A new report shows 73% of participating LGBTQ community centers have experienced homophobic or transphobic threats or harassment over the past two years. The survey comes at a time of increased hate crimes against the queer community in some parts of the country, including California.
The 2024 LGBTQ Community Center Report also showed that the 199 participating centers from around the United States serve over 58,700 people each week — totaling 3 million per year — primarily underserved communities such as people who are low income, racial and ethnic minorities, youth, and transgender and gender-nonconforming people. The report was authored by the Movement Advancement Project, and CenterLink, the national association of LGBTQ community centers.
"This report is a crucial guidepost for us to see the positive impact of LGBTQ centers across the U.S. as well as what areas need additional resources," stated Denise Spivak, a lesbian who is the CEO of CenterLink, which is based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. "As we celebrate our 30th anniversary, this report makes clear the importance of LGBTQ centers in our communities."
Tessa Juste, LGBTQ movement building and policy researcher from MAP, a nonprofit think tank based in Boulder, Colorado, linked the threats and harassment to anti-LGBTQ rhetoric.
"As attacks on LGBTQ people escalate year after year, we applaud these centers' ongoing dedication to serving on the front line — meeting both the immediate and long-term needs of LGBTQ people, their families, and their communities across the country," Juste stated. "This report illustrates the vital difference these centers make in people's everyday lives, while also highlighting the urgent need for continued funding and support of these centers and the lifelines they provide."
Of the threats and harassment, the report stated that 77% was about "anti-LGBTQ politics or rhetoric in general," 50% was related to "transgender-related events or programming," 44% was related to "drag-related events or programming," 42% was related to "youth-related events or programming," 36% was related to "Pride flags or other visual markers of the center," and 23% was related to "specific legislation in the center's state."
"In open-ended comments, and again reflecting the broader political landscape of recent years, multiple centers noted that the threats or harassment specifically targeted youth-focused programming or the staff involved with those programs," the report stated. "Nearly all (99%) responding centers report at least some safety or security measures in place at their center, such as outdoor lighting in parking areas, security cameras, required check-in at entry, and more.
"The majority (53%) of responding centers currently conduct an annual safety and security risk assessment, including 45% of centers that conduct an annual risk assessment specifically focused on targeted threats like vandalism, hate crimes, and active shooters," the report stated.
The Bay Area Reporter reached out to eight participating LGBTQ centers in California and heard back from two — the San Francisco LGBT Community Center, at 1800 Market Street, and the Los Angeles LGBT Center, which has a number of locations.
"Like many LGBTQ+ centers across the country, we have unfortunately seen ongoing threats and harassment, both online and offline, driven by the unceasing wave of anti-LGBTQ and specifically anti-trans rhetoric and legislation," Rebecca Rolfe, a lesbian who is the executive director of the San Francisco LGBT Center, stated to the B.A.R. "Despite these challenges, we remain focused on providing vital programs and services for the communities we serve."
The San Francisco LGBT center declined to comment on specifics. On August 11, 2016, the center was attacked by a man yelling homophobic slurs and wielding a metal pipe and shattering windows, according to an account written by Rolfe in the Advocate magazine.
In June 2020, vandals smashed windows of the Oakland LGBTQ Community Center over Pride weekend, as the B.A.R. reported. Oakland police called the incident a hate crime. The Oakland center participated in the community center report but did not respond to a request for comment.
More recently, the Lavender Youth Recreation and Information Center, or LYRIC, located in San Francisco's Castro neighborhood, received bomb threats in May 2022, as the B.A.R. reported at the time. LYRIC, which participated in the community center report, didn't return multiple requests for comment.
Terra Russell-Slavin, Los Angeles LGBT Center's chief impact officer, identifies as gender expansive and a lesbian. She told the B.A.R. in an October 25 phone interview that "unfortunately though the results are concerning they're not surprising. We've seen across the last number of years an increase in hate violence and attacks against the LGBT community and community spaces, centers like ours."
"Right now we're looking at $100 million being spent on anti-trans rhetoric leading up to the 2024 election, there also we see increases in hate violence," Russell-Slavin said. "We've seen this year-over-year trend and it's concerning and it goes to the critical importance of why spaces like ours matter, why we need to be out there every day."
Asked if the Los Angeles LGBT Center has seen harassment or threats in the past two years, Russell-Slavin responded "absolutely."
"Like most LGBTQ centers we have experienced our fair share of threats," she said. "We never take those lightly and work with local officials to address certain situations. I've been at the center 19 years; we've always experienced hate violence but there's a different atmosphere of political violence" in the 2020s.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta released his office's annual hate crimes report in June, as the B.A.R. reported. The report, which covered 2023, showed that between 2022 and 2023, hate crime events motivated by sexual orientation bias increased by 4.1% from 391 in 2022 to 405 in 2023. Anti-transgender bias events increased by 10.2% from 59 in 2022 to 65 in 2023, and anti-LGBTQ+ bias events increased by 86.4% from 2022.
In the sexual orientation category, there were 231 anti-gay (male) 17 anti-lesbian, 151 anti-LGBTQ+, and six anti-bisexual events. Under gender, there were two anti-male, four anti-female, 65 anti-transgender, and 11 anti-gender-nonconforming events, the AG's report stated.
The MAP and CenterLink report on community centers found that more centers were founded in the 2010s than any other decade thus far, and that there was a total of 3,100 paid staff — and 11,000 volunteers — across the participating centers. One-in-five staff identify as trans.
Moneywise, 64% received government grants, covering more than 1,300 grants that total over $117 million. Small centers — with annual budgets of $250,000 or less — accounted for 34% of participating centers, with the rest having larger budgets. Two-thirds offered direct services for mental and physical health, as well as anti-violence programming.
LGBTQ Agenda is an online column that appears weekly. Got a tip on queer news? Contact John Ferrannini at [email protected]
The column will be off next week, returning Tuesday, November 12.
The State of California offers help for victims or witnesses to a hate crime or hate incident. This resource is supported in whole or in part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library in partnership with the California Department of Social Services and the California Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs as part of the Stop the Hate program. To report a hate incident or hate crime and get support, go to CA vs Hate.
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