The first community center for the LGBTQ+ community in East Los Angeles opened its doors on Wednesday.
A special ceremony welcomed the MISELA offices, a community center that is welcoming members of the LGBTQ+ community with open arms.
An employee of the new center was the one who cut the ribbon at the inauguration party, she compares the center with an oasis in the desert, since the center will serve as a place where we can find that water that we need to help educators, help students and to help the community to be more full of life.
“They can express themselves in their way of being, they can help other people around them, to be more like feeling support,” said Thursday Tormenta, an employee of MISELA.
MISELA is a small center, part of the Latino Alliance for Equality.
“It is a center of pride for families and young people who are from the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community, it is very important because it is the first community center that we have had here in the city of South East Los Angeles,” he said. .
The Long Beach Gay Pride Parade, which is turning 40, will take place this weekend.
“For young people from the LGBTQ+ community in this place they will not be judged, it is what they call a safe space,” said Yeseñia Mendoza, head of development at Alianza por la Igualdad.
“It is a “Safe Space” center where they can come and have conversations that are very deep, and sometimes, they need a place where they can say what they think without being criticized,” added Mendoza.
MISELA offers drug help, scholarship help and college-bound counseling, and other programs that help youth who may be having difficulty accepting their family.
“No matter what they are going through, MISELA is a center of pride and you should be very proud to be yourself,” Mendoza said.
