LGBTQ+ community thrives at “The Center”

BY JAYLEN MINNICH News Assistant

“Come as you are; you will be welcome.”

Starting as living room gatherings in 1977, The LGBTQ Center Long Beach “The Center” has become a staple resource for the city’s LGBTQ+ community. Sitting on the iconic “Retro Row,” the Center has acted as a meeting place and sanctuary for LGBTQ people.

The Center has provided many services and resources for its community over the years. Most prominently in 1984 when Project Ahead, the first case management service in Southern Los Angeles County, was established to combat the AIDS epidemic. It was a safe space to “receive HIV information, testing and counseling, healthcare referrals, and other sup- port services.”

Today the Center continues to serve its community through workshops and seminars, youth, family, and student services, a lending library, a cyber center, free HIV and STI testing, employment referrals, educational forums, mental health counseling, cultural/social activities, and even legal assistance and domestic violence services.

Carlos Torres, executive director at The LGBTQ Center, further detailed some of these services.

“We have an attorney on staff and a team of pro-Bono attorneys who help our clients with a variety

Rolling Stone magazine and ABC7 Los Angeles. A resume workshop is underway this spring for the association and its members.

Being part of the association has given Cassidy Reyna, CSULB NAHJ president, a sense of community, making sure that they never feel alone in their college journey.

“As someone who’s always struggled to find their place, my goal as president is to provide a safe space for all members to know that no journey is linear and it’s never easy,” said Reyna. “But having people who support you and are in a similar situation can make a huge difference.”

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China of different topics from family law to asylum-seeking, immigration, or criminal cases,” he said. “We serve all of [LGBTQ+] California with that.”

Other services include offering families of LGBTQ students the proper information and resources needed to support students inside and outside the classroom. For older adults, there’s a focus on social isolation and food scarcity.

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