What does it take to make an activist?

For Joe Hawkins, co-founder and CEO of the Oakland LGBTQ+ Center located in the middle of the Grand Lake neighborhood, it was finding himself in the fight of his life—to retain custody of his son.

It was 1989, and Joe had completed a 10-year stint in the Army. He returned to the Oakland Army Base from Korea and immediately felt a connection to the city of Oakland. But his son and his son’s mother were back in Michigan, and he needed to return there first for an important discussion. He needed to tell his son’s mother that he was gay. When this news caused a rift with her family, he decided that he might as well make the move to Oakland.

Tragically, very soon after arriving, his son’s mother was killed in a fire, leaving Hawkins a single father. As if this wasn’t challenging enough, her family hired attorneys and initiated a legal battle to gain custody of his biological child.

Several attorneys advising Hawkins said that he had little chance of retaining custody of his son because he was gay. But Hawkins would not give up. He utilized all of his connections and all of their connections, and in a remarkable turn of events, he received an unexpected call from none other than Oprah Winfrey. She invited him to share his story on national television, helping him fight for his right to raise his child as a gay father. Ultimately, he won full custody.

Hawkins’ determination to fight for his son compelled him to come out publicly and set him on a lifelong path of advocacy. He realized that not everyone can share their story on a platform like Oprah’s, leading him to work to build programs and services to support the LGBTQ+ community. This experience fueled his commitment to helping others in similar situations. “That is why I do what I do.” 

And what Joe does is impressive. After co-founding and heading up Oakland Pride for three years in the mid-2000s, he and his partner in activism, Jeff Myers (profiled here about starting the Oakland LGBTQ+ Cultural District), launched Oakland’s LGBTQ+ Center in 2017, not long after Trump was elected President. Here’s some of that story.

About LGBTQ+ Centers

The LGBTQ+ Centers in America have a rich history that dates to the aftermath of the Stonewall Rebellion in New York in 1969. The 80s and 90s saw a rise in the establishment of these centers, particularly during the HIV and AIDS epidemic. However, it wasn’t until September 2017 that Oakland finally got its own LGBTQ+ Center.

What initially began as a modest office in a co-working space above T-Mobile has blossomed into a comprehensive service center, health clinic, and community space catering to LGBTQ+ youth, adults, and elders. Co-founder and CEO Joe Hawkins proudly emphasizes that their center is the first in the East Bay founded by Black individuals for the entire LGBTQ+ community. He stresses that the center’s inclusive nature sets it apart, as it was not specifically created to serve only Black LGBTQ+ individuals but rather to be a welcoming space for everyone.

Unlike many predominantly white-led organizations, the Oakland Center does not struggle to attract people of color. It is designed to be truly representative of the diverse LGBTQ+ community it serves.

Oakland became a sanctuary for those who were actively discouraged from patronizing certain San Francisco queer clubs, making it a vital community hub for people of color. The decision to establish the center in this particular Oakland neighborhood was intentional. Recognizing the historical significance of the Lake Merritt area as a haven for LGBTQ+ individuals, Hawkins and Myers chose to honor that legacy.

The journey to secure a permanent space for the center was not without its challenges. When the co-working space that they rented an office in faced eviction, Hawkins and Myers boldly moved to take on the lease for the entire space in January of 2018, increasing their monthly rent 200-fold. Despite the financial risks, they initially filled the offices with therapists to serve the community and share the rent, hosted events, and wrote grant proposals to support the center’s sustainability.

Fast forward to today, and the center has expanded to include five sites — the main center on Lakeshore and Lake Park, the Glenn Burke Wellness Clinic just next door, The Town’s Youth Club down the block, administrative offices up on Grand Avenue, and soon to open, the East Oakland Center, which will be located inside the City of Refuge, an LGBTQ Church on Hegenberger Road. Together, these sites offer a wide range of services, including youth programs, elder care, a health clinic, a food pantry, mental health support, and referrals. The center also played a crucial role in providing HIV prevention and treatment, as well as the gamut of sexual health and reproductive health services.  

Inside, the Center is a vibrant reflection of the community it serves. It is adorned with colorful mosaics, pride flags, meaningful artwork, and quilts that share the stories of those who benefit from the center’s services. 

