About Us
Welcome to the UCLA LGBTQ Campus Resource Center!
Our Mission, Vision, and Values
Mission
The UCLA Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) Campus Resource Center supports students and employees of all genders and sexual and romantic orientations through community-building events, resources, counseling, outreach, training, consultation and advocacy. We approach our work through holistic, intersectional, and social justice frameworks that honor and empower individuals at their many identities and lived experiences including but not limited to race, ethnicity, immigration status, ability, religion, and class.
Vision
We envision a UCLA community that is equitable and affirming of all identities, where people of all genders and sexual and romantic orientations feel celebrated, respected, and empowered.
Values
Accessibility · Community and Accountability · Education · Equity and Advocacy · Intersectionality · Social and Racial Justice · Wellness
Our Staff
Learn more about about our staff on the staff page!
Rae Lee Siporin LGBTQ Library
The Rae Lee Siporin Library is one of the largest libraries of its kind at a college or university with nearly 4000 books and periodicals written for and about LGBTQ people as well as a selection of DVDs. Students, faculty, and staff may study here, browse the holdings, or plug in their own laptops to work. Books may be read here or checked out. Our check-out system is private and circulation records do not appear on your UCLA account- feel free to ask a CRC staff member for more information.
David Bohnett Cyber Center
The David Bohnett CyberCenter, the first of its kind at a college or university, was established in 2004 within the LGBT Center through a generous grant from the David Bohnett Foundation. It is designed as a safe space for students to use new computers and scan articles and photos. Since 2004, the foundation has funded the UCLA LGBT Campus Resource Center to greatly advocate for the LGBT community on campus.
The lab at the UCLA LGBT Campus Resource Center includes 6 PC Computers with the programs: 2010 Microsoft Word, Publisher, Powerpoint, Access, InfoPath Designer, OneNote, and Visio. There is also a flatbed scanner that includes Adobe Photoshop. Inside the Cyber Center our staff work to present the events and educational bulletin boards. The resources that the Cyber Center provides also gives allies and students a reason to enter the Center, particularly for students who are not out.
Mission
David Bohnett and the David Bohnett Foundation are committed to improving society through social activism. The foundation had made it their mission to provide funding, up-to-date technology as well as technical suport to innovate organizations and institutions that share their vision, such as the UCLA LGBT Resource Center.
After first funding for a CyberCenter at the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center, the foundation began with a vision that would offer research, educational, and recreational opportunities to the local queer community via access to the Internet. The Bohnett foundation has full intentions to provide a full range of Internet and business software for business and personal computing as well as community education and training through classes on software use and the Internet. After becoming a popular spot at the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center, the CyberCenter has provided a "blueprint" for successful centers nationwide.
Our History
The UCLA LGBTQ Campus Resource Center was borne of a long history of queer activism at UCLA, from Evelyn Hooker’s research in the 1950s to the formation of the Gay Liberation Front in 1969.
In 1974 the first Gay Awareness Week was hosted with such speakers as Rita Mae Brown, Harry Hay, and Charlotte Bunch. In 1976 UCLA Chancellor Charles E. Young directed departments and programs not to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, one of the first such administrative orders by the head of an American university, and in the same year, the first course in lesbian, gay, and bisexual studies was offered at UCLA and taught by Peter Thorslev.
In 1979 UCLA students published the first edition of Ten Percent, which predated Frontiers as a Los Angeles gay newspaper. Also in 1979 a gay film festival was held at UCLA, organized by John Ramirez and Stuart Timmons, and grew to become OutFest.
In 1989 both the UCLA Lesbian and Gay Faculty/Staff Network and the Lambda Alumni Association were founded, and in 1990 the Chancellor's Advisory Committee on Lesbian and Gay Issues was established. In 1991 Curt Shepard developed the proposal to establish an LGB student resource center which opened its doors in 1995 under the direction of doctoral student Charles Outcalt.
In 1997, after the center moved from a small closet in Haines Hall to 440 square feet in Kinsey Hall, Dr. Ronni Sanlo, founder of Lavender Graduation, was recruited from the University of Michigan to grow the UCLA LGBTQ Center. In 1998, the first UCLA Lavender Graduation was celebrated. In September of 2003 the UCLA LGBTQ Campus Resource Center moved into a 1600 square foot space in B36 in the Student Activities Center, formerly the Men’s Gym, where we currently reside.
Thanks to the support of the university, generous donors, and grants, the new UCLA LGBTQ Campus Resource Center now includes the David Bohnett Cyber Center and an extensive library collection. Feel free to come check out our center whether you just want to hang out, check your e-mail, study, or participate in our weekly programs.