By Lorri L. Jean A year ago, we were reeling in the fear and uncertainty of what a Trump presidency and Congress controlled by conservatives would mean for our community, nation, and world. To our great dismay, many of our worst fears came true and, of course, more threats are looming. Like any bully, they went after the most vulnerable first. This Administration has left almost no community unscathed with its cruel and unusual brand of governing, including many of the communities who voted them into office. It’s the stuff of daydreams (and movie plots) to think the simple turn…
Author: Kelly Freter
By Greg Hernandez “I get bulled for being trans and I want to express how I feel.” The more than 1,500 Hollywood High School students at the school’s LGBT Club special assembly fell silent. All eyes were on the teenage transgender student now standing alone and speaking center stage. “I’ve been through a lot in my life,” she continued. “It’s not right to be transphobic. I’m just trying to succeed in life and I feel like I don’t deserve this bullying.” Her courage, strength, and tears were met with applause from the students. The special Hollywood High assembly was planned…
By Greg Hernandez Albert Donjuan doesn’t speak very loudly and is the first to admit he lacks confidence. But with his future on the line, Donjuan was among the undocumented LGBT people who bravely stepped before microphones at a press conference this week to urge the U.S. Congress to pass the DREAM Act of 2017 (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors). “As loudly and as confidently as I can say it, I want legislators out there to hear our stories,” Donjuan said during a press conference held at Mi Centro in Boyle Heights. “A dream against the DREAM Act…
The Center’s groundbreaking F*ck w/out Fear campaign was awarded five PRism Awards by the Public Relations Society of America. The sex-positive campaign, developed with partner Weber Shandwick, was launched last January and used raw, real language to get people’s attention and spur conversation about PrEP (Pre-exposure prophylaxis). PrEP involves taking a medicine once-daily that, if used correctly, has been shown to reduce the risk of HIV infection by up to 99 percent. The F*ck w/o Fear campaign won Best In Show award as well as PRism Awards in the categories of diversity communications, integrated communications, marketing nonprofit/education, and public service nonprofit/education. “It’s been an…
By Greg Hernandez Angie Magaña has been faithfully working a Saturday shift at the Center’s Audre Lorde Health Program for lesbian and bi women for nearly a year now. “I just want more people to know that we’re here and that we have all these resources available for them,” said Magaña. “We really are trying to raise awareness that we have this special, safe place for women. The Center gives amazing health care. But it’s been frustrating to go out into the community and hear people say, ‘I can go there if I’m a woman?’” On Saturdays, the program at the Center’s…
By Greg Hernandez More than 250 people gathered at the Center’s Mi Centro location in Boyle Heights for the second annual Calavera event as part of Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, for a remembrance of LGBT community members who have been lost because of homophobia and transphobia. “By highlighting the presence of death in our community, we’re also highlighting the need to fight for the resources we need in order to survive,” said Hugo Lujan, a 28-year-old community organizer, during the event. “That’s why it’s essential to remember what happened and to put attention on what…
By Greg Hernandez Latino Equality Alliance (LEA) Executive Director Eddie Martinez won’t soon forget the day the mother of a gay teenager walked into the doors of Mi Centro, her eyes filled with emotion as she pointed to a newspaper story about Mi Centro, the Los Angeles LGBT Center facility operated in conjunction with LEA in Boyle Heights “That is written by my son. I love him and I want to volunteer,” the mother told Martinez in Spanish as she held up a copy Boyle Heights Beat that featured an article in which her son wrote about Mi Centro’s presence in the…
By Greg Hernandez California state lawmakers heard firsthand about the severity of the state’s homeless youth crisis during a joint informational hearing at the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Renberg Theatre earlier this week. “This is a crisis. This is totally unacceptable,” testified Simon Costello, the Center’s director of Children, Youth and Family Services. “Every week between 15 and 20 new young people experiencing homelessness walk through our doors–at just one agency.” Costello said at the hearing, called by the State Assembly and Senate Human Services Committees, that last year the Center provided services for more than 1,200 young people who are…
By Greg Hernandez As Ariel Emanuel at the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s 48th Anniversary Gala Vanguard Awards, the Hollywood powerhouse’s mind was on his gay cousin who passed away from an AIDS-related complications in 1993. The Co-CEO of talent agency WME | IMG told a sell-out crowd at the Beverly Hilton Hotel that he wanted to use his award and his platform to honor his cousin Gary’s memory by telling the stories of those in the LGBT community. “Gary needed to be able to look out and see a culture that looked like him, like young people do today,” said…
By Greg Hernandez President Donald Trump’s decision on Tuesday to terminate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program is being condemned as “un-American” by the The Los Angeles LGBT Center. An estimated 36,000 DACA participants are LGBT and the Center is calling on the U.S. Congress to take immediate action to reverse the policy change. “It is a clear message to the LGBT community that we are not part of Trump’s America,” Center CEO Lori L. Jean said in a statement. “Eliminating DACA will cause great pain to individuals, families, and communities across the country with ripple effects that will devastate…