Center South Opens

COMING OUT

COMING HOME

Center South opens in South Los Angeles with programs and services focused on the health and well-being of young black and Latino gay and bisexual men and trans women of color. The Center’s newest location gives LGBT activists and residents alike a chance to build and celebrate community a little closer to home.

• Community members and local media gathered for stage presentations during Center South grand opening.

Longtime South Los Angeles residents might remember the brick building on the northeast corner of W. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and 2nd Avenue as the former home of Marla’s Memory Lane, a jazz supper club owned by actress Marla Gibbs, cast member of The Jeffersons and 227.

Now, the 5,500-square-foot structure is bringing new energy—and creating new memories—for the Leimert Park neighborhood as Center South, the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s first-ever expansion into South Los Angeles.

“Center South is a jewel for this neighborhood and located in such a historical building,” said Clarence R. Williams, who lives nearby and was part of the Community Advisory Board formed during the planning of Center South. “It represents the presence of acceptance and engagement for the LGBT community. It is a much-needed seed for South Los Angeles.”

More than 300 guests turned out for Center South’s grand opening in January.

“Today is the realization of a dream of many years, but today is just the beginning,” Center CEO Lorri L. Jean said in her remarks. “By working together with our partner organizations and local community leaders, I have no doubt that, together, we’ll ensure that Center South becomes a vibrant, vital, and beloved part of our South Los Angeles community.”

In addition to spirited speeches made by Center, city, and county leaders, the joyous celebration included a ribbon cutting, music, food from Chef Marilyn's, and tours of the renovated property.

“I’m so happy to see the building and the space repurposed,” said Jeanette Bronson, a local resident who volunteered to give tours. “It makes you feel not only represented, but also cared for by the general community. Before Center South existed, people were traveling to Hollywood or West Hollywood to receive services—or not going at all.” had long been involved in the planning of Center South’s services. He could barely contain his emotions as festivities for the opening were underway.

“I’m from L.A., and I’ve been waiting my whole life to see something like this,” he said. “There are out, proud queer people in these communities who have amazing lives, and now they have something here that they can adopt and make their own—a safe space for queer people of color.”

Los Angeles City Councilman Marqueece Harris-Dawson, one of the featured speakers at the grand opening celebration, spoke to the crowd about Center South’s serendipitous existence.

“[This was a] place where [Gibbs] trained African American actors, writers, and directors to go on,” he observed. “It is the spirit of activism that is in the very bones and the cement and all the

wood and all the materials—activism and resistance is in the very essence of where you are today.”

Dr. Wilbert C. Jordan, founder of the

Oasis Clinic, was recognized during the opening celebration for his four decades of work on the frontlines of HIV and AIDS in South L.A.

“I saw my first patient in 1979,” he said from the stage. “I didn’t know what he had. I think the hardest thing was seeing a young man in the 80s and 90s because, in my mind, I would wonder what is he going to look like a year from now and will he still be alive two years from now?’ So we have come a long way.”

Yet, Center South opens its doors at a critical juncture when gay and bisexual Black and Latino men are disproportionately testing positive for HIV. Alarmingly, 1 in 4 gay and bisexual Latino men—and 1 in 2 gay and bi Black men—will test positive sometime in their lives if nothing is done to curb HIV transmissions.

“A lot of these men who unknowingly are living with HIV may never have been in a setting where vital information is provided to them—including about the importance of getting tested regularly, especially if they are sexually active,” explained David Flores, senior program manager at Center South.

In addition to HIV and STI testings, services at Center South include PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) and PEP (post-exposure prophylaxis) services; linkage and retention to HIV care; housing and employment navigation; mental health services; legal services; and a drop-in space for community meetings and events. All of the programs and services are provided for free or at low cost to everyone, with a focus on serving the needs of young gay and bi men of color ages 12 to 29 and trans women of color.

The David Bohnett Foundation donated a printer and eight new Lenovo desktops loaded with Office 2016 and Windows 10 software to create a CyberCenter inside Center South. An art exhibition space is also in the works.

Local young gay and bisexual Black and Latino men are encouraged to join any of the Center’s Community Health Programs social networking groups happening at Center South, including: Lit Life (which teaches sexual health and wellness); Positive Images (for those living with HIV); U/O Project (for those ages 16–29); and Continuum Project (which provides peer support to those between the ages of 18 and 65 who are at-risk for HIV).

“Youth now have a place to convene and interact with people who look, speak, and feel like them and who have the same desires or fears, such as family abandonment or rejection,” said Flores.

Center South is the latest step in the Center’s long-term strategic plan to best meet the needs of the LGBT community moving forward. The plan was approved by the Center’s Board of Directors in 2008 after a community survey of thousands of LGBT people indicated the need for Center services to expand beyond Hollywood.

