Connie Norman Transgender Empowerment Center Opens Friday

LOS ANGELES —The Connie Norman Transgender Empowerment Center was scheduled to open officially Friday with a formal ribbon ribbon-cutting ceremony. The facility, in Los Angeles, is believed to be the first of its kind and will serve Trans and Non-Binary individuals and communities, facility directors said.

According to a release, the center, located at 1001 N. Martel Ave., will focus on building capacity, advocacy and overall health and wellness of the Transgender and Non-Binary communities.

Multiple organizations have worked together on the center, including: the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), FLUX, a group dedicated to creating safe spaces for Trans and gender non-forming individuals, and Unique Women's Coalition (UWC), which focuses on the needs of Black Trans culture. The center is expected to serve as a home for FLUX and UWC, according to the release.

The facility also will be home to a food bank, which will open Monday. A "clothing closet," designed to assist Trans and other individuals, also will open on-site in the future, and an AHF Healthcare Center, serving the needs of Trans and nonbinary patients, is set to open at the facility in 2022, project organizers said.

"We are committed to making sure our community has a voice. Now, we have this incredible building as a home for those voices," said Queen Victoria Ortega, founder and international president of FLUX. "I believe that great things are going to happen here, really great things!"

The center is housed in a 20,000-square-foot building that has been repurposed after serving as Linn House, an AHF-operated hospice for people dying of AIDS in the 1990s, according to officials.

The facility is named in honor of Connie Norman, known as the "AIDS Diva," a Transgender and AIDS activist who died of the disease in 1996, project organizers said.

According to the release, Norman was a member of Act Up Los Angeles and an advocate for the creation of AHF's first AIDS care facility, the Chris Brownlie Hospice, where she passed away.

Norman is the subject of a new documentary "AIDS Diva: The Legend of Connie Norman," which was directed by Dante Allencastre, and the city of West Hollywood has proclaimed Sept. 10 as Connie Norman Transgender Empowerment Day.

In her final days, Norman gave her childhood teddy bear to Michael Weinstein, a good friend and now president of the AHF. The teddy bear will be housed at the center in a commemorative plexiglass display, Weinstein said.

"(She) bequeathed her childhood teddy bear to me, asking that I please help look after her Trans sisters and brothers she was leaving behind," Weinsten said. "I can think of no better way to honor that request than with this Connie Norman Transgender Empowerment Center that we dedicate today."

A star-studded gala kickoff reception for the Connie Norman Trans Empowerment Center was held at Nobu in West Hollywood last month.

Information about donating to organizations housed at the center is available on the FLUX website.