Help us protect The Center, its staff, and the community it serves. This site details leadership failures at the LGBTQ Center Long Beach. 50 current and former staff, volunteers, clients, and community partners as well as former board members and fundraisers signed a formal letter to the board detailing the Executive Director's toxic leadership and poor management. The goal is not punishment, but accountability and a change in course.
This is a survivor-led community archive for 💔 healing 🪞 transparency 📁 documentation 📣 awareness 🫂 community support and ⚖️ accountability.
The Center is hurting. As documented in the letter "For many LGBTQ+ staff, clients, and volunteers, the Center was meant to be a refuge — a place of belonging after years of abuse, bullying, discrimination, and rejection from an unaccepting world. Instead, they found the same harm, from the very leadership entrusted to protect them."
Years of warnings. Documented harm. Requests for accountability.
The below timeline only documents the grievances of those who came forward, while many others suffered in silence.
These are voices from current and former staff, volunteers, and community members who document the human impact of this leadership:
"It became increasingly apparent that Ellie Perez was unprepared for the scope and demands of serving as Executive Director of one of the largest LGBTQ Centers in the nation. There was minimal effort to understand the operational realities and day-to-day functions of the departments she was responsible for overseeing. There was little acknowledgment of how untenable the staffing model was, nor was there a clear plan to address it. It was difficult to identify needs, expectations, or even the scope of responsibilities, which made requesting support challenging and ineffective."
"In my time working under Ellie, I witnessed her verbally abusing and berating [a staff member] working at the Center to the point he would be in tears and visibly dissociating in the hallway. He wasn't the only employee she directed this behavior towards."
"I've only been back to Long Beach a couple of times since I left because of her. It's triggering for me to see her stickers all over the city."
"Ellie is aggressive, rude and volatile. One of my first memories in a meeting was me trying to ask a question, her misunderstanding it and snapping on me in front of everyone. Not even giving me a chance to clear it up."
"There is no motivation or positive energy at all. This place feels depressing and even scary."
"I only ever witnessed her get worse and worse. . .Jumping down people's throats and always knee-jerk reactions."
The board has been aware of these issues for years. They've received:
Despite this, there has been no meaningful action. The board's hesitation is not acceptable. Their job is to protect the organization and the community it serves. That job requires hard decisions.
The people who built this organization over decades deserve leadership that honors their vision. The community we serve deserves a safe space that actually feels safe.
Contact the board. Tell them Ellie Perez must be removed.
This website presents information from a collective accountability statement submitted to the LGBTQ Center Long Beach Board of Directors. The statement is signed by 50 current and former staff, volunteers, clients, families of trans youth, community partners, former board members, and fundraisers.
All claims are based on documented experiences and verified observations of signatories. The purpose of this statement is accountability and organizational healing—not punishment, but transformation.