Milwaukee LGBT Community Center

Background

The Milwaukee LGBT Community Center opened in 1998 in Milwaukee following two prior short-lived attempts to establish a similar facility in the city during the 1970s and 1980s. The center emerged from a 1996 planning effort spurred by a pledge from local donors Erwin Uecker and Ross Walker, who sought to create a dedicated space for LGBT programming. By 2003, the center had relocated to a new facility and expanded its budget from $40,000 to $700,000, with a staff of 12. ⁴

The center is an affiliate of CenterLink, a coalition of LGBT community centers focused on health care and advocacy. ⁵

Activities

The center offers counseling, support groups, and recovery services for victims of violence, including domestic abuse counseling and referrals for LGBT-friendly resources. Its Project Q program is targeted at youth ages 13 to 24 with health education, mentoring, and social activities, while the Older Adult Program provides monthly meals, intergenerational chat nights, and advocacy on aging issues. ^{6 7}

The center also provides support services to transgender individuals and hosts a discussion group for parents of transgender children ages four to 12. ⁸

The center was among 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.” ⁹

In July 2025, the center joined more than 500 left-of-center organizations in a letter condemning investigations by the House Homeland Security Committee and Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) into left-of-center organizations receiving federal grants for a variety of programs on topics including labor and immigration. ¹⁰

Funding

The center has relied on a mix of federal grants, local foundations, and individual donations for funding. In 2025, it lost over $900,000 in federal support, including a grant from the Office of Violence Against Women, due to executive orders from the Trump administration aimed at reducing federal funding for left-of-center diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, and a reduction in Victims of Crime Act allocations from $40 million to $13 million statewide. ^{1 2}

Partner Organizations

Listed partner organizations of the Milwaukee LGBT Community Center as of 2025 included the ACLU of Wisconsin, All of Us LGBTQ+, Courage MKE, End Domestic Abuse Wisconsin, Milwaukee Metropolitan Community Church, Milwaukee PFLAG, United Way, and Veterans for Diversity. ¹¹