Ellie Perez is the LGBTQ Center of Long Beach’s new executive director. (Photo courtesy of LGBTQ Center of Long Beach).
The LGBTQ Center Long Beach, a nonprofit serving the city’s queer community, officially has a new executive director.
Ellie Perez, who has been the center’s interim executive director for the past 11 months, has taken over the position permanently, according to a Tuesday, July 9, press release.
The center’s Board of Directors began the search for a new executive director six months ago, the news release said, after the organization’s previous leader, Carlos Torres, left the job in August.
It’s unclear why Torres, who was appointed to the position in 2021, left the position.
The organization “doesn’t release information related to personnel matters, even in the best of circumstances,” Cory Allen, the center’s spokesperson, said in a Wednesday, July 10, email.
Perez, meanwhile, began her advocacy for the LGBTQ community after being rejected and discriminated by an evangelical church for her sexuality, according to the press release.
In May 2020, Perez and her wife founded Safe Spaces Alliance — an initiative intended to promote safe spaces for LGBTQ+ people in Long Beach.
She also previously sat on the Latino Equity Alliance’s Board of Directors, according to the news release, advocated for immigrant families and students with disabilities within the Los Angeles Unified School District, and worked on a campaign to oppose California’s Prop 8 — which attempted to outlaw same-sex marriage in 2008.
In late 2023, Perez was also appointed to Los Angeles County’s inaugural LGBTQ+ Commission by Supervisor Janice Hahn.
“She brings a wealth of experience and a heartfelt dedication to this vital role,” the news release said, “and has already seen several marque wins in her current capacity.”
One of those wins happened earlier this year, when the center nabbed a $2 million grant from billionaire philanthropist Mackenzie Scott’s Yield Giving program — the largest single grant award in the nonprofit’s history.
The center provides services to more than 10,000 people every year, the organization said previously. The nonprofit offers myriad services and programs for Long Beach’s LGBTQ+ community, ranging from mental and physical health support to sponsoring social and cultural activities including the annual Long Beach QFilm Festival.
“Leading the LGBTQ Center of Long Beach is a profound honor,” Perez said in the news release. “I look forward to building upon our current offering of services and making our LGBTQ Center more inclusive for all members of our diverse community.”
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