By Greg Hernandez Sitting at a table near the back of Pride Hall, K.A. Lalsingh tucked in to her second piece of peach cobblier with “perfect crust” during the Gospel Brunch event that brought joyful inspiration to the Los Angeles LGBT Center last Saturday. “It’s billed as a Gospel Brunch but it is really a family reunion,” Lalsingh said. “It feels so good to be here in person. All the wonderful acts, the camaraderie, the fellowship, the blending of cultures is wonderful.” More than 100 people attended the indoor-outdoor event that took over the Center’s Pride Hall and the adjacent…
Author: Greg Hernandez
By Greg Hernandez When President Joe Biden signed the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) into law last week, it was a dream come true for Los Angeles LGBT Center Chief Impact Officer Terra Russell-Slavin. The VAWA Reauthorization Act of 2022 made history as the first federal legislation to create a stand-alone grant program specific to the LGBTQ community. “In policy, you can go a long time without big wins — this is a very big win,” says Russell-Slavin, who had steadfastly worked for six years on the reauthorization. The long-stalled legislation was part of the omnibus appropriations bill and reauthorizes…
By Greg Hernandez Angela Echeverria’s face broke into a big smile when she saw volunteer Alex Walker unexpectedly walking up the driveway of the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Pride Pantry last Friday. Echeverria, the Center’s associate director of Facilities, oversees operations of the pantry and in recent weeks has been concerned over the dwindling number of volunteers available to help out at the Pantry. “I love helping my community in any way I can,” Walker told LGBT News Now. “People still need help especially now that food prices are rising. It’s very eye-opening to see the world outside of my…
By Greg Hernandez Since Jake Harkey lives just two blocks away from the Liberation Coffee House, he finds himself dropping by the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s retail café most weekdays. And he doesn’t keep returning just for the coffee. “The décor is definitely one of the reasons why I always come here,” Harkey says. “I love the vibe, I love the look, and I want my place to look like this. I also love the historical pictures, the colors, the mix of textures, and play with shape.” Judges of Architect Magazine’s inaugural Architecture & Interiors Awards clearly agree. They have…
By Greg Hernandez Steven Abeyta picks up the free lunch in the courtyard outside of the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Senior Center about three times a week. Last Wednesday, he was pleasantly surprised to find a farmers market had also been set up in the courtyard and he enthusiastically began selecting some fresh fruits and vegetables to take home. “I’m vegan so this is great,” Abeyta said. “I grabbed green beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, strawberries, squash, a melon, and some mushrooms.” The Center’s Senior Services has teamed up with Seeds of Hope, a ministry of the Episcopal…
It was seven years ago that I decided to make a career change by leaving a corporate job to work at the Center. I was initially hired by Senior Services and now work in Information technology (IT). The variety of the work and projects is part of why I enjoy being part of IT. I oversee the planning, scheduling and delivery management of the Center’s information systems application solutions. I’ve worked with almost every department at this point on such things as client databases, event registrations, e-mail and text communications, check-in kiosks, online user portals, and more. The COVID-19 pandemic was…
By Greg Hernandez Sonja Brenna will never forget the day she went to the grocery store to pick up a few items. She was “feeling beautiful” with her long blond hair flowing and her make-up applied with great care. After ringing up her purchases, the male cashier casually said to Brenna, “Thank you, sir.” “I wasn’t paying attention to my voice,” the transgender woman recalls. “It was kind of a shock and it was the first time I thought to myself, ‘I’ve got to do work on it.’” While the misgendering at the grocery store was painful, it set off…
By Greg Hernandez It was 16 years ago when Ana Esquivel last took part in AIDS/LifeCycle, the 545-mile bike ride that benefits the HIV/AIDS-related services of the Los Angeles LGBT Center and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. “I originally did the ride because my uncle died of AIDS in the 1980s and I rode in his honor,” Esquivel shared Saturday at the 2022 AIDS/LifeCycle SoCal Expo in Griffith Park. “I’ve been wanting to do it again.” The COVID-19 pandemic had forced the 2020 and 2021 in-person rides to be cancelled but the world’s largest single event HIV/AIDS fundraiser is set…
I started attending online Center group meetings during the early months of the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020 for emotional support and to try to make new friends. I found an amazing bunch of wonderful, kind, lovely human beings that together create such joyful and supportive spaces. Having a chronic illness can sometimes make it hard to find new friends in general. But the world shifting more towards online groups and meetings over the course of the pandemic has personally been truly transformative for me, giving me a chance to socialize and find community even when I’m alone in my bedroom.…
By Greg Hernandez A chance meeting in a hotel lobby three years ago between AJay Komosinski and Paul Nicholls during the White Party Palm Springs weekend resulted in their teaming up for a pair of “Legendary” birthday parties benefitting the Los Angeles LGBT Center. The pair, joined by Komosinski’s husband Karl Wood, recently presented the Center’s incoming Chief Executive Officer Joe Hollendoner with a check for the $35,000 raised at a Legendary Ajay Foundation event held last November. “For my 60th birthday in 2019, I wanted to do something more than just have a party with all my friends,” Komosinski…