The Los Angeles LGBT Center is an LGBT advocacy organization located in Los Angeles, California. The organization operates nine facilities in the greater Los Angeles area. The organization has over 800 employees and an annual budget of nearly $150 million. The organization provides services and operates programs in categories including health, social services, and housing, culture and education, and advocacy.

The organization’s programs include an emerging leaders program funded by the U.S. State Department and the Out For Safe Schools program focusing on “making school campuses around the country safer and more supportive environments for LGBTQ students.” The organization is funded by many left-of-center funders, companies, and foundations including the California Community Foundation, the Open Society Foundations, Wells Fargo, and Toyota. ^{1 2}

Background

The Los Angeles LGBT Center was founded in 1969. The group operates nine facilities in Los Angeles and has over 800 employees. The organization states that it provides “services for more LGBT people than any other organization in the world.” The services provided at the organization’s facilities include meals, showers, laundry and employment training for LGBT homeless individuals, STD testing, domestic violence prevention, and addiction recovery services. ²

The organization states that it serves over 50,000 visits to its facilities annually and has an annual operating budget of nearly $150 million. ³

Advocacy

The organization also conducts significant advocacy and organizing activity in support of left-of-center LGBT and other issues. The group’s “resistance squad” is the center’s “team of community organizers fighting to protect and expand the rights of the LGBTQ community” which includes a “team of 2,500+ volunteers” seeking to “change the hearts and minds of elected officials and voters through phonebanks, rallies, postcards, and so much more.” ⁴

The organization supports the federal Equality Act that if enacted would “add non-discrimination protections for sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity to federally funded programs – employment, housing, public accommodations, education, federally funded programs, credit, and jury service.” ⁴

In-School Programs

The Los Angeles LGBT Center’s OUT for Safe Schools program works with K-12 school districts and other agencies to partner on “policy, culture, and practice initiatives.” The program urges faculty, administrators, and other school personnel to wear “OUT for Safe Schools® badges to publicly identify themselves as LGBTQ allies, sending a visible message to all students that LGBTQ youth are welcomed and supported at school.” ⁵

Criticism of Target

The Los Angeles LGBT Center was among a list of over 200 LGBT-related left-of-center organizations that criticized Target and other companies such as Anheuser-Busch, after Target “reluctantly decided last week to pull some Pride Month merchandise from its shelves.” The coalition of groups, led by the Human Rights Campaign, urged Target to “provide necessary security for employees, restore Pride merchandise to its shelves and stand by its commitment to the values it has long professed.” ⁶

Funding

The Los Angeles LGBT Center is heavily funded by corporate and foundation donations. Organizations that have contributed over $100,000 to the organization annually include the  California Community Foundation, Cedars – Sinai, Gilead Sciences, May and Stanley Smith Charitable Trust, Wells Fargo, Ahmanson Foundation, Carl and Roberta Deutsch Foundation, the Eisner Foundation, The Ariadne Getty Foundation, Open Society Foundations, S. Mark Taper Foundation, and Toyota. ¹

Other funders include Amazon Studios, Target, Comcast NBC Universal, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Hearst Foundation, and Tito’s Handmade Vodka. ¹

1. “2020 Annual Report.” Los Angeles LGBT Center. Accessed July 1, 2023. https://lalgbtcenter.org/images//Downloads/AnnualReport/LALGBTC20_AnnualReport_FINAL.pdf
2. “At A Glance 2021.” Los Angeles LGBT Center. Accessed July 1, 2023. https://lalgbtcenter.org/images/Downloads/AnnualReport/LALGBTC21_AtAGlance_2021_FINAL2.pdf
3. Los Angeles LGBT Center.” ProPublica. Accessed July 1, 2023. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/953567895
4. “Resistance Squad.” Los Angeles LGBT Center. Accessed July 1, 2023. https://lalgbtcenter.org/leadership-advocacy/resistance-squad
5. ^[1]“In-School Programs.” Los Angeles LGBT Center. Accessed July 1, 2023. https://schools.lalgbtcenter.org/?_gl=1%2Awuqwm9%2A_gcl_au%2ANTc5ODE1ODUuMTY4ODIyNTA5OA
6. Killian, Joe. “More than 100 organizations call on Target, other businesses to stand up to anti-LGBTQ threats.” NC Newsline. June 1, 2023. Accessed July 1, 2023. https://ncnewsline.com/2023/06/01/more-than-100-organizations-call-on-target-other-businesses-to-stand-up-to-anti-lgbtq-threats/