Billy DeFrank Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center
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The Billy DeFrank Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community Center is a non-profit organization that promotes services for and about the gay community of San Jose, California and Santa Clara County. It started on March 3, 1981.
The Mission Statement of the DeFrank Center is:
The Billy DeFrank LGBT Community Center will provide Community, Leadership, Advocacy, Support, and Services to Silicon Valley’s LGBT people and allies.
The DeFrank Center's current Executive Director is Aejaie Sellers.
[edit] History
The DeFrank Center is named after Billy DeFrank, the stage name of William Price (1936–1980), an African-American and prominent 1970s gay rights activist and a member of the Bay Area's drag community. The Billy DeFrank Lesbian and Gay Community Center opened its doors on March 1, 1981 in a two-room storefront on Keyes St. in south downtown San Jose, a year after Santa Clara County residents voted to repeal ordinances extending housing and employment protections to lesbians and gay men.
The new DeFrank Center emerged from a desire to respond to that setback.
In the two decades have passed since those modest beginnings on Keyes Street, DeFrank has expanded to serve a large and diverse community. Each month more than a thousand people visit the DeFrank Center at its current quarters on The Alameda and many more call the resources of its telephone number.
From all around the 9 counties of the Bay Area, the DeFrank Center provides resources to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people of all ages and backgrounds that are not available elsewhere.
