The Center - About

	The San Diego Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Community Center

About - History

It Started With An Answering Machine...

The San Diego LGBT Community Center, which today serves 25,000 people a year, started as a telephone answering machine in Jess Jessop’s house in 1971. If you had a question or problem, you’d call the number and someone would call you back. A year later a group of dedicated San Diego lesbians and gay men gathered in a private home in Point Loma with the dream of creating a center of the community. They met once a week for two years, deciding everything by consensus.

The answering machine, having made the rounds of various activists’ closets, was still around in 1972 when it was moved to a room provided by the Metropolitan Community Church. Local bar owners donated money and gave fund-raising parties, and, by September 1973, the first Center was ready to open. It was called The Center for Social Services because, at the time, it was believed that a name with “gay” or “lesbian” in it could hurt the organization’s ability to get the IRS’ not-for-profit status. Also, in those years, donors did not like to write checks using these words.

Center on Robinson Street. The Center’s first home was a two-story, ten-room house at 2250 B Street in Golden Hill. The answering machine came along and, when the telephone technician installed the equipment, he came out to them. Shortly thereafter he became a Center volunteer. From the start The Gay Center focused primarily on military counseling and running a telephone hotline. During the week women and men met in self-development groups and one night a week they would party. The Center moved several times, once, during a very lean time, to a vacant garage, but the phone machine was never turned off!

Center on Normal Street. In 1980, The Gay Center, having now been renamed the Lesbian and Gay Men’s Community Center, moved to its home at Fifth Avenue and Robinson. There, over a 12-year period, The Center grew from one room for phone counseling to 12 rooms with 50 volunteers and a staff of 9 serving 1200 people a month. Needless to say, it was bursting at the seams. The happy solution was the move to 3916 Normal Street in September 1992.

By late 1998, The Center was once again expanding its programs and services for the LGBT and HIV community. In July of 1999, The Center moved from Normal Street to Centre Street and began plans for renovation.

In July 2000, the Hillcrest Youth Center opened its doors and instantly became a critical resource for LGBTQ youth in San Diego. The Youth Center is the only drop-in center of its kind in San Diego County. It serves as a safe and affirming place where youth can come and express themselves and meet others as well as gain access to social and educational resources.

In July 2003, interior and exterior renovations were completed and Center doors reopened. That same summer came the creation of two flagship programs of The Center: the Women’s Resource Center, offering LBT women and their allies access to important health and social resources and referrals; and the 50 and Better Club, providing important health, financial and social resources for LGBT seniors.

Program expansion continued in 2004 with the launch of the Latino/a Services Project, which provides culturally-affirming drop-in space, support groups and social programs for LGBT Latinos and their families.

YHP In February 2006, The Center opened the Youth Housing Project. Four years in the making, this cutting-edge program is one of the first of its kind in the United States. The Youth Housing Project provides 23 units of permanent, supportive housing for homeless LGBT and HIV+ youth between 18-24 years of age. These high-risk youth have been living on the streets or in public spaces, many after having been ejected from their homes because of their sexual orientation.

In May 2007, Family Matters, the only organization in San Diego County providing programs and services for LGBT-headed families as well as those considering parenthood, became the newest program of The Center.

May 2008 – The California State Supreme Court overturns same-sex marriage ban as unconstitutional and discriminatory. Out of state opposition pours millions of dollars into a campaign to support an anti-marriage equality state constitutional amendment on the November ballot. LGBT community gears up for the most important civil rights fight in its history.

Today, The Center serves more than 25,000 community members each year, with 300 volunteers and 50 staff members. With your ongoing support, The Center will continue to create, empower and sustain San Diego’s LGBT and HIV communities.

The Center

A Few Important Dates In Our History

1811 The Netherlands decriminalizes homosexual acts.

1867 Karl-Heinrich Ulrichs is the first self-proclaimed homosexual to speak out publicly for our rights at the Congress of German Jurists.

1869 The term "homosexual" first used by Austrian Karl Kertbeny in a tract pleading for social tolerance.

1897 Magnus Hirschfeld founds Scientific Humanitarian Committee to organize for homosexual rights and repeal Paragraph 175 of the Reich Criminal Code.

1924 Chicago - Society for Human Rights, America's first known "gay rights" organization. It lasted less than a year.

1940-1945 World War II - Thousands of Americans experience new cultures and sexual mores overseas. U.S. Military begins campaign of expelling soldiers thought to be homosexual.

1948 Alfred Kinsey publishes Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, a study finding that 1 in 10 males acknowledged having at least one sexual experience with another male.

1950 Harry Hay, Rudi Gernreich, Bob Hull, Chuck Rowlands, James Gruber, Dale Jennings and Konrad Stevens found the Mattachine Society.

1955 San Francisco - Daughters of Bilitis, the first lesbian organization, was founded by Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon.

1960's Growth of the Homophile Movement.

1965 First public protest by homosexuals, taking place outside the Pentagon and White House.

June 28, 1969 New York City - Stonewall riots occur over several nights in response to harassment by police.

1969-1970 Founding of Gay Activists Alliance, Gay Liberation Front, National Gay Task Force, etc.

1972 Sweden becomes first country to allow legal sex reassignment surgery and free hormone therapy.

1973 American Psychiatric Association removes homosexuality from its list of diseases and disorders.

Nov 1978 San Francisco - Assassination of Harvey Milk (openly gay member of Board of Supervisors), by Dan White, another supervisor.

1979 First March on Washington for Gay Rights attracts approx. 100,000 marchers.

1981 New York City - First cases of Gay Cancer, later named AIDS.

1980's Growth of civil disobedience as political activism. Groups like ACT UP, Lesbian Avengers, Queer Nation.

1989 Denmark - First nation to legalize gay marriage.

1990's Gays have a political influence in a national presidential campaign.

2000 Vermont is first state to pass legislation regarding Civil Unions to same sex couples.

2000 California Domestic Partnership Registration becomes available with the passage of AB 26. California becomes the second state in the Union to legally recognize same-sex relationships.

2003 The United States Supreme Court on June 26, 2003 struck down Texas's Homosexual Conduct law, and all sodomy laws across the nation. This landmark decision is the most significant ruling ever for LGBT Americans and our civil rights.

2004 Massachusetts becomes the first state to legalize same-sex marriage while 11 other states ban it through public referenda.

2005 New Zealand becomes first nation to outlaw hate crimes and employment discrimination based on gender identity.

2007 LOGO channel hosts first forum of Presidential candidates on LGBT issues. 6 Democratic candidates participate. GOP candidates decline the invitation.

2008 California State Supreme Court hears oral arguments on constitutionality of same-sex marriage ban. Out of state opposition pours millions of dollars into a campaign to put an anti-marriage equality state constitutional amendment on the November ballot.

Become part of the history of The Center

Consider volunteering at The Center. The Center always needs capable, enthusiastic volunteers, and becoming a volunteer is a rewarding way to contribute to our community and to ensure the success of The Center.

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