Westside : Neighbors Oppose Plan for Gay Center

Forget Hugh Grant. The real prostitution story is in West Hollywood, where residents are waging war on transvestite streetwalkers and male hustlers.

Neighbors are fighting plans by the Hollywood-based Gay & Lesbian Community Services Center to open a new youth facility at 7506 Santa Monica Blvd. The center would be open from 4 p.m. to midnight and would provide food, clothing, showers and laundry facilities, as well as HIV testing and drug and alcohol counseling.

Ruth Williams, a community activist who led an anti-prostitution march last year, said she fears that the proposed facility will attract more prostitutes to that part of town.

“We don’t need to bring more problems into the neighborhood,” she said.

But Darrel Cummings, director of programs at the center, said the facility would do residents a favor by diverting young people from prostitution. “Our goal and the neighbors’ goal are one and the same,” he said.

Cummings said he would like the facility to offer round-the-clock service. But he may face a round-the-clock struggle with residents.

“I will picket the place 24 hours a day if I have to,” Williams said.