The GLCCB

Former Chase Street home of the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Baltimore

This location once served as home for the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Baltimore. In 1977, activists involved with the Baltimore Gay Alliance (BGA), established two years earlier in 1975, decided to split that organization into two separate entities. The BGA remained a political organization, and the GLCCB became a new support services organization. One reason for the change was the need to secure 501(c)3 nonprofit status for the GLCCB. GLCCB initially located at 2133 Maryland Avenue in a small basement suite of rooms. The offices had a room for a men's STD screening clinic, counseling services, and meeting space. Gail Vivino, who was very involved with the BGA, lived in Charles Village at the time, and she opened the basement of her home at 2745 N. Calvert Street to house the GLCCB's switchboard. The house also served as a production space for The Gay Paper, established in 1979.

In 1980, the GLCCB purchased the building at 241 West Chase Street to bring all of the organization’s activities under a single roof. Much of the fundraising in 1979 and 1980 that put together the down payment for the building was done by Harvey Schwartz, who served as the first paid employee of the organization. Early efforts to renovate the building, which had formerly been a car dealership, then a pinball warehouse, were helped along by donations of labor, materials, and cash. Lambda Rising, an LGBT bookstore owned by Deacon McCubbin, was located on the first floor of the GLCCB from 1986 until 2008.

After more than thirty-four years at 241 West Chase Street, the GLCCB moved to the Waxter Center in February 2014. It occupies a suite of offices on the third floor of the building and still maintains the programs and services it offered at its previous location.

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241 W. Chase Street, Baltimore, MD 21201