Billy DeFrank Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center

Name

The Billy DeFrank LGBTQ+ Community 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. In 2021, to commemorate the DeFrank Center's 40th anniversary, artist Serge Gay Jr. painted a mural on the side of the DeFrank Center that features a portrait of DeFrank.{{Cite news | access-date = July 13, 2024}} | access-date = July 13, 2024}}

History

The Billy DeFrank Lesbian and Gay Community Center opened 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.

The DeFrank Center was the meeting place for several activist groups, include High Tech Gays, which brought the High Tech Gays v. Defense Industrial Security Clearance Office suit in 1984 arguing that the U.S. Department of Defense should not deny security clearances to applicants who were known or thought to be homosexual. {{Cite web | access-date = July 13, 2024}} The DeFrank Center was also one of the original meeting places of Bay Area Municipal Elections Committee (BAYMEC), a PAC that advocates for the civil rights of LGBTQ people.{{Cite web | access-date = July 13, 2024}} | access-date = July 13, 2024}}

In subsequent years, the DeFrank Center expanded to serve a large and diverse community. It moved location several times within San Jose before landing at its current location on The Alameda in San Jose's gay-friendly St Leo neighborhood. In 2016, the street in front of the center became the site of San Jose's first rainbow-striped crosswalk.{{Cite news | access-date = July 13, 2024}} | access-date = July 13, 2024}}

To commemorate World AIDS Day on December 1, 2023, the DeFrank Center displayed several panels of the AIDS Memorial Quilt.{{Cite news | access-date = July 13, 2024}}

Services

From all around the nine counties of the Bay Area, the DeFrank Center provides resources to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people of all ages and backgrounds. Each month more than a thousand people visit the DeFrank Center. Their online newsletter has over 6,000 subscribers. The DeFrank Center has events, activities, and support groups every week. They also provide HIV testing, a cyber center, a library, and art exhibits.

Notes

References

• "Billy DeFrank LGBTQ+ Community Center" http://www.sjsu.edu/justicestudies/for-students/internships/prospective-interns/intern-ops/advertisements/Billy%20DeFrank%20Center.pdf