Prior to Center South, the Center opened Mi Centro in Boyle Heights more than four years ago in partnership with the Latino Equality Alliance. In 2018, the Center opened the Trans Wellness Center in Koreatown— the first of its kind in the nation—with a handful of community partners.

In opening Center South—the tenth facility operated by the Center—the organization received grant support from Los Angeles County and joined forces with local organizations, including Bienestar Human Services, Black AIDS Institute, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, and The Wall Las Memorias Project, all of whom will have a part-time presence at Center South.

“The County agreed to fund a new location in South L.A. where we could focus on HIV prevention, testing, and treatment among gay and bisexual men of color,” Jean explained at the opening. “But we knew that we wanted—and we needed—to do much more than that. We wanted this to be a mini service center, a gathering place for all LGBT people in the area. So, we’ve been raising money to add to what the County is giving us so we could get a bigger space and create this wonderful location.”

Jean credited Mario J. Pérez, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health – Division of HIV and STD Programs, as a longtime ally who worked hard to steer money and resources to the Center South project.

“I grew up a mile and a half from here, so this is a homecoming for me in many ways,” Pérez said at the opening. “This is a culmination of visioning, planning, negotiating,

• L.A. City Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson welcomed Center South to District 8.

• Dr. Wilbert C. Jordan, founder of the Oasis Clinic, was recognized at the opening for his four decades of work on the frontlines of HIV and AIDS.

• Mario J. Pérez, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health—Division of HIV and STD Programs also spoke at the opening.

physical reshaping, and rebuilding.”

Community Health Program Supervisor Percival Pandy, who works at Center South with Flores, grew up near Leimert Park and knows well the need for a safe space such as this one.

“I had gay friends, I had transgender friends, all LGBT friends, and no one had ever created the narrative of needing a safe space. We were always watching each other’s back. We’d maneuver and go to places—such as the store or the movie theater—where we didn’t have too many problems. We knew when to avoid certain areas,” recalled Pandy. “Center South is a real communal space where community finds itself and finds ways to expand.”

Pandy can’t help but wonder how his life would have been different had Center South been around when he was a youth.

“I never had any mentors so a place like this would have helped me with my self-esteem issues and made me feel like my neighborhood was more than a place that I had to flee,” he lamented. “I grew up having to fight for my affirmation, and Center South is a place that is affirming.”

“Even before our grand opening, people were curious about what was happening in their neighborhood. Those who identify as LGBT have made comments like ‘where have you been?’ and ‘we’re so glad you’re here’ and ‘we’re going to be stopping by,’” said Flores. “Others have told us that someone in their family is LGBT, and they definitely want them to check out Center South.”

Ryan Wooten

A STORY OF HOPE

At Center South’s grand opening celebration, Ryan Wooten walked onto a makeshift stage, looked out at the more than 300 guests, and bravely began to share his story.

“I grew up just three miles away from here with all the things against me in the world, including being African-American, Mexican, and queer.”

As a teen, Wooten would use public transportation to traverse to Hollywood for non-judgmental and affordable health treatment at the Center. The draining journey to and from the Center’s McDonald/Wright Building would sometimes take up to three hours each way.

“I had to take a bus to the Green Line, transfer to the Blue Line, transfer again to the Red Line, and exit at the Hollywood and Highland stop. I did it because it was important, but you feel disassociated from the community because you’re going to a different community,” said Wooten, now 30. “I remember being on the train. I remember being nervous. I remember having symptoms. I remember all of those things. I hated it. Hours on trains and buses and I’m thinking, ‘why isn’t there a place to go in my neighborhood?’”

In 2013 Wooten found himself at the Center’s Jeffrey Goodman Special Care Clinic after testing positive for HIV. It was a turning point in his life, and he began to fully understand the concept of community.

“The thing I’ll always remember is the team of doctors, volunteers, support, resources, medical services, nutritionists, mental health services,” he shared. “I had all those resources at my fingertips— from complete strangers.”

He decided to give back and became a Center volunteer. For more than five years, he led a series of coming out discussion groups. In April Wooten will move to Namibia where he will be stationed as a Peace Corps HIV counselor.

“I thought the virus would make me the weakest—or would kill me—but actually it’s making me become the best version of myself,” he said. “Social and sexual acceptance are so important as you navigate through the medical part of living with HIV. I’m now able to live with it proud and out loud.”

Wooten looks forward for others to experience compassionate care that’s closer to home at Center South.

“Accessibility makes life much less intimidating because you see people who look, talk, and think like you—all of us from the same community,” he said. “A center here means accessibility. It means representation. It means community.”