In December 1983, the New York City Board of Estimates approved the sale of the former Food and Maritime Trades High School, located at 208 West 13th Street, to the Lesbian & Gay Community Services Center, Inc., for $1.5 million. In its first year, 60 groups met regularly at the center. Today more than 300 groups call the center home. Programs produced by the center include Center Wellness, an Adult Services Department working with people with AIDS, struggling with substance abuse issues, mental health challenges and much more; Youth Services, an activities-based program for LGBT youth; Center Cultural Programs, presenting established and emerging artists, writers, and activitist to the community; Center Families, the Center's family project. The Pat Parker/Vito Russo Center Library is named in honor of individuals who championed LGBT causes in their professional and personal lives. The Center Library is a lending library connected with others around the city, sponsor of a monthly reading group, and producer and/or collaborator for literary events of interest to the LGBT community. In 1985, the center became the temporary home to the Harvey Milk High School, a program of the Hetrick-Martin Institute. The Lesbian Switchboard became a permanent tenant after it was evicted from its former home, and Dignity, a Catholic gay and lesbian religious organization, sought refuge when it was expelled from Catholic churches. The availability of meeting space was a major organizing tool for the LGBT movement in the 1980s and early 1990s. Groups that have expanded throughout the nation, such as the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, Queer Nation, Lesbian Avengers, and Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, had their inception at the center. At one point in the early 1990s, the Center was hosting regular meetings for more than three hundred groups.
Facilities and Activities
Every week, 6,000 people visit the center, and more than 300 groups meet in the building. These groups range from political activist organizations to social clubs. The center also frequently hosts speeches, performances, workshops, and commercially sponsored information sessions. Numerous Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, and other twelve-step recovery groups meet at the center. The center's Mental Health and Social Services division also sponsors support groups focused on coming out, transgender issues, bereavement, and other topics of concern to the LGBT community. The center also houses Center Youth, which provides support and resources for LGBTQ and allied youth. Programs such as both a young men's and a young women's discussion group, a gender exploration group, a safe schools network, a yearly summer camp and a variety of support groups are available to youth free of charge.
Recovery and Health
The center offers programs which care for the health and needs of the LGBT community. These programs include substance use treatments for adults and youths, recovery support, recovery resources, insurance enrollment, HIV & AIDS support, TGNC support, internships and professional training, and counseling and mental health.
Family and Youth
The center provides individuals support for them and their family. Some of the services and programming of the center include building families, strengthening families, connecting families, family therapy certification, and family resources. The center provides a range of events and services for individuals ages 13-21 such as dances, movie screenings, open mic night, summer camp and discussion groups. The programming and services are connection, leadership, support, and youth resources.
In February 2011, the center became embroiled in a controversy over a pro-Palestinian group that was to have a party in the building on March 5 during "Israeli Apartheid Week." The group, Siegebusters, planned to train activists and raise funds for another vessel to break the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza. Advocate columnist and porn producer Michael Lucas threatened a boycott, claiming that Israel is the only gay-friendly country in the Middle East, that the group was anti-Semitic, and that LGBT people in the Palestinian territories are tortured and killed. The center cancelled the party, stating that Siegebusters was not an LGBT-related group. Siegebusters protested the decision by organizing an online petition; whereas Lucas hailed the decision in an interview with The Jerusalem Post. In May 2011, the center announced that it would allow the group Queers Against Israeli Apartheid to meet in their building. The Center defended the move, stating that it "provides space for a variety of LGBT voices in our community to engage in conversations on a range of topics." At the beginning of June 2011, the Center decided to place a "moratorium" on renting space to "groups that organize around the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."