Who’s Glenn Burke?

The Center’s Health Clinic is named for Glenn Burke. Hawkins explains that, early on, “the Center received a letter from the Multicultural Sports Hall of Fame wanting to recognize us in the name of Glenn Burke. Our question was, ‘Who is Glenn Burke,’” Hawkins recalls.

It turns out Burke was the first major league baseball player to come out as gay. (He is also credited with creating the high five that so many people do today.) Burke played for the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Oakland As in the 1970s and 80s and was often compared to Willie Mays. He was unapologetic about his sexual orientation, but Dodger manager Tommy Lasorda would have none of it. After Burke refused Lasorda’s offer of $75,000 to marry a woman, not only did Glenn not marry a woman, he dated Tommy Lasorda’s son.

He was then shipped out to the Oakland As, but that owner, Charley Finley, was equally homophobic, causing Burke’s professional MLB career to fizzle. After several years of being addicted to drugs, he died in 1995 of AIDS.

“When we learned of his story, it just only made sense that we create a clinic that we felt would have served him well,” Hawkins says.  

The Grand Lake community

Hawkins acknowledges that, when it first opened, the Center encountered resistance from some neighborhood businesses, but eventually, that opposition subsided. “However, in 2020, our display of a Black LGBTQ+ Lives Matter sign in our window sparked a violent incident. A young white male broke our windows with a golf club. Thankfully, the Grand Lake community rallied behind us, generously assisting in replacing the damaged windows.” To fortify the premises, the San Jose Sharks contributed to the installation of a cutting-edge security system. “We’ve been incredibly fortunate to receive widespread support from the entire Bay Area, particularly from the local neighborhood, which is home to a vibrant LGBTQ+ population and numerous LGBTQ+-owned businesses,” he says.

“Oakland boasts one of the largest LGBTQ+ communities in the United States, largely due to the migration of individuals from San Francisco during the dot-com boom and subsequent gentrification. Early on, the center garnered significant financial support from individuals in the local community.”  Since then, the state of California, foundations, and companies have rounded out the Center’s funding, enabling the budget to reach an impressive $4.5 million annually. This accomplishment is remarkable, “considering we started from scratch just seven years ago.”

Hawkins adds that the Center’s impact is felt widely. We serve approximately 800 individuals each month, totaling thousands of people annually from across Alameda County.”

Expanding the Youth Program and to East Oakland

The most marginalized individuals often belong to the black, Latinx, indigenous, and other people of color communities. This is one of the reasons that the Center is expanding its services into East Oakland. “Many of our clinic patients travel from East Oakland to receive services at our Grand Lake location,” Hawkins explains. “We need to be where our community is.”

Another priority for the Center is to support the LGBTQ+ community in all of its stages. It is estimated that 40% of the unhoused youth in East Oakland are LGBTQ+ because they are often kicked out by their families when they come out. To serve these young people, the Center recently established the Youth Club in the Town in a space just a few blocks from the Center that provides a drop-in space for young people aged 13-26.

The Center also aims to support LGBTQ+ elders, as many are forced to conceal their identities when they enter elder care facilities. “We envision creating a drop-in space for elders to be around other LGBTQ+ individuals.”

Finally, the Center strongly believes that providing housing for trans people is critical. “During the pandemic, many trans individuals approached us, expressing difficulty in finding rental accommodations.” The lives of trans people are very precarious and, as we all know, they are under attack nationwide. “Our challenge is to ensure adequate housing for everyone in our community.”

Moving into the Future

Hawkins is always thinking about the future. In addition to wanting to purchase its own space one day, Hawkins says, “We are working to establish an endowment to ensure that our services will continue beyond us. I have been involved in this work for a long time, and I see the Center as a place for developing future leaders. I am very excited about that.”

Further, he says, “it is crucial for the Center to engage with the Grand Lake community as a neighbor and to foster a sense of togetherness. That’s why I serve on the Lakeshore Avenue Business Improvement District (LABID). Safety is a major concern here, regardless of one’s sexual orientation or gender identity. We need to focus on what brings us together and determine how to keep everyone safe.”

Most importantly, he and the Center seek respect from the community and aim to give it as well. “We want people to perceive us as a positive presence in this community.”