The center was founded in 1969, by gay and lesbian rights activists
Morris Kight and
Don Kilhefner, along with other activists. Originally called The Gay Community Services Center, the original center was located in an old
Victorian house on
Wilshire Boulevard and was the first
nonprofit organization in America to have the word "gay" in its name. In 1998, the organization named its library the Judith Light Library after one of its benefactors, actress
Judith Light. The current
chief executive officer is Joe Hollendoner. In 2015, the organization partnered with Latino Equality Alliance to open Mi Centro, a
culturally sensitive facility in the predominantly
Latine Boyle Heights neighborhood. In 2016,
Holly Woodlawn's
estate founded the Holly Woodlawn Memorial Fund for Transgender Youth at the center, in order to benefit some of the center's programs, including Trans Pride L.A., Trans* Lounge, Transgender Economic Empowerment Project, and trans health care services. Woodlawn was transgender herself. As a crowd of more than 200 gathered outside a June 2023
Glendale Unified School District Board of Education meeting, the Los Angeles LGBT Center joined organizations such as
GALAS LGBTQ+ Armenian Society, the Armenian American Action Network, and
Southern California Armenian Democrats in voicing support for the school district's LGBTQ+ policies. ==Services==