Lorri L. Jean
As CEO of the LA Gay & Lesbian Center, the world’s largest LGBT center, Lorri L. Jean is a major figure in today’s LGBT equality movement. Her 25 years as an activist are marked with many milestones. She was the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit against Georgetown University to ban LGBT discrimination. When Jean was the Deputy Regional Director in the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), she became the first gay or lesbian person in history to receive top-secret security clearance from the CIA, which made her the highest-ranking openly gay person in federal government. Barring a brief tenure as the executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Jean has served as the CEO of the LA Center since 1993. In that time, she’s dramatically increased the Center’s budget, programs, and facilities. Today, Jean oversees the Center’s annual budget of $43 million, 300 full-time employees and 3,000 active volunteers. –KL
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