By Greg Hernandez Before a crowd of nearly 250 spectators, Ryan Wooten bravely shared why the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s first-ever expansion into South Los Angeles means so much to so many people. “A center here in this location means accessibility. It means representation. It means community,” he said at the January 11 grand opening of Center South. When he was younger and diagnosed with HIV, Wooten (pictured above) explained, he would have to take two busses and a train to travel to the Center’s McDonald-Wright Building in Hollywood for treatment. “I remember being on the train. I remember being…
Author: Greg Hernandez
January’s Cervical Health Awareness Month is a good reminder for all people with a cervix to get screened for cervical cancer with a pap and HPV (human papillomavirus) testing. This is especially true for non-heterosexual cisgender women, transgender men, and other transmasculine people who are much less likely to be up-to-date with their screenings. No matter how you identify, what your level of sexual activity is, who your partners are, or whether or not you’ve been vaccinated for HPV, a screening for cervical cancer is still recommended, according to the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Health Services department. Nearly 13,000 cases of cervical…
Volunteering for Legal Services is a way for me to give back to the LGBT community and provide free legal aid to individuals coming from all around the world who have been persecuted. I’m an immigration attorney helping LGBT people to navigate the process of applying for asylum and hopefully get their documents. I also help married couples get green cards when one is a U.S. citizen and the other is not. Also, I volunteer my time twice a month at the Trans Wellness Center and at the Center’s Mi Centro location. I have helped more than 50 people get…
Growing up as part of a middle-class family in Palm Springs, Sue Burnside recalls that the only money which her family ever gave away was at church. “It wasn’t part of my reality,” she said. Burnside—a national political grassroots consultant who has helped LGBT candidates get elected to statewide and local office, such as Los Angeles County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, Los Angeles School Board Member Jackie Goldberg , and former Los Angeles Board of Education member Jeff Horton—has come a long way in her attitude about giving. Several years ago she decided to include the Los Angeles LGBT Center in…
Focused on pursuing ministry work, Camille Araullo’s last day as a staff member at the Los Angeles LGBT Center was January 3. During an emotional sendoff attended by employees of nearly every Center department, Araullo reflected on the 22 years she spent managing and working with selfless and inspiring volunteers. Excerpts from her heartfelt remarks: It has been an incredibly rewarding journey seeing the organization grow from the beacon of hope that it was then into an even brighter one today. I recall the time when there were less than 150 employees at the Center and a few hundred volunteers.…
I had not planned on becoming a Center employee. But the day I walked in to get help with my name and gender marker change, I ended up filling out a job application before I left. I felt as if I already belonged here. Once I started working at the Center, I realized how much I love our mission and everything we do. I’m able to help my community in a very intimate way. My heart becomes filled with love when I see clients get their HIV meds, hormones, housing, therapy, and more. The Center has brought back my confidence…
The weekend before Christmas, a group of 16 LGBT seniors gathered at the Los Angeles LGBT Center to read in public the deeply personal writings they completed during the eight-week My Life is Poetry workshop. The autobiographical poetry ran the gamut with such topics as nostalgic hook-ups, childhood jobs, a wicked stepmother, addiction to chocolate, the presidential impeachment, Karen Carpenter, and Christmas dinner at grandma’s house. Cassandra Christenson (pictured, right) was taking the workshop for the fifteenth time, but the prospect of reading of her poem Seasons of Love in front of more than 40 people inside the Center’s Harry…
By Greg Hernandez The calming voice of instructor Marco Beghin fills an upstairs meeting room at the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Senior Center where the weekly Balance & Strengthening class is taking place. “This is not a place where you can resolve things,” Beghin tells a dozen students as they lie atop yoga mats with their heads propped up by a small stack of books. “You’re just allowing yourself to take time, to be at home with yourself.” In his gentle way, Beghin and two assistants are teaching the seniors how to find balance and core…
By Greg Hernandez Their only assignment at this special event was to have a good time. More than 150 of the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s volunteers had the night off on December 13 when they were treated to an annual appreciation party that included dinner, drinks, and dancing inside Pride Hall at the Anita May Rosenstein Campus. “I feel the love,” said Leka Romao, one of 20 volunteers who received special recognition from various Center departments for their service . “To be a guest and an honoree at this party, it just feels nice. It’s just beautiful.” Historically, the Center…
By Greg Hernandez It was time to make some sales. Inside the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Advocate & Gochis Galleries on December 11, hand-painted T-shirts and sneakers, elaborate hats, paperweights, candles, cards, straws, buttons, and other items covered a series of tables. All of these wares were being sold by 13 entrepreneurs from the Center’s Youth Services and Senior Services who recently graduated from a 12-week program known as Find Your Way (FYW). FYW gives participants a roadmap for setting up their first small business and building the skills and confidence they need to succeed. “Twelve weeks ago, I didn’t…