PORTRAITS OF PRIDE
The Center community in celebration.
Clockwise from top left: Darren Daniels-Stokes of Center South; Terry Anglin,
OUR PEOPLE, OUR CITY
When I tell people that Los Angeles is home to the world’s largest LGBTQ+ organization, I’m often met with surprise. Many assume that title belongs to one of our national partners. What is it that sets the Los Angeles LGBT Center apart? Our people and our city.
From the Cooper Do-nuts Riot of the 1960s, a courageous act of resistance predating Stonewall by a decade, to the opening of the Center’s intergenerational Anita May Rosenstein Campus in 2019, Los Angeles has been at the vanguard of our liberation since its genesis. Our movement’s progress is inextricably linked to the Center’s growing impact in our home city and beyond—all made possible by the people who drive our mission forward.
Our founders’ radical vision understood that equality, justice, and acceptance could only be achieved if everyone had access to their most basic needs. And for more than 50 years, our people have carried that vision forward:
Donors who invest in our work, volunteers who give their time to expand our impact, and of course, staff and board members who work tirelessly to keep the programs and services of the Center open every single day of the year.
In my time as CEO, I’ve come to realize that the Center community is like none other. That’s why this special edition of our zine is titled “Our People, Our City.” Within these pages, you’ll find the story of the Center told through the people engaged in our work, from our Hollywood headquarters to beaming community sites in Boyle Heights, South LA, and more.
No matter what fight lies ahead, we can all rest assured that our movement has stood the test of time. And we can do it again—only if we do so together.
Joe Hollendoner, CEO
BOARD OF DIRECTORS ’24
Tess Ayers, Secretary
LuAnn Boylan
Tamika L. Butler
Kim Culmone*
Sarah Dusseault
Susan Feniger, Co-Chair
Alfred Fraijo, Jr.
Jordan Held
Annie Imhoff
Marki J. Knox
James McGruder*
Carlos Medina
Estevan Montemayor*
Lucinda Moorhead
Kimberly Nao*
Michael Ormonde
Andy Ortiz
Loren S. Ostrow
Jayzen Patria
Frank D. Pond, Co-Chair
Francisco Ramos
Don Thomas
Amy Gordon Yanow, Treasurer
*Newly Elected Members
Photo by Jordyn Doyel
OUR PEOPLE
Los Angeles represents four million souls spread across 470 square miles. And the Center is where worlds meet, where more LGBTQ+ people are helped than by any other organization. Behind every program and service provided at the Los Angeles LGBT Center, there is a community of people driving our collective work. Here, a collection of stories that showcase the brilliant teams driving our work forward—from our staff, to our clients, to our beloved supporters.
DID YOU KNOW?
The Los Angeles Times has described Mi Centro as a “little piece of heaven” for the queer Latinx community.
by
CA
AND NORMA S Á NCHEZ, MI CENTRO
Every day, Mi Centro, the Center’s Boyle Heights community hub, helps link people to vital services and programs, including HIV care, mental health services, and emergency housing. For some, it’s their first stop after arriving in the U.S. in search of a place where they can safely live and thrive.
At a time when the country is facing an ongoing refugee crisis, Mi Centro has emerged as a lifeline for LGBTQ+ folks
fleeing oppression and persecution in their home countries. “This small but mighty community center has become a sanctuary for so many of our LGBTQ+ folks around the world,” says Caín Andrade, Program Manager of Mi Centro. “We’re making sure we do our best to make them feel at home in the City of Angels.”
Earlier this year, Mi Centro helped connect three men from Ecuador to care and
services through the Center, as well as LGBTQ-affirming housing in the community. In the months since, Mi Centro has also gone on to assist folks from Colombia, Honduras, Cuba, Senegal, Guatemala, El Salvador, Russia, Nigeria, Ukraine, and more.
With affirming and culturally competent services, Mi Centro works to ensure that everyone who steps foot through their doors finds the care they deserve.
Photo
Brandon Michael Young
Learn more about Mi Centro
DID YOU KNOW?
The historic building that houses Center South was previously home to a jazz and supper club operated by actress Marla Gibbs.
MAISHA DAVIS, CENTER SOUTH
Dr. Maisha Davis remembers coming to South LA often as a child, to visit art galleries and cultural events or attend public health fairs as part of their mother’s work. “I grew up here, so coming back now feels really right,” they say.
Today, in their role as Medical Director of Community Medicine, Dr. Davis now oversees primary care services at Center South, working to provide LGBTQ-inclusive
healthcare to the community that helped raise them. Because for many residents of South LA, traveling miles for health care is not an option. Even when they do, they don’t often find providers who understand their background.
