The LGBT Resource Center at California State University, Long Beach was established in 1989 as a result of student activism and faculty/staff collaboration. The LGBT student organization lobbied the administration for a safe space in which to connect, hold social events, raise political consciousness, and study between classes. During her one-year term as Acting President of the university, Dr. June Cooper designated Room 165 in Faculty Offices, Building 4 as the LGBT Resource Center. Her decision to grant students a physical location for the resource center distinguished CSULB as one of the first California State Universities to host an LGBT Resource Center on campus.
Vince Nico was the first Student Program Coordinator at the new LGBT Resource Center. His was a work-study position. Since the resource center was founded during the era of ACT UP and QUEER NATION, the LGBT Resource Center was managed through a collectivist model of decision-making. Carol Haas was the second student to staff the resource center. She went through a selection process and was hired as a Student Assistant. Her dedication to the center yielded the center’s first grant, which was awarded by Christopher Street West. Faculty members Dr. Michael Johnston and Dr. Patricia Rozee were the first advisors to the LGBT Resource Center.
After Dr. Robert Maxson became President of the university in 1994, he established a regular source of funding for a half-time Student Program Coordinator position that was not dependent on the work-study program. His generosity guaranteed consistent student staffing of the resource center. In 2005, the center officially became a part of Student Life and Development when a graduate-level Student Resource Center Coordinator was assigned to oversee the LGBT Resource Center and the other cultural resource centers located in Faculty Offices, Building 4.
Currently, the LGBT Resource Center is overseen by the Office of Student Life and Development and is staffed by an undergraduate student assistant program coordinator, a staff advisor, and a faculty advisor. The LGBT Resource Center also shares a graduate-level Student Life and Development Student Resource Center Coordinator with the other cultural centers housed nearby. The resource center has been home to the student organizations, such as Rainbow Coalition, Delta Lambda Phi (Men's Fraternity), and the LGBT Artist Collective.
Major events include National Coming Out Day, Transgender Day of Remembrance, World AIDS Day, Day of Silence, and Long Beach Pride. Regular programs consist of student-run support groups (e.g., Women’s Rap and Men’s Rap) and the Speakers’ Bureau Program. Social events such as Open Houses, movie nights, and game nights are also held in conjunction with the student organizations, Rainbow Coalition and Delta Lambda Phi.
The LGBTRC has a long history of partnering with supportive allies to expand services to LGBT students and their allies at CSULB. The resource center is hopeful about continuing to collaborate with the university to support a full-time student services professional dedicated exclusively to programming and other outreach events at the LGBT Resource Center. In addition, the resource center seeks to strengthen alliances with other minority, social, political, and activist student groups on campus to ensure the academic and social success of ALL students at CSULB.
