Kern County’s Center for Sexuality and Gender Diversity faces immediate risk of budget cuts following Governor Gavin Newsom’s May revision plan, announced May 21, putting vital LGBTQ+ community services in jeopardy pending a final decision.

The Center is a space in Bakersfield, CA, that aims to provide a safe space for the LGBTQIA+ community through various initiatives. From game nights, LGBTQIA+ healing workshops, Teen Spaces, 50+ Social Cafe, and so much more, it offers many community resources. 

The Central Valley has only three major community centers—one in Bakersfield and two in Fresno County; currently, all three are at risk of closing. Dani Muñoz, Interim Executive Director, said that centers like these can provide social nets that were formed by community members. 

“Why were those social nets created in the first place?” asked Muñoz.  “Because the state wasn’t providing them. I really just think about how those folks who are already felt unheard, or not taken care of by the state, who found reprieve relief like our program… won’t have anything.”

For The Center, the largest amount of funding comes from the California Reducing Disparities Project.  Muñoz explained that one of the biggest arguments that they have for the state is that cutting the funding, or CRDP grants, would be a short-term budget solution that can potentially create a long-term budget problem.

The CRDP receives $15.8 million to operate its services. As a result, it provides funding to over 33 community centers across California with contracts that run through 2026. However, due to the state’s $45 billion budget deficit, each department has been assigned budget reductions to help close the gap. The Department of Public Health, which oversees CRDP, will be cutting  $11.4 million from its budget, resulting in immediate cuts pending final decision.  

Muñoz said that losing this funding early would be devastating, and the center needs the additional year to have the time to come up with sustainable efforts to keep the project running in the future. There are hundreds of folks that access the space through the activities, get training, and attend support workshops– those are the folks that will be the most affected, said Muñoz. 

The final year of the project would be to continue to deliver services, gather and consolidate project data, and explain the efficacy and opportunity that the project creates. Additionally, it allows the centers to have more time to come up with sustainable, fundraising, and contingency efforts. 

Because of how effective the program is, Muñoz said that folks are actually helping with the state’s budget as they do not have to access as many resources or services due to the community and organizational support from the funding. If the services from centers are cut, people will have to utilize the state’s resources more. 

Members of The Center, as well as a few community members of Bakersfield, went to Sacramento to give public comments alongside the other grantees at the Sacramento Senate and Assembly Budget Subcommittee hearings on May 20th. 

“A lot of the public comments, too, were really urging our centers to stand by the commitment of California,” said Muñoz. “California has been known to be a refuge, as an advocate… an ally to our community and not just to our community [ LGBTQ ] but lots of these priority communities.”

With the recent attacks on the LGBTQ+ community at both the state and federal levels, there is a growing sense of fear and a heightened awareness that spaces like these could be lost, even in California, a state that can be a refuge for the LGBTQ+ community.

Ace Moody has volunteered and facilitated group workshops with The Center for over 10 years. Up until last year, Ace was part of a group called Gender Rebels, an 8-week course that educated folks on topics within the trans community. The group hosted conversations on what it means to be trans as well as how to advocate, set boundaries, and give yourself self-care as a trans person. 

“One of my favorite weeks was normally around week 6 when we talked about…different types of emotional harm reduction and how to set boundaries, and what boundaries even are or what they look like,” said Moody. 

Due to the attack on the trans community, especially with the increase in bills and hostile climate on a federal level, it makes conversations like these even more important, said Moody. 

At 4:30 a.m. on May 20, Moody and their spouse drove to Sacramento in order to show support and give public comment as well. Moody said that the space was wonderful, and being able to sit and listen to the stories from the different groups lit a fire. 

“You have all of these…communities coming together that are all making connections that they previously didn’t have,” said Moody. “Now we’re creating a new net…for all of us that I’m super excited about because we can all kind of support each other a little bit, even if it’s just emotionally.”

It felt good to sit down, relate and bond with others outside of the Bakersfield queer community and be there for each other for this very serious event, said Moody.  

Contributions of spaces like these can often go unnoticed until they are gone. When Gabrielle Canales goes to The Center, she wrote that the atmosphere is a space of community and social connection. If Kern County lost The Center, the support and services would “certainly be felt through downtown,” she said. 

“Not only will we lose this incredible ‘third space’ that serves as a community center and the advocacy and services they provide for the local LGBTQIA+ community, but we will also risk losing the employees of The Center who pour their service into the Downtown Bakersfield community.”

Canales’s husband has worked with The Center by hosting a 10-week Moai board game night in collaboration with the Blue Zone Project. In 2023, when Oleander Pride, a Pride event that took place in Bakersfield’s Oleander neighborhood, got too big to host, she reached out to The Center to take it over. 

“The love and care the event coordinators have for both the LGBTQIA+ community they serve and the Bakersfield community at large is evident. Should The Center lose its funding, I believe downtown Bakersfield will feel its absence very quickly,” said Canales. 

The Center is looking at the budget and coming up with contingency plans. Because CRDP is the largest funder, and the lack of notice to prepare for a sustainable future, they would perhaps have to reduce to one Center and downsize staff members. 

“My biggest priority and commitment is that no matter what happens, The Center’s still here for the community,” said Muñoz. “We may not be here in the same capacity. We may not be able to offer all the same things… but we know that what we do here is needed… works… There will still be something here, we will not just disappear.”

Muñoz said that the funding elimination could happen as early as July 1. 

The decision of The Center’s funding will be announced on June 15.