By Greg Hernandez Author and activist Felice Picano was there. “It was a hot night, a full moon, and a lot of people were out and around,” Picano recalled. “I met a guy who was a bartender. We walked out the door about 2 a.m. to go home together and there’s this riot going. I looked at him, he looked at me and I said, ‘Let’s go join the riot!’” Picano and his new friend were among those involved in what became known as the Stonewall Riots, a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations by members of the LGBT community at…
Author: Kelly Freter
By Greg Hernandez During a recent Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors meeting, Los Angeles LGBT Center Senior Services client and retired U.S. Army Sgt. Belita Edwards spoke of how proud she is to have served in the military. “I served in the Vietnam era when it was difficult for women—we had to pave the way,” she recalled. “They wanted to see if we could handle it. And, of course, we could.” Edwards was among those honored by Supervisor Sheila Kuehl on June 18 for their “significant contributions” to the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Veterans Initiative, which provides services and…
By Greg Hernandez Los Angeles LGBT Center staffers were among the more than 250 people taking part in a spirited demonstration on May 21, a national day of action to stop abortion bans.\ Demonstrators crowded onto all four corners of the intersection of Larchmont and Beverly boulevards and marched across crosswalks chanting “Stop the bans!” “We won’t go back!” and “Hey Hey! Ho Ho! Abortion bans have got to go!” “I think it’s really important that we recognize that reproductive justice is an LGBT issue,” said Terra Russell Slavin, the Center’s director of Policy and Community Building. “We’re here today…
By Greg Hernandez Lucky Brand’s Lucky x Love T-shirt design contest in celebration of LGBTQ Pride Month garnered 165 entries: T-shirts designed by contest winners Shannon Li, Karch Hurlburt, and Michael Perkins will go on sale in June; $10 from every shirt sold will be donated to the Los Angeles LGBT Center. “No matter who you are, who you love, we want to support individuality and anyone who lives a life of passion and conviction and encourages anyone to do the same,” says Timothy Mack, Lucky Brand’s senior vice president of strategic brand marketing. “The winners are amazing. They demonstrate…
By Greg Hernandez A crowd of more than 1,700 joined more than 80 restaurants, wineries, spirit vendors, distilleries, and craft breweries for the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s 14th annual Simply divine benefit on April 27 at iconic Hollywood Forever. “We are so proud to be here,” said Edie Ames, owner of The Pie Hole restaurants, as she arranged an assortment of Nutella, raspberry, Mexican chocolate, caramel apple and other “two bite sweet treats” for attendees. “It’s a perfect fit for who we are and what we do. We have a lot of LGBT staff and we absolutely love the community.”…
The Trans Wellness Center (TWC) opened its doors on Wilshire Boulevard near South Vermont Avenue in April 2018, bringing together services and resources for transgender and gender non-conforming people under one roof. The community-based effort is a partnership between six local organizations: APAIT (Asian Pacific AIDS Intervention Team, Bienstar, Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles (CHLA), Friends Community Center, Translatin@ Coalition, and the Los Angeles LGBT Center which is the lead agency coordinating management and operations. LGBT News Now chatted with TWC Program Manager Mariana Marroquin about the one-year milestone. This is the first anniversary of TWC. How do you feel…
By Greg Hernandez Culinary Director Nick Penepinto was hoping a few dozen youth and seniors would show up for a cooking demonstration and information meeting about the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s new Culinary Arts Program. Soon, more than 45 people had excitedly crowded into the upstairs meeting room on March 28 to hear Penepinto talk about the program and to watch Executive Chef Instructor Janet Crandall demonstrate basic kitchen knife skills. She also demonstrated how to construct a Vietnamese spring roll. “I wasn’t expecting such a big crowd,” Crandall said to the crowd as she began to julienne a yellow…
Culinary Director Nick Penepinto was hoping a few dozen youth and seniors would show up for a cooking demonstration and information meeting about the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s new Culinary Arts Program. Soon, more than 45 people had excitedly crowded into the upstairs meeting room on March 28 to hear Penepinto talk about the program and to watch Executive Chef Instructor Janet Crandall demonstrate basic kitchen knife skills. She also demonstrated how to construct a Vietnamese spring roll. “I wasn’t expecting such a big crowd,” Crandall said to the crowd as she began to julienne a yellow pepper. “I’m really…
By Greg Hernandez More than 3,000 people helped celebrate the grand opening of the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s two-acre Anita May Rosenstein Campus on April 7. The state-of-the-art facility includes 100 beds for youth experiencing homelessness, the new Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Senior Center, youth drop-in center, and The Ariadne Getty Foundation Youth Academy. Center CEO Lorri L. Jean told the cheering crowd: “This is our greatest legacy: the thousands of lives that will be saved and changed here. The joy and comfort and love that will reside here, and the confidence and pride that will be born here.” “At…
By Greg Hernandez Capital Campaign donors saw their dreams come true as they celebrated the opening of the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Anita May Rosenstein Campus. More than 300 donors gathered on the evening of April 6 for guided tours, music, dinner, heartfelt speeches, and a joyous champagne toast to the new 180,000-square-foot Campus that brings together a multitude of youth and senior services and serves as the Center’s new administrative headquarters. “I’m so proud to have played a part in this historic accomplishment,” lead donor Rosenstein said as she addressed a crowd, which included Center CEO Lorri L. Jean,…