Gay and Lesbian Center Chief to Step Down

Lorri L. Jean, who led the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center through a period of growth and expansion, will leave the organization next year.

After nearly six years as the center’s executive director, Jean said Tuesday that she is ready for a break.

“While these last six years have been filled with many fabulous memories, they also have been comprised of many 70- to 80-hour weeks,” Jean said. “I don’t feel I’ve been having the same level of inspiration and fire I used to. I’m a little tired.”

Under Jean, 41, the center increased its annual budget nearly threefold to $21 million, opened a social-cultural center, expanded its health services and became one of the nation’s major gay institutions.

“Overall she has raised the level of the center to a completely different plane,” West Hollywood Mayor Steve Martin said. “The great tragedy about that is it’s going to be so difficult to find someone to fill her shoes.”

The center was already on an expansion course when Jean arrived, having just moved into new headquarters in Hollywood.

But the organization’s fund-raising muscle developed considerably during her tenure. About half the center’s budget now comes from private donations and half from government sources, compared with 10% private funds when Jean started.

The growth has not come without some criticism. As the 27-year-old agency has moved beyond its social service role and added programs and facilities aimed at middle-class gays and lesbians, there have been complaints that the center has lost some of its grass-roots edge and become too corporate and mainstream.

“Center, Inc.” some have called it.

Jean, a former official of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, leaves her post Jan. 31.