By Gil Diaz and Greg Hernandez Five months after opening the doors of the Michaeljohn Horne & Thomas Eugene Jones Youth Housing, the Los Angeles LGBT Center has reached another milestone: the highly anticipated opening of The Ariadne Getty Foundation Senior Housing. Not only will the 98-unit affordable housing complex begin to transform the lives of many vulnerable seniors ages 62 and above, it also will represent the culmination of years of planning and hard work. “The Ariadne Getty Foundation Senior Housing is the final cornerstone which completes the Center’s decades-long dream to build the intergenerational and revolutionary Anita May…
Author: Greg Hernandez
By Greg Hernandez Sitting out on the patio with a plateful of freshly-made tea sandwiches and cookies, a smiling Tuck Contreras was clearly enjoying the festivities at his new home: the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Ariadne Getty Foundation Senior Housing. “There’s something about the energy here that is just absolutely powerful — it spills out of this place,” observed Contreras, who attended a welcome party for new residents last Friday with his English Labrador named Dancer. “I’m trying to get out of myself, and this is the nicest, nicest group of people I’ve ever met,” said the 78-year-old Navy veteran.…
Since assuming the role as the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Executive Director in early July, Joe Hollendoner has quietly made his presence known among the Center’s nearly 800 employees. Hollendoner, who will succeed Lorri L. Jean as Chief Executive Officer upon her retirement in July 2022, has invested the last several months visiting the Center’s various locations to familiarize himself with the multitude of vital programs and services that our organization provides to the community. Hollendoner, formerly the CEO of San Francisco AIDS Foundation, took some time out of his onboarding process to answer a handful of questions. What do…
I’m an Air Force veteran who was kicked out of the military for being gay. I didn’t address all of my mental health issues after that and eventually, it rendered me homeless. I went to the VA hospital in West LA for help and the day I was there, they were having a Stand Down fair for veterans. One of the first tables I saw had a rainbow pride flag at a booth for the Center’s Senior Services department. That was a lifesaver for me. Just the presence of the Center at that event allowed me to feel safe enough…
By Greg Hernandez Levi Vieira couldn’t make the short walk from the parking lot to Colorado Center Park in Santa Monica on Saturday without bursting into tears. Happy tears. “I can’t believe we’re here,” Vieira said shortly after arriving at the site of the AIDS/LifeCycle Socal Kickoff Ride. “I had like three crying sessions—maybe four. It’s so exciting to see everybody and to be able to hug people and to get back on the road.” Vieira, captain of the New Bear Republic team, was one of more than 300 people who took part in either a 37-mile training ride that…
By Greg Hernandez Mark Simon was one of the first tenants to move into the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Ariadne Getty Foundation Senior Housing and when the 73 year old rang his own doorbell for the first time, he cracked at the remembrance of a popular Broadway musical he’d seen: “This sounds like The Book of Mormon!” The semi-retired actor simply could not contain his excitement upon entering his one-bedroom place on the fifth floor. “In the words of Ethel Merman, ‘Today, this is the only place in the world to be!’” Simon said before dramatically breaking into a Merman song from…
By Greg Hernandez When psychology student Susan Holt began a mental health internship in 1987 at the Center, then known as the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center, she had no idea she had found her life’s work. Holt’s internship occurred at the same time the Center was collaborating with the California School of Professional Psychology on a groundbreaking survey focused on domestic violence within the gay and lesbian community. Within a year, she found herself managing and co-facilitating the Center’s first for domestic abuse and violence and abandoning any plans to become a general practitioner. In 1996 the Center launched…
By Greg Hernandez During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Health Services remained open—and there’s no sign of closing its doors as the global health crisis inexorably heads toward the two-year mark. Chief Medical Officer Dr. Kaity Duffy says this dedication to remain open is keeping with Center tradition. “Health services at the Center has very sacred roots in the early days of HIV when it became this place for people to come for care when nobody else would see them,” said Duffy. “That’s such a sacred history to have: to be this medical home.…
By Greg Hernandez Dr. Kaiyti Duffy is now the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Chief Medical Officer and will work closely with her predecessor Dr. Robert Bolan through the rest of 2021 before he moves into full-time research at the Center. “Dr. Bolan hired me to become the Audre Lorde Health Program Medical Director and to be succeeding him now as Chief Medical Officer is quite overwhelming,” admitted Duffy, 42. “He’s been such a notable queer health activist in fighting HIV and understanding its impact on the population. I have such admiration for him professionally and deep fondness for him personally.” In the…
By Greg Hernandez Nellie Sorretino raised her arm in the air and swayed to the live mariachi music that filled the outdoor plaza of the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Senior Center. “Oh my God, this is so beautiful,” said the 77-year-old. “This is my heritage. It’s a fiesta!” Mariachi Arcoiris de Los Angeles—the world’s first mariachi band comprised entirely of LGBTQ musicians—entertained more than 50 Center clients and staff members with an exuberant noontime concert on Sept. 24 in celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month. Sorretino is among the many seniors who regularly drop by the…