed to spread my wings as a trans woman and working at the Center has allowed me to increase the size of what I consider to be my family. Through the ups and downs I have faced in my life, I have gotten to see just how much community means to me. Before I got here, I felt very much alone in my journey. Now, I have the opportunity to get to know myself more by connecting with colleagues and members of the community. At the start of the pandemic, it quickly became evident that our team needed to…
National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is an occasion observed each year on March 10. The Center’s Audre Lorde Health Program Medical Director Kaiyti Duffy writes about much-needed progress in the areas of prevention and awareness. Over the past several years, there have been significant advances in medications available to prevent and treat HIV. We are now at the point where an end to the HIV endemic is possible. But we must engage allthose at risk for or living with HIV in services, including women and girls, in order to achieve this. HIV continues to carry significant stigma and…