National Condom Week helps educate people about the serious risks that still exist when people have unprotected sex and the importance of using condoms. The Center has distributed tens of thousands of free condoms supplied by LA Condom, which encourages Los Angeles County residents to practice safer sex by using condoms. “There are new condom styles out there due to advancements with latex, so it’s not like wearing a spare tire anymore,” says Chris Clarkin, a Los Angeles LGBT Center Health Education Specialist. “They are readily available, come in all shapes and colors and are found free in a variety…
Author: Kelly Freter
In celebration of Black History Month, the Los Angeles LGBT Center will host The Future is Black: Be The Revolution on Saturday, February 23, from 2–8 p.m. at The Village at Ed Gould Plaza in Hollywood. The free event will include award presentations, art exhibit, resource fair, dinner, and live performances by Rayvon Owen, Tish Hyman, Mike Xavier, Malachi Maisha, Brian Hackett, Ebonee Bryant, among others, with special guest DJ Benjamin Walker. The art exhibit Unbound will feature works by Dalton Ellis,Christen Austin, Tsasia Mercado, and Marie Jose. Center youth member Florence Franklin will be honored with the Marsha P. Johnson Award, an accolade given to a burgeoning community activist. Actress and singer Alexandra Grey will be saluted with the…
The Center’s Advocate & Gochis Galleries in The Village at Ed Gould Plaza announce Let Me Come Home, an art exhibition exploring concepts of home and homelessness, opening Thursday, March 21. Happening during the Center’s 50th anniversary year with a run through May 31, the exhibit will be on display during the Center’s opening celebration for the historic Anita May Rosenstein Campus in April. Once complete, the Campus will greatly expand the Center’s housing resources for LGBT youth and seniors. Guest curator Alan Barrows puts it this way: “It is impossible not to be aware of homelessness and the impact of losing one’s…
By Greg Hernandez Openly gay actors Wilson Cruz and Peter Paige make clear that they are just fine being forever connected to the breakthrough queer television roles that launched their careers. “I am fully aware and very happy with the fact that no matter what I do from here on out, I will always be Ricky Vasquez on My So-Called Life,” Cruz said during the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s recent Big Queer Convo event. Paige, who co-starred for five seasons on Showtime’s Queer as Folk, concurred: “I will always be Emmett Honeycutt and I am 100 percent okay with that.…
The Los Angeles LGBT Center announced today (February 4) its participation in an innovative community-led research advisory network that will support the development of patient-centered research projects focused on addressing the health needs of transgender and gender non-conforming people (TGNC). Known as the Four Corners: TGNC Health Research Advisory Network, participating organizations include the Center; Chicago’s Howard Brown Health; Whitman-Walker Health in Washington, D.C.; and Houston-based Legacy Community Health. Led by Howard Brown Health, Four Corners will unite community members, researchers, and clinicians from across the U.S. to facilitate equitable participation of all members to contribute to a patient-led expansion…
The Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Leadership LAB spent more than five months last year canvassing in Orange County’s 48th Congressional District with one goal: turn out the vote. Leadership LAB (Learn Act Build) volunteers focused on 10 precincts in the city of Costa Mesa. They knocked on doors and worked to connect face-to-face with people who usually don’t vote in midterm elections. “We don’t go to a door to tell a voter anything about a candidate or anything specific about an issue,” explains LAB Deputy Director Kathleen Campisano. “We talk about the personal side of voting.” The goal was to…
There was strong LGBT representation at the third annual Women’s March LA on Saturday, January 19. An estimated 200,000 people marched from Pershing Square to City Hall, with rallies held at both locations. Transgender actress Laverne Cox addressed the sea of people at City Hall as “ladies, gentleman and my gender non-binary peeps.” “We come today peacefully, but we also come to fight,” Cox said. “The achieving of basic human rights, dignity, justice or equity for one group of people does not mean that something is being taken from another group.” “Women Will Not be Silenced” In a fiery speech,…
By 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 cis-women and transgender men 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, we still recommend that you get the cervical cancer screening on a regular basis,” says Angie Magaña, manager of the…
How do you measure…what research actors will do to portray their characters with authenticity? For Valentina, the RuPaul’s Drag Race sensation who will make her professional acting debut as Angel in Fox’s upcoming live production of the musical RENT on January 27, it included a visit to the Los Angeles LGBT Center. The role of Angel Dumont Schunard—the drag queen percussionist living with AIDS but embraces life to the fullest—is a demanding one. It won a 1996 Tony Award for Wilson Jermaine Heredia when he originated the character on Broadway. Now it’s Valentina’s turn. To prep for her interpretation, Valentina,…
As part of National Drugs and Alcohol Facts Week (January 22-27), Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Health Services Manager Mike Rizzo wants everyone to know that drug and alcohol addiction is a disease, not a moral issue. “Be careful not to judge yourself and just seek out the help that you need. There’s no shame in any of it,” Rizzo says. The week brings teens and scientific experts together online to discuss scientific facts about drugs and alcohol and their potential health effects. Among the areas typically covered are the effects of drugs and alcohol, how to help friends or family who…