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Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Southern Nevada Records (MS-00537)

Abstract

The Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Southern Nevada Records (1992-2023) and include news articles, institutional records such as bylaws, agendas, and meeting minutes, ephemera, and programs for the Center’s annual Honorarium fundraiser. Additional materials include materials relating the the wellness clinic.

Finding Aid PDF

Date

1992 to 2023

Extent

2.55 Cubic Feet (3 boxes, 2 oversized boxes, 1 flat file)
2.21 Linear Feet

Related People/Corporations

Scope and Contents Note

The Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Southern Nevada Records (1992-2023) and include news articles, institutional records such as bylaws, agendas, and meeting minutes, ephemera, and programs for the Center’s annual Honorarium fundraiser. Additional materials include materials relating the the wellness clinic.

Access Note

Collection is open for research.

Publication Rights

Materials in this collection may be protected by copyrights and other rights. See Reproductions and Use on the UNLV Special Collections and Archives website for more information about reproductions and permissions to publish.

Arrangement

Material remains in the order in which it was received.

Biographical / Historical Note

The Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Southern Nevada (now known as the Center), a 501(c)3 organization, was founded in the fall of 1992 through efforts inspired by the Friday Night Men’s Rap Group at the Community Counseling Center. Initially, the Center board of directors met in a small room at Community Counseling, but in 1993 the Center obtained its own building at 912 East Sahara Avenue. This small former dental office on a side street became the first safe public space in Las Vegas for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people. The Nevada legislature that year repealed the state’s sodomy law and the Las Vegas gay community rallied to celebrate and dedicate its new Center on October 15, 1993.

Within a few months of opening the Center offered the community a host of services and programs. It provided free HIV testing; office space for the Nevada Gay Rodeo Association, the NAMES Project, the Lambda Business Association, PFLAG, the Delta Lambda Phi gay fraternity, SAGE [Senior Action Gay Environment]; and meeting space for groups in support of lesbians, gay youth, gay and lesbian parents, Hispanics, gay seniors, transgender people—even a gay science fiction club. On January 23, 1994 the Center sponsored the first annual Man and Woman of the Year Award, known today as the Honorarium.

By 2001, however, the Center had outgrown its small building and the board searched for larger space. They found a 6,000 square-foot storefront across Sahara Avenue in Commercial Center which once housed the Second Time Around Thrift Shop, a fundraising enterprise for Aid for AIDS of Nevada. The Center moved into this space in February 2002 and held its ribbon-cutting and dedication on October 11, 2002 as part of Las Vegas’s National Coming Out Day celebrations. In 2006 the Center moved a couple of doors down where it expanded to include a computer lab, two large meeting/game rooms, and a comfortable community room/library. It now has a community health center and wellness clinic.

1992
1993
1994
2002
2006

Preferred Citation

Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Southern Nevada Records, 1992-2023. MS-00537. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada. http://n2t.net/ark:/62930/f1qk74

Acquisition Note

Materials were donated by Antioco Carillo in 2001 and Dennis McBride in 2007; accession numbers 2001-01, 2007-25. In 2024, additional material was donated by John Waldron on behalf of the Center; accession number 2024-071.

Processing Note

Collection was processed by Dennis McBride in 2007. The finding aid was revised by Jocelyn Ascencio in 2014 to bring it into compliance with DACS. 2001-01 addition was added by Maggie Bukowski in 2017. In 2024, Sarah Jones added the 2024 addition. Duplicate flyers and a condom-covered dress and hat were discarded.

Collection Type

EAD ID

US::NvLN::MS00537

Finding Aid Description Rules

Describing Archives: A Content Standard
English