Los Angeles LGBT Center history

And according to co-founder Don Kilhefner, it was precisely the word “gay” that allowed them to incorporate as a non-profit in 1971.

There is perhaps no greater visual symbol for that than the progress the Los Angeles LGBT Center has made from it’s first headquarters on Wilshire Boulevard in 1973 to the wide city block it has taken over in Hollywood today.

The Center moved to 1220 North Highland Avenue in Hollywood and in 1979, became one of the first organizations to recognize what became the AIDS crisis when regular visitors to the STD Clinic appeared with strange Kaposi Sarcoma spots or lingering flu, then disappeared, then died.

By 2000, nearly half the 100 community centers were their area's only staffed non-profit LGBT presence - the first point of contact for people seeking information, coming out, accessing services or organizing for political change.

In January 2004, CenterLink hired its first executive director and opened a national office in Washington, DC. CenterLink has greatly enhanced its visibility with LGBT community centers and laid the foundation to make ongoing support and technical assistance available.

In 2008 the Association changed its name to CenterLink.

On October 2, 2010, the Center became the recipient of a $13.3 million, five-year grant from the federal United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Administration on Children, Youth and Families in order to create a model program for LGBTQ youth in foster care.

A 2014 report from the Williams Institute found that LGBT youth are “overrepresented” in the county’s child welfare system and experience significantly worse harm than straight foster care youth.

The new two-acre Campus across the street from the Center’s arts, cultural and educational facility—The Village at Ed Gould Plaza—is expected to open in early 2019.

The White House last month announced it would terminate Title 42, a policy the previous administration implemented in March 2020.