Donate to help us continue our vital programming during this transition.

Volunteer to help with the work of The Center as we move forward with our plans.

The LGBT Center of Greater Cleveland’s Board of Directors in consultation with many of Northeast Ohio’s LGBT-related organizations and individuals is re-visiting the Strategic Plan and re-assessing the programming needs of the varied constituencies currently served.

A high priority is a move out of the current basement location on Detroit Avenue. The space has served the Center well over the last ten years, but needs have changed. We are actively seeking adequate, accessible space that will serve the future needs of the LGBT community, and plan to be moved by March 1, 2012.

Fueled by a recent bequest of non-operating funds of $400,000 our endowment now exceeds $500,000. We are honored by the gifts of our community and know it is our responsibility to ensure that The Center's work continues to thrive in a very tough economy. The Center is thankful to the generous community it serves.

Now in our 37th year, we will continue our mission to advance the rights, respect and diversity of the LGBT Community.  We seek to act as an incubator for programs that work with vulnerable populations within the LGBT community and to serve as a bridge between area LGBT organizations and allied groups. We will continue to strengthen our relationships and collaborate with other LGBT organizations, agencies and individuals who support and help serve our community and support our mission. We thank them for their pledges of support.

Currently we have a board of seven and full time staff of five including two interns. Additional members to the Board will join us in January. We thank them for their willingness to serve.

As we move to enact the Strategic Plan, volunteers at all levels will be critical to our success (as they have been always). Just as we value every dollar, every volunteer hour is appreciated and utilized to further our mission and broaden reach.

The work of the LGBT Center of Greater Cleveland is not yet done.

37 years ago, The Center was founded as GEAR or Gay Educational and Awareness Resources.  GEAR operated as a hotline, provided the first support for the community and published Ohio’s first gay newspaper-High Gear.

GEAR eventually moved from Coventry to West 29th Street and became The Lesbian Gay Community Service Center of Greater Cleveland.  In the late 90’s The Center moved to Gordon Square and the name became The LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland to better reflect the communities we serve.

Since 1975, The Center has been working to advance human and civil rights and to promote the dignity and respect of Northeast Ohio LGBT communities.  The Center seeks to act an incubator for programs that serve vulnerable populations within the LGBT community as well as serving as a bridge between area LGBT and ally groups.

In 2010, The Center underwent a strategic planning process under the leadership of Case Western University’s Mandel School for Non-Profit Leadership. In 2011, the Board of Directors reached out to other community organizations serving the LGBT community, organizations that were not in existence in 1975.

Organizations like:

• The MetroHealth Pride Clinic, providing care that respects the unique health care needs of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community
• GLSEN, The Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network, which strives to assure that each member of every school community is valued and respected regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression
• The AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland, which provides a compassionate and collaborative response to the needs of people infected, affected and at risk of HIV/AIDS
• The Human Rights Campaign founded in 1980 advocating on behalf of LGBT Americans nationwide

These organizations, and the two-dozen or so other organizations serving our Northeast Ohio communities are a success story in and of themselves. Just the existence of so many diverse organizations: local, regional, and national; focusing on health and wellness, rights and advocacy, safe schools for students; each of these organizations does something that no organization did in 1975 when The Center was born.

So is the LGBT Center still relevant?

For as many reasons as there are to celebrate today, there are twice as many reasons to strive for more.  The Center‘s board believes that our work is not yet done.

• When we readin the paper that 4 local high school students were bullied to the  point of suicide we know that our work is not yet done
• When we see in the news the story of a14 year-old student that participated in the “it gets better project, then ended his life because of bullying, we know that our work is not yet done.
• When we read of LGBT senior citizens reporting discomfort in retirement community life, we realize that our work is not yet done.
• When an LGBT group met for the first time at the annual BMW motorcycle rally in western Pennsylvania; some of the 7, 000 attendees threatened to stop attending the future events because the organizers allowed the LGBT group to meet, we know that our work is not yet done.
• When we see that our state representative reintroduces the equal housing and employment act into the Ohio legislature because we do not have the protection against discrimination by sexual orientation and gender identity we realize that our work is not yet done.

There is still so much work to be done. 

Please help...

Donate to help us continue our vital programming during this transition.
Volunteer to help with the work of The Center as we move forward with our plans.