spotlight
THE CENTERS IN OUR
lorri l. jean The first question posed was in
SAVING LIVES AND BUILDING COMMUNITY
by joel martens
Throughout the country, local LGBT Centers are often the first exposure to a positive encounter of love and acceptance, many members within their broader community experience. Each location has become a vital, central resource for empowering and serving individuals and families in an affirming manner. They offer compassion to the breadth of our diverse community members and deep empathy for those coming to terms with who they are in our ever shifting, ever changing world. When the first lesbian and gay community centers in the country opened
their doors in 1971 in Los Angeles, CA and Albany, NY, promoting the concept of gay and lesbian as healthy and “normal,” controversial as it was for the time, was at the center of their earliest ambitions. Providing culturally relevant services, promoting participation as equal community partners, as well as instilling the concept that we deserved lives without the stigma of bigotry, propelled centers across the country to follow suit. And in the process, those organizations saved many lives and gave voice to a movement whose message is as relevant now, as it was back then. Keeping up with the changing needs of such a broad community as it evolves, falls to the leaders and people who serve within and as the tide of acceptance shifts in society, so must their roles. We posed questions to each of them in Los Angeles, Palm Springs, Oceanside and San Diego, to learn more about their organizations and what they feel the most pressing issues are. Here is a portion of what they had to say.
regard to what each felt the most important roles of our LGBT centers are.Los Angeles LGBT Center’s CEO, Lorri L. Jean, had this to say. “Since LGBT Centers first began opening nearly 50 years ago, Centers have served as safe spaces for LGBT people to gather, meet others like them, and to organize and build the political power necessary to fight for our rightful place in society. But, Centers are so much more—many provide the help LGBT people need to save and transform their lives. The most effective way of changing society is local action, and the more than 180 LGBT community centers throughout the country are—or have the potential to be—powerful forces to mobilize the LGBT community to advocate for our civil rights and equality.” “That’s why we’re especially excited about a new collaboration with CenterLink, the national association of LGBT centers,” Jean continued. “CenterLink has embed- ded a new employee with our Policy & Community Building Department whose mission will be to help Centers nationwide mobilize their
own communities. We will support national organizing and mobilization efforts and share our experience and other resources with smaller centers nationwide so that they can maximize their advocacy, strength, and reach.” For more information about the center closest to them go to the CenterLink website at
lgbtcenters.org. Dr. Delores Jacobs, Executive
Director for San Diego’s LGBT Community Center’s response, followed a similar vein. “Community Centers have been and are, a powerful and vital resource for the LGBTQ movement. Community Centers all over the nation, are organizations whose mission is dedicated to building, empowering and serving the individuals and families in the LGBTQ community. Building community means building con- nections between people; it means having a sense that you are not alone and are instead a part of a growing, vital diverse group of people who you belong to and are a part of. Whether the connections are between LGBTQ people, between LGBTQ people and their family members, or between LGBTQ and non-LGBTQ community members of the larger
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RAGE monthly | JUNE 2017
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