The Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center provides a broad array of services for the lesbian

Lesbian

Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...

, gay

Gay

Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....

, bisexual and transgender

Transgender

Transgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to vary from culturally conventional gender roles....

 community. Its clinic

Clinic

A clinic is a health care facility that is primarily devoted to the care of outpatients...

 and on-site pharmacy

Pharmacy

Pharmacy is the health profession that links the health sciences with the chemical sciences and it is charged with ensuring the safe and effective use of pharmaceutical drugs...

 offers free and low-cost health, mental health, HIV

HIV

Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...

/AIDS

AIDS

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...

 medical care and HIV/STD

Sexually transmitted disease

Sexually transmitted disease , also known as a sexually transmitted infection or venereal disease , is an illness that has a significant probability of transmission between humans by means of human sexual behavior, including vaginal intercourse, oral sex, and anal sex...

 testing and prevention, although there are no direct mental health services for youth.

The Center also offers legal, social, cultural, and educational services, with unique programs for seniors, families and youth, including a 24-bed transitional living program for homeless youth.

History and organizational structure

Founded in 1971, in part by gay and lesbian rights activist Morris Kight

Morris Kight

Morris Kight was a gay rights pioneer and peace activist, based in Los Angeles. He is considered one of the original founders of the gay and lesbian civil rights movement in the United States.- Early life :Kight was born and grew up in Comanche County, Texas...

, the LAGLC was the first of many LGBT community center

LGBT community center

An LGBT community centre , or pride center, is a building which hosts services for non-heterosexual youth, seniors, adult men and women, and trans individuals, as well as an an organization which owns and maintains such a building on a non-profit, non-political basis.-Functions:Common focuses for...

s to be established around the world to the present day. Today, it is one of the largest Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT

LGBT

LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...

) organizations in the world and continues to be a strong leader and partner with GLBT organizations across the globe. The LAGLC is often claimed to be the oldest LGBT organization worldwide, but that spot is taken by COC Nederland

COC Nederland

COC Nederland is a Dutch organization for LGBT men and women. COC originally stood for Cultuur en Ontspanningscentrum , which was intended as a "cover" name for its real purpose...

 in Amsterdam

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

, which was founded in 1946.

In 1998, they named their library after one of their benefactors, actress Judith Light

Judith Light

Judith Ellen Light is an American actress. Her television roles include Karen Wolek on the soap opera One Life to Live, Angela Bower on the sitcom Who's the Boss?, Claire Meade on ABC's TV series Ugly Betty and Judge Elizabeth "Liz" Donnelly on Law & Order Special Victims Unit.-Early life:Light...

.

The current CEO is Lorri Jean

Lorri Jean

Lorri L. Jean is nationally recognized as one of the most seasoned and effective leaders in the LGBT civil rights movement...

.

On October 2, 2010, the LAGLC became the recipient of a landmark $13.3 million, five-year grant from the Federal United States Department of Health and Human Services

United States Department of Health and Human Services

The United States Department of Health and Human Services is a Cabinet department of the United States government with the goal of protecting the health of all Americans and providing essential human services. Its motto is "Improving the health, safety, and well-being of America"...

 (HHS) Administration on Children, Youth and Families in order to create a model program for LGBTQ youth in foster care. It was the largest-ever grant by the federal government to an LGBT organization, and the only grant out of six total grants that did not go to a government agency or academic institution.

External links

• Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center — official website