demanding the executive director be replaced<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\nThe Center, one of Long Beach\u2019s longest-standing LGBTQ institutions, has been a hub for healthcare, legal services and other programming since 1977. But in July, some of its employees hit a breaking point. Jess Edmonds, the Center\u2019s nurse practitioner, who helped draft the letter, resigned, and the Center\u2019s medical director said he would only oversee screening of sexually transmitted infections, according to a letter sent to the Center\u2019s board of directors and reviewed by the Long Beach Post. That same month, multiple employees of the health services team quit or took leave, further reducing key support, according to two Center employees.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The news forced the Center to work with other providers to preserve care for hundreds of patients who visit the Center, according to Edmonds.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In response, the Center added a new physician and nurse practitioner, allowing the health clinic to continue providing sexual health services, including STI care and PrEP, an HIV prevention medication, the Center\u2019s board said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Yet gender-affirming care, a pilot program at the Center, has been paused, disrupting care for approximately 20 patients, Edmonds said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Experts said that community-based LGBTQ health centers fill critical gaps by providing lifesaving treatment with cultural competency in a safe environment. LGBTQ people frequently face discrimination in healthcare settings, from lack of expertise to outright denial of care, said Elana Redfield, federal policy director of the UCLA Williams Institute, a research center focused on law and policy related to LGBTQ people. Especially in the context of federal attacks on healthcare for LGBTQ people, it is \u201cvery concerning if they lose access\u201d to a space that provides that care, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Steph Gilbert, who is nonbinary, sought gender-affirming care at the Center when they were between insurance providers and looking for affordable options.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Gilbert began hormone replacement therapy at the end of 2025, under the supervision of Edmonds, who has expertise in gender-affirming care, and who Gilbert called \u201can amazing provider.\u201d Gilbert was concerned about physical changes progressing too quickly, yet they were reassured that their care would be guided by a protocol and frequent follow-ups, they said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But \u201cafter that first visit, it became extremely difficult for me to get an appointment at all,\u201d they said and recalled leaving panicked voicemails at the Center. Often, no one called them back. \u201cI felt kind of abandoned in my transition,\u201d they said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Once Gilbert secured different insurance, they sought care elsewhere. Yet for others, like friends of Gilbert\u2019s who work multiple jobs and don\u2019t have reliable transportation, the Center\u2019s clinic offered access to critical healthcare, Gilbert said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For the last year, the Center\u2019s health services team worked toward building an affordable one-stop shop for sexual health and gender-affirming care, Edmonds said \u2014 expanding healthcare for the Long Beach LGBTQ community.<\/p>\n
For Gilbert, losing access to gender-affirming care at the Center feels like a further delegitimization of the transgender community, they said. \u201cThe T really is last in LGBT,\u201d they said, \u201cTaking away healthcare costs lives for trans people.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Despite the recent changes, the Center\u2019s board of directors said they are still actively building a comprehensive program meant to expand access to care and bolster clinical staffing. In a statement, the board added that by accepting most insurance and pursuing donations and grants, the Center will also generate revenue to improve its other programs. Gender-affirming care \u201cremains an important part of our vision for comprehensive health services,\u201d the board wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In June, the board hired an independent investigator to evaluate concerns. Once the investigation concludes, the board said it would take action based on its findings. \u201cWe take these matters seriously and are committed to a fair and thorough process,\u201d the board wrote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Long Beach\u2019s LGBTQ Center is no longer offering gender-affirming care after two key medical providers stepped away from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":424509,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":["post-424508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=424508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424508\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/424509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=424508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=424508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=424508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}