“I’ve had people walk in and say they’ve been avoiding going back to the doctor because they didn’t feel fully heard,” Dr. Davis says. “Because of the history of medical neglect
and abuse that have happened in certain communities, it’s important for me to meet people where they are.”
Dr. Davis’s vision for Center South extends beyond clinical services. Through programs like group meditation and collaborative projects with local organizations, they hope to ensure the clinic remains not just a healthcare facility but a welcoming and holistic resource for the South LA community.
Photo by Brandon Michael Young
DID YOU KNOW?
Trans Wellness Center is a first-of-its-kind provider, offering comprehensive services for trans and gender expansive people under one roof.
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SYDNEY ROGERS, TRANS WELLNESS CENTER
Out of its 3,000-square-foot offices in Koreatown, Trans Wellness Center provides comprehensive services for TGI folks, ranging from gender-affirming medical care to legal services. It also hosts the Transgender Economic Empowerment Project (TEEP), which offers clients job readiness and career development services, as well as gender-inclusivity training for employers.
The program is led by Sydney Rogers, a local drag legend (also known as Miss Barbie-Q) and TGI community advocate. “In 2024, [visibility] is a political stance,” she says. “Now is the time to take care of yourselves. … Gather your people around you and uplift each other.”
On top of resurrecting and revitalizing TEEP, Rogers also helps steer the Center’s equity work, helps host Trans Pride, and has done substantial outreach to trans women
impacted by the justice system. She also serves as emcee at the AIDS/LifeCycle Finish Line Festival.
At a time when the rights of the TGI community are under constant attack, Rogers proudly fights for everyone’s right to thrive as their authentic selves with joy and optimism. “It is okay to laugh. It’s okay to smile,” she says. “We must give ourselves permission to take the world off our shoulders, even for a little while.”
Photo
Max Hemphill
Learn more about Trans Wellness Center
WE ARE FAMILY
WATCH THE VIDEO
Photo by Jeaneen Lund
HOLDING THE LINE AGAINST HATE
Our advocacy for LGBTQ+ students and survivors of violence continues even after the ballots are counted.
MARIA DO AND AMANDA GOULD, POLICY
In states across the country, school districts have become battlegrounds for anti-LGBTQ+ culture wars organized by far-right extremists—including here at home in California.
In March, the Center completed a successful campaign to reduce anti-trans bias and support youth in Glendale, where far-right agitators sought to take over school boards. With an eye toward the November election, the Center’s Policy & Mobilization team switched its focus to Chino Valley, which has recently emerged as ground zero for anti-transgender school policies.
“What I’ve learned doing this work over the past two years is that we’re putting our bodies on the line for those who can’t,” says Maria Do, Policy & Mobilization Manager. “We’re talking to every voter, making sure they have the information that they need, as well as knowledge and awareness of why it matters and urgency for the trans community and trans youth in particular.”
But the Center’s work advocating for the LGBTQ+ community continues even after Election Day. In addition to advancing policy initiatives, educating the public about LGBTQ+ issues, and working with political leaders, the Center also hosts the National LGBTQ Institute on Intimate Partner Violence.
This year alone, the Institute has facilitated nearly 5,000 training sessions to enhance the safety, well-being, support, and health for survivors of LGBTQ+ intimate partner and domestic violence throughout the United States.
“We’ve been seeing this new type of legislation that specifically bars trans women from women’s shelter spaces for domestic violence, and that has been a top concern for us,” says Amanda Gould, Senior Program Manager. “Trans people experience disproportionately high rates of domestic violence, so we need to keep fighting for all survivors.”
Photo by Brandon Michael Young
DID YOU KNOW?
The Center’s mental health and medical services support more than 50,000 visits each year.
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ALAN MONTES, SUBSTANCE USE & RECOVERY
From expanding access to medicationassisted treatment to distributing life-saving harm reduction tools, the Substance Use & Recovery Services (SURS) team is meeting people where they are and removing barriers to care. By fostering strong community partnerships and adopting an integrated care approach, the team ensures that every person who walks through our doors is fully supported with compassionate,
culturally-affirming care on their journeys to sobriety and overall well-being.
“We’re used to doing things a certain way, but something as complicated as substance use and recovery requires an open-minded approach,” says Alan Montes, Associate Director of SURS. This modernized approach of health care takes the form of an increased emphasis on collaboration between providers and creative solutions that center the patient experience.
One such example is the recently-unveiled harm reduction vending machine located at the McDonald/ Wright Building in Hollywood. Established in partnership with Community Health Project Los Angeles, the vending machine provides free and easy access to naloxone (also known as Narcan) and fentanyl testing strips, two of the “most powerful harm reduction tools we have,” says Montes.
Photo
Brandon Michael Young
DID YOU KNOW?
The Center first began offering STI testing and treatment services in 1972.
