I work from home for the healthcare industry so volunteering at the Center has gotten me out of the house, made me more social, and helped me grow as a person. In addition to working at the Center’s various special events, I work a weekly shift at The Village at Ed Gould Plaza’s front desk, and I co-facilitate the ¡Hablemos! social network discussion group twice a month at the Center’s Mi Centro in Boyle Heights. I decided to become a volunteer because I wanted to give back to my community. I have always enjoyed being of service and feel it’s a…
Author: Greg Hernandez
I’ve worked with seniors for over a decade, and I knew early on I’d want to work for the Center’s Senior Services one day. One of my career goals was to work directly with LGBTQ older adults in a more hands-on manner. During graduate school, I was ecstatic for being accepted as a Senior Services intern in 2016. A position opened upon the completion of my internship, and I was fortunate the team wanted me to join them as a staff member. Working at the Center has helped me to see that, although I sometimes feel like I’ve reached my goal…
By Greg Hernandez “Just show up.” That was the simple advice panelist Marquita Thomas had for those attending the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s recent Big Queer Convo which discussed the realities faced by lesbian, bisexual, and queer women in the workplace. “One of the problems is that we all wait for someone else to do the work,” observed Thomas, executive director of the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. “We all need to personally take responsibility and like [the late U.S. Congressman] Elijah Cummings said: ‘Fight till you die.’” The Big Queer Convo series is part of a…
Held this year at the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Village at Ed Gould Plaza on Thursday, November 7, the 11th annual job fair for trans, non-binary and intersex people is occurring at a time when the employment needs of this population are firmly in the spotlight. “There is a bit of a cultural shift happening right now,” observes Eden Anaï Luna, manager of the Center’s Transgender Economic Empowerment Project (TEEP), which is co-hosting the event with the City of West Hollywood and Citi Community Development. “For example, Patricia Arquette spoke out at the Emmy Awards for more job security for…
It was National Coming Out Day and David Parke Epstein was busy putting the finishing touches on his colorful coming out-themed art sculpture titled Whatever It Takes to Be Free. The work included people figures made out of wine cork and tiny signs which read “Gay Liberation Front,” “Gay Rights Now!” and “Make Love Not War.” “This is about the excitement of being gay,” Epstein explained before an evening reception at the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Pride Hall on October 11. “It’s looking back at who I was in 1973. I was 23. It was four years after Stonewall, and…
Growing up as an LGBT+ youth in the South, there were not many options for developing relationships within the community. It was ultimately that need for connection and visibility that made me want to work at the Los Angeles LGBT Center. Working at the Center has given me the courage to live my life authentically. Now as an out and proud transgender man, I am excited to see what the future holds for me and how I can use my story to be visible for those who can’t. After I was hired, I found out my uncle was one of…
By Greg Hernandez Comedian Kathy Griffin didn’t seem to mind that she had to introduce U.S. Congressman Adam Schiff twice at the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s 50th anniversary dinner on September 21. The first time, the busy lawmaker had not yet entered the event (dubbed the Gold Anniversary Vanguard Celebration) held underneath a giant tent at the Roosevelt Golf Course located across the street from the iconic Greek Theatre. Schiff, who, as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, has emerged as a driving force of Democratic lawmakers’ impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump, may have been a few minutes late,…
By Greg Hernandez Actor-writer-comic D’Lo has played fictional characters on such television shows as Looking, Transparent, Sense 8, Mr. Robot, and Eastsiders. But in his newest solo stage show To T, or not To T?, an intimate reflection on taking testosterone and his experiences with transitioning, the Sri Lankan Tamil-American performer is entirely himself. The show plays at the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Davidson/Valenti Theatre each weekend in October. “This is an offering to all of my communities: queer, trans people of color, immigrant, anybody who has been on the margins,” he tells LGBT News Now. “It’s my way of…
By Greg Hernandez As he sat in his seat inside the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Renberg Theatre watching the documentary United in Anger: A History of ACT UP, Michael Arrigo kept flashing back to his life as a man living with HIV in the 1980s. “I was sure I was going to be a panel on a quilt or just another statistic by now,” the 64-year-old said after the movie which tells the story of the AIDS activist movement from the perspectives of the people who were in the trenches fighting the epidemic. “It brought back a lot of familiar,…
By Greg Hernandez Cartoonist Tara Madison Avery doesn’t mince words when she describes being part of the bisexual community: “We are still considered the unloved child of the LGBTQ.” “We are behind the curve in the LGBTQ community in terms of legitimacy and status and having access to resources that other groups have acquired,” Avery said during the History of the Bi+ Movement panel at the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Renberg Theatre. The Center’s Brandon Burciaga and Geri-Lynn Cesar moderated a discussion on September 11 that touched on biphobia, bi-erasure, binaries, terminologies, and the bi+ movement. Avery was joined on…