“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 support 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 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.
While providing these necessary services to an oftentimes underrepresented community, the Center also focuses on providing a sense of social support and community.
With over 20 social and support groups, such as “20 Somethings,” a group focusing on experiences and issues of LGBTQ+ individuals ages 18-29 years old, or “Gender Expansive,” a social support group for individuals who identify anywhere along the gender spectrum, the Center offers a community for anyone of any age. Most groups meet weekly or bi-monthly and are run by staff and community members, with The LGTBQ Center providing space for meetings.
“All groups are focused on being supportive of the individuals, and so we see some members that participate in multiple groups, that come multiple times a week,” he said.
According to Torres, the positive feedback and change these groups provide for many members cannot be understated.
In one example, he explained the way The LGBTQ Center took action to support older LGBTQ adults during the pandemic.
“During the pandemic, there was a real concern for the safety and well-being of older adults who, in many cases, do not have relationships with their families of birth but rather only had the support of other LGBTQ older adults,” Torres said. “It was really difficult for them to see each other and visit one another because their health and safety were paramount.”
To combat this social isolation, the Center went virtual. They established Zoom meetings and a buddy system of younger members supporting older members with the new technology.
He stated, “On more than one occasion, older adults have told me that that particular effort saved their lives.”Torres reiterated that the support given by the community reflects what The LGBTQ Center can provide. Long Beach has been awarded a perfect score in a Nationwide LGBTQ Municipal Equality Index for the 11th consecutive year.
“It’s reflective [of Long Beach],” Torres said.
“I tell people all the time that we are very, very fortunate not only to live in a state like California but to live in a city like Long Beach that actively works to make sure that every person, regardless of their sexuality or gender identity, has ample opportunity to thrive and be a productive member of our society…and values our communities while actively working to protect our rights,” he said.