Source LGBT+ Center Inc. (SLCI)

As of 2022, SLCI is the largest LGBT advocacy center between Los Angeles and San Francisco and provides services to more than 6,000 LGBT people annually. ³

Background and Activities

Source LGBT+ Center was established in 2016 by co-founders Brian Poth and Nick Vargas, who both came from Tulare County, California. ⁴ SLCI originally operated out of a basement on Main Street before founding its center in Visalia. As of 2022, the campus includes over 44 programs. ⁵

In 2017, Vargas reported that after moving back to Visalia, he had trouble finding a LGBT-friendly doctor and “had to educate his new physician about how to treat a gay man.” ⁶ Vargas sought to expand prescriptions for PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) used to prevent HIV and to find more doctors who are LGBT “educated.” .” ⁶

In 2019, Vargas took Source LGBT+ Center’s Youth Leadership Academy on a trip to Ecuador, where participants were given education modules on “LGBT+ history, public speaking, advocacy, personal finance, and slam poetry.” ⁷

In 2024, Brian Poth and Nick Vargas received the James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award, along with a $350,000 grant from the foundation to further provide LGBT resources in rural California. ⁸

In July 2025, Source LGBT+ Center was one of over 600 nonprofits and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to sign a letter opposing a ruling by the House Homeland Security Committee in June 2025 demanding the financial records of over 200 NGOs accused of assisting the Biden Administration in settling migrants into the United States. ^{9 10} Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-TN) and Subcommittee Chairman Josh Brecheen (R-OK) commented in a letter sent to the NGOs in question claiming the Committee was “deeply concerned that NGOs that receive U.S. taxpayer dollars benefitted from the border crisis created by the Biden Administration, and stand ready to do so under future Democrat administrations.” ¹⁰ The letter signed by over 600 NGOs and non-profits claimed the Committee’s ruling targets “civic organizations that have provided services under valid federal contracts that were authorized and appropriated by Congress…[t]his effort appears to be an attempt to weaponize Congressional power and create the appearance of wrongdoing against those who the signers believe disagree with their political agenda.” ⁹

Funding

Source LGBT+ Center has received its largest grants from left-of-center groups the Arcus Foundation, the California Endowment, and the Sierra Health Foundation. ¹¹

The Arcus Foundation contributed a $129,000 grant in 2021, followed by another $165,000 grant in 2022. Similarly, the California Endowment has provided $245,000 in grants since 2018, and the Sierra Health Foundation has contributed $556,400 since 2017. ¹¹

Leadership

As of 2023, Brian Poth works as the executive director of Source LGBT+ Center. In 2021, Nicholas Vargas was last listed as the director of development. ¹²

Prior to working as executive director for SLCI, Poth had a career working as a child actor and would eventually land roles in TV series including “CSI: Miami,” “Six Feet Under,” and “True Blood.” He later returned to Central Valley to assist his sister who had been sick with cancer. ¹³