CLAUDIA
ALVAREZ AND LISA KIMSEY, HEALTH SERVICES
For more than 50 years, the Center has provided much-needed health care services to LGBTQ+ people from across California, including primary and HIV care services, gender-affirming care for the TGI community, a full-service pharmacy, and more. Today, the Center providers welcome upwards of 30,000 visits each year. But for Claudia Alvarez and Lisa Kimsey, Co-Directors of Health Services, there is always room for improvement. “We’re always looking at all
the operations at the Center and asking questions,” says Kimsey. “What does equity look like from a client perspective? How can we center populations that we haven’t in the past, especially at our community sites?”
“There are still barriers to the work that we’re doing,” Alvarez says, recalling a recent mobile mammography event where many, especially those in the transgender community, expressed difficulty accessing culturally
competent health care. Much of the work to bring down those barriers goes unseen and little appreciated—streamlining the Center’s call center, de-siloing departments and workflows, etc.—but it all contributes to a “No Wrong Door” approach that enables patients to easily access any of the Center’s services that they might need. “When it comes to health care, we’re doing it better than anyone else,” says Alvarez. “But we can always do better.”
Photo by Brandon Michael Young
DID YOU KNOW?
Our cultural heritage month celebrations Highly Favored, Golden Hour, and Queerceañera register over 3,000 guests each year.
GIOVANNA FISCHER, EQUITY
In 2024, the Center adopted a new set of organizational values. The goal of the committee’s work was to ensure that all 800+ employees at the Center are aligned around a unified set of principles: Community, Integrity, Courage, Liberation, and Joy.
“I refuse to let imagination and joy be relegated to the sidelines, because that is very much part of our movement’s work,”
says Chief Equity Officer Giovanna Fischer. In a world where our most vulnerable are under constant threat, it takes radical imagination to conceive of a new reality. In an effort to embed these principles in every facet of the organization, Fischer built out an equity framework and convened an Equity Committee, improving our standards of care for marginalized folks in our employee and client populations. She also spearheaded the Youth Services internship program,
ensuring that our clients have access to opportunities that nurture them on their career paths. (For more on that initiative, see page 18.)
“We are all learning, but I hope the work we do here inspires people to open those ideas and feelings in themselves,” she says.
“People have to feel safe before they can open up and be impacted by something— the beginnings of change.”
Photo by Zev Rose Woolley
DID YOU KNOW?
The Facilities department supports 800 employees across 10 locations, from West Hollywood to Boyle Heights.
ALANDA WHITE, FACILITIES
As a dedicated member of the Facilities team for more than 25 years, Alanda White has been an essential part of the Center’s mission, ensuring that visitor experiences are welcoming, well-maintained, and showcase a safe environment. White’s work goes beyond keeping our spaces running smoothly—she helps create a place where authenticity and belonging can flourish.
White was recognized for her commitment at last year’s all-staff meeting, the Center’s
first in-person gathering of its 800-person workforce since the pandemic, held at the historic Avalon Hollywood. She was presented with a sash and tiara marking 25 years of service and invited to collect her flowers on stage.
White’s journey with the Center is a testament to the kind of environment we strive to maintain for everyone who walks through our doors—including our staff.
Here, employees don’t just show up to work—they show up as their true selves. Whether that means proudly displaying their pronouns, speaking out for justice, or simply being seen for who they are, our staff are encouraged to bring every part of their identity to the table. This culture of inclusivity and celebration is woven into everything we do here at the Center.
Photo by Zev Rose Woolley
“They took me in, gave me food, gave me shelter, and gave me love. They showed me what family means. The Center is what’s on the other side of the rainbow.”
— MAX FIGUEROA, YOUTH SERVICES CLIENT
by Jordyn Doyel
Photo
Watch Max’s story filmed by Luke Gilford
DID YOU KNOW?
The Center offers more wide-ranging services for underserved queer youth than any other organization.
MARK ANTHONY CHAVEZ, YOUTH SERVICES INTERN
“I ended up at the Center after leaving an abusive household with nowhere else to turn,” says Mark Anthony Chavez, a client of the Center’s Youth Services department. “I was lucky enough to find space at the Center, and I’ve thrived every day since.”
Youth Services staff helped Mark transition out of homelessness and, eventually, into an apartment of their own. They joined daily groups where they were able to connect
with other LGBTQ+ youth and build a network of peer support. They completed the Center’s prestigious 300-hour Culinary Arts Training Program, which equips LGBTQ+ youth and seniors with everything they need to embark on a career in the food industry.
“The Center saved my life,” they said. “It has been so amazing to come into a space where I’ve been set up for success and felt truly supported every step of the way.”
