The Lesbian-Gay Community Service Center of Greater Cleveland (LGCSC) (f.1974), began as The Gay Education and Awareness Resource Foundation (Gear Foundation). The Gear Foundation was created to serve the Lesbian and Gay community in Cleveland through social, political and cultural events, counseling and support groups, and to empower and raise the community's level of visibility. The Gear Foundation was incorporated as a non profit organization in 1975, and given tax exempt status in 1978.
The first activities of the Gear Foundation were the operation of a Gay Hotline Switchboard and the publication of High Gear, a monthly paper covering news and events of interest in the Gay community. Both the Hotline and High Gear were operated and produced by volunteers from the Gear Foundation's membership. High Gear served as a unifying element in the growing Lesbian and Gay community in Cleveland during the "Gay Liberation" movement of the mid 1970s. The publication's articles included coverage of Gay civil rights issues and political rallies, Lesbian Gay oriented literature, theater and film reviews, creative writing and editorials. In addition to High Gear and the Hotline, the Gear Foundation served as an umbrella organization for other groups and activities, including a Rap Group and Speakers Bureau.
In March of 1977, the Gear Foundation opened Cleveland's first Lesbian Gay Community Center, to serve as a base of operations for its activities. This first Center was located on Cleveland's east side, and over the years has relocate several times. In 1992, it was located at 1418 W. 29th Street on the city's near west side.
Throughout the early 1980s the Gear Foundation increased its visibility throughout northeast Ohio. As the decade progressed, the foundation helped to form a cohesive Lesbian Gay community despite a national politically conservative milieu. A stronger feminist element was nurtured in the organization with such committees as Lesbians in Gear Hanging Together (LIGHT). With Governor Richard Celeste's approval of the Anti Discrimination ordinance of January, 1983, the foundation became more earnestly involved in activism and lobbying for the community's civil rights. Gear Foundation members were consistently in the forefront of legal issues which involved entrapment, job discrimination, anti-Gay violence and other legal battles in the community.
With the discovery of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) the Gear Foundation began spearheading and assisting with numerous fundraising and education services to help fight both the disease and the public misunderstanding surrounding it. To raise awareness, educate and provide counseling services, an AIDS Hotline was established in 1983. Throughout the decade, the Foundation increasingly became involved with the medical community, the Health Issues Task Force, the National Gay Task Force and the NAMES Project (The Quilt), in the fight against AIDS. Cleveland's participation in numerous marches on Washington D.C. advocating for more funding and attention to be paid to AIDS research, was greatly organized by the Gear Foundation.
Due to financial and organizational difficulties, High Gear was reduced to an advertisement publication in 1982 under the title Ohio Pride. This publication lasted only a short time. It was succeeded by the independently produced Gay Peoples Chronicle which became the city's main Lesbian Gay publication in 1984.
In the Spring of 1988, the Gear Foundation elected to officially change its name to The Lesbian-Gay Community Service Center of Greater Cleveland. Since that time, the center has continued many of the Gear Foundations activities while initiating many others. The Living Room Project was founded to help in supporting and nurturing persons infected with the HIV (AIDS) virus. A Gay Youth Group has also been maintained by the center, along with the Speakers Bureau and various entertainment and social events, including organizing the yearly Lesbian Gay Pride Day and march.
In 1991 The Center agreed to have its records and other archival material pertaining to the Lesbian and Gay community preserved at the library of The Western Reserve Historical Society.
The Lesbian Gay Community Service Center of Greater Cleveland, Records, 1974-1991 consist of board minutes, financial records, correspondence, memoranda, grants and funding files, Hotline records, annual reports, newsletters and other materials pertaining to the events and issues within the Lesbian Gay community of northeast Ohio.
The collection is useful in understanding the organizational and financial structure, as well as the various social and political activist aspects of one of northeast Ohio's first formal Lesbian Gay organizations. The collection offers a wider understanding of the Lesbian Gay Community in the Western Reserve area. Issues such as discrimination, living "out of the closet", pride, recovery, anti Gay violence, feminism, AIDS, legal battles and cross dressing are some of the many issues the collection encompasses. The researcher is offered not only the battles and triumphs of the Lesbian Gay community, but also an understanding of the "lighter", humorous, affirming, day to day social and cultural events of the Community. Particularly, the collection points out the inestimable contributions of Lesbians and Gay men in the Greater Cleveland area, and the influence they have had on the national Lesbian Gay civil rights movement.
The collection is arranged into three series.
Processed by Ed Schmidt in 1992.
Series I and II are open to research. Series III is restricted. Consult the Curator of Manuscripts for details.
[Container ___, Folder ___ ] MS 4610 Lesbian-Gay Community Service Center of Greater Cleveland Records, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio
Gift of the Lesbian-Gay Community Service Center of Greater Cleveland in 1992.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.