I came to work at the Center because it was a great opportunity to help serve. HIV is still on the rise among people of color — especially black gay and bisexual men. As a black, same-gender loving man, I think it’s the responsibility of all of us to ensure that individuals in our community have access to resources we all need. While working at the Center, it has taught me that there is still a lot of work to be done. It’s also given me hope that change can happen. One word has sparked my interest the most while…
Author: Greg Hernandez
As a volunteer, I’ve really enjoyed helping at events like the Anniversary Gala Vanguard Awards, Simply diVine, and Out Under the Stars movie nights at Hollywood Forever. There are a variety of things to do from cleaning dinner plates to using an iPad in order to sell items in an event’s silent auction. I first got involved with the Center by leading hikes for women 50 years and over. On one of the hikes, someone mentioned Volunteer Services and I showed up for their next orientation. Since then, I have felt more involved in the whole LGBT community different ages…
What do you do if Ellen DeGeneres gives you a giant television? If you’re Alyson Stoner, you gift the gift to the Los Angeles LGBT Center. The Disney Channel alum presented a 65-inch TLC Roku TV to the Center’s Senior Services department on September 11 along with a five-year subscription to Netflix. “I truly don’t even know how to use a television remote or how to use Netflix,” Stoner tells LGBT News Now. “It was a complete surprise, and I thought, ‘How do I reconcile this with my commitment to living simply? The Center came to my mind instantly.” Stoner…
The Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Heart of Gold 50th anniversary concert at the Greek Theatre will feature an star-studded lineup that includes musical performances by Sia, Rufus Wainwright, Jenifer Lewis, Thelma Houston, Ty Herndon, the Gay Men’s Chorus of LA, and Valentina of RuPaul’s Drag Raceand FOX’s live broadcast of Rent. Also taking part in the September 21 concert and multimedia show are Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, Kathy Griffin, Margaret Cho, Queer Eyecast members Karamo Brown and Bobby Berk, Tig Notaro, Nico Santos and Zeke Smith, the cast of Good Trouble, and Bruce Vilanch. Center CEO Lorri L. Jean describes Hearts…
By Greg Hernandez Celebrity chef Susan Feniger looked at the first six graduates—four youth and two seniors—of the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Culinary Arts Program and couldn’t hold back the tears. “Everybody is so emotional because it’s such an exciting thing that’s happening,” said Feniger to the more than 100 people who packed Pride Hall for the July 26 graduation ceremony. Launched in May at the Center’s new intergenerational Anita May Rosenstein Campus, the program’s first graduates successfully completed a 12-week, 300-hour program which consisted of four weeks of basic culinary skills development, four weeks of preparing meals for Center…
Lorri L. Jean stood before a microphone at Los Angeles City Hall and shared how proud she is of her city and its LGBT history. “Contrary to common belief, our contemporary movement did not start with the Stonewall Riots in New York,” explained the Los Angeles LGBT Center CEO, who was accepting the Center’s honor as part of the city’s LGBT Heritage Month. Jean pointed out such things as the founding of the Mattachine Society nearly 20 years before Stonewall, opening of ONE Institute, Cooper Do-nuts Riot in 1959, and The Black Cat Protests in 1967. “L.A. has always attracted…
By Greg Hernandez Honoree Alexandra Grey could not hold back the tears during the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s The Future is Black event on February 23. “I just have all the feels,” Grey said as she accepted the Bayard Rustin Award for her prominence in advancing the social movement of black and LGBT rights. The actress and singer recalled coming to Los Angeles as a youth with “absolutely nothing” after being disowned by her family for being LGBT and finding emergency overnight housing at the Center. “Every time I come here I get so emotional,” Grey told the crowd of…
By Greg Hernandez It’s 1977. John Glenn Harding is 13 and has just locked himself in the bathroom at his house. He’s finally alone with the newly-delivered Sears, Roebuck & Co. catalog, which is now open to the page advertising men’s underwear. Recounting his coming out story more than 40 years later, Harding still remembers all 24 of the thumb-sized photos of men in their underwear. “Looking feels taboo. I have no one to share what I’m feeling,” he said. “Shame and fear are knocking outside this room…a room the size of a closet.” Harding shared his story as part…