Mark recently completed an internship with the Center’s Marketing and Communications department, which gave them a chance to polish their skills in social media strategy, press relations, event planning, and more. Over the summer, they were profiled in a special Pride issue by the Los Angeles Times
The highlight of their experience?
“Interviewing Cynthia Erivo at the Gala!”
Photo by Jason Armond for the LA Times
Learn more about Youth Services
Home is more than just a place; it’s a feeling of love and acceptance. This holiday season, we invite you to support our work by giving the gift of queer joy. Our team has lovingly curated the most in-demand needs of our clients here for you to add to your basket. So peruse our Gift Catalog and consider changing the lives of our community with your generosity.
HOW IT WORKS
1. SELECT MEANINGFUL GIFTS
By choosing impactful gifts that support the Los Angeles LGBT Center, you’re contributing to the well-being of LGBTQ+ individuals in need of safety, community, and belonging. Together, we can build a brighter future for our community.
HYGIENE KIT FOR IMMEDIATE RELIEF
Your support allows us to distribute more than 2,000 hygiene kits each month, providing essential personal care items and hygiene products to foster a sense of belonging in our community and create a nurturing environment for our most vulnerable neighbors.
THEATRE EXPERIENCE FOR YOUTH OR SENIORS
The Center’s Cultural Arts Program produces 35 performances each season, supporting health and wellness for LGBTQ+ youth and seniors. By providing theatre tickets, we foster entertainment, inspiration, and community connections, enhancing emotional well-being.
2. COMPLETE YOUR DONATION
Simply scan the QR code provided to fill out the digital order form. Your generosity lays the groundwork for a true home—one where everyone is welcomed, valued, and celebrated. Thank you for being part of this important mission.
SAFE SHELTER FOR LGBTQ+ YOUTH
Help provide a night of safe shelter for LGBTQ+ youth. With your support, we’ve provided 26,000 bed nights annually, offering not just a place to sleep but comfort and security. Your support helps them reclaim their dignity in a world that can often be unkind.
A WEEK OF HEALTHY MEALS
Help fund one week of nutritious meals for our residents and community members in need. On average, we provide 137,000 meals yearly, fueling bodies and promoting overall wellbeing. Your contribution can make a real difference in the lives of those we serve.
SOCIAL ACTIVITIES FOR SENIORS
Support LGBTQ+ seniors by gifting access to more than 60 community social offerings each month, local events, social clubs, and a monthly newsletter. Your contribution helps combat loneliness and enhances seniors’ well-being through meaningful connections.
CULINARY CAREER KICKSTART KIT
Equip aspiring culinary graduates with essential kitchen tools to ensure they have everything they need to pursue a career in the kitchen. Your donation is a vote of confidence in their skills, helping 50 students each year start their culinary journey with Pride.
MENTAL HEALTH COUNSELING
Fund a full month of counseling sessions, which provide ongoing support and healing for those in need. Your generosity fosters growth and empowerment, ensuring that no one faces their struggles alone—especially the 240 youth who seek our services each year.
COMPLETE IMPACT BUNDLE
Consider our “Complete Impact Bundle.” Choose the “One of Each” option for $1,000 or the “Three of Each” bundle for $1,500. With 500,000 visits to the Center each year, these packages allow you to address diverse community needs, bringing hope, health, and happiness to those we serve. Together, we can make a difference!
A LEGACY OF IMPACT
Thomas D. Kraemer’s generosity ensures comprehensive support for thousands of LGBTQ+ young people for years to come.
In September, the Los Angeles LGBT Center dedicated our Youth Center at the Anita May Rosenstein Campus in honor of Thomas D. Kraemer. Tom sadly passed away on June 8, 2024, and he bequeathed the Center an eight-figure gift. His donation marks the largest gift to the Center in our 55-year history.
“In 2016, I introduced Tom to the Center, showing him our various programs and sharing our vision for this historic campus and what it would be,” said David Bailey, a longtime friend of Kraemer’s and former Center board member. “Tom immediately responded to the youth program and all the life-saving work the Center does for LGBTQ+ youth.”
“Today, the Thomas D. Kraemer Youth Center stands as a testament to Tom’s lasting legacy.”
“Tom’s generosity will ensure that thousands of LGBTQ+ young people receive the comprehensive support they deserve through the Youth Center, which now proudly bears his name,” said Center CEO Joe Hollendoner. “Our community will forever benefit from Tom’s compassion and I could not be more grateful to him.”
To learn more about the Center’s Circle of Life program, the legacy-giving society of which Tom was a member, please contact Nellie Sims at 323-993-7606 or nsims@lalgbtcenter.org.
by Scottie
Thomas D. Kraemer
Photo
Wilson
PORTRAITS OF PRIDE
The
GIVE
The life-saving work of the Center is only possible because of supporters like you.
Donate today.
Photo by Zev Rose Woolley