MYTE stands for Mentoring Youth Through Empowerment and is a group that is "committed to improving the quality of life for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning (LGBTQ) youth by providing a safe, affirmative environment for peer interaction and by enlisting informed, productive and positive role models." The group is open to LGBTQ youth and straight allies between the ages of 13-18 and I ran into them while out and about over the weekend raising awareness for The LGBT Community Call to Action. My wife, the kids, and I took a drive over to The Center looking for a No on Prop 8 yard sign, and we were happy to see the MYTE youth group waving signs and passing out bumper stickers outside of The Center in efforts to raise awareness for the No on Prop 8 campaign. The Community Outreach Coordinator, Rikka Racelis, was a very gracious hostess to me and my family, and allowed us to hang out with the group and talk with them for a little while after they were done waving signs.

I was happy to see their generation getting involved in raising awareness for equality, and was proud of them as role models for my children.

They were eating pizza, and my children had some juice and cheese crackers. The group was planning to play a game of 'Dance Dance Revolution' and my children were suprised about that. When we left, my son said that he felt really comfortable there, which was nice since he is usually "bored" when we go new places. Overall it was a good experience, and in talking with Rikka Racelis I learned that the group gets together to raise awareness for issues affecting the GLBT community, but other activities include leadership training, academic mentoring, and career building. You can read more about the MYTE GLBT youth group here or visit their blog. You can also email Rikka Racelis at rikkar@centerlb.org for more information.

At The Center in Long Beach you can find:

The MYTE Drop-in Program
Open to youth ages 13-18
Monday – Thursday - 2:00 – 5:00 PM

The Coming Out Support Group
All ages welcome
Fridays, 7:00 – 9:00 PM

Alongside the MYTE program, The Center offers a wide variety of services for the GLBT community.

Here is a list of the services offered at The Gay & Lesbian Center of Greater Long Beach:

Information and Education
- Community help desk for referrals
- Housing and roommate postings, job postings and employment assistance,
- LGBT library, educational workshops, speaker's bureau, community calendar
- CyberCenter providing eight state of the art computers for community use.
- Training in computer use.
- Financial Planning workshops

Health and Well Being
- Mental health services (counseling and referrals)
- Women’s Health
- Breast Cancer Screenings
- Men’s Health
- HIV testing
- “Coming out" support.
- Transgender support
- Legal counseling services
- Mentoring Youth Through Empowerment (MYTE Youth) program.
- HEAT - Health Education Action Team.
- HEAL grief support group meets the second Monday of every month

Social and Cultural Activities
- LGBT film festival, fun events, outings and classes.
- Art shows and other cultural seminars and workshops
- Marriage Equality
- Hate Crimes Hotline
(in cooperation with the Long Beach Human Dignity Office)
- Voter registration and education
- Diversity trainings and community outreach on LGBT issues

All of these services are critical resources for the GLBT community here in Southern California, and The Center depends on individual donations to operate.

There are many positive role models for our GLBT and questioning youth (and our straight allies!) to be found at The Center in Long Beach. My family and I are planning to take a trip there again when they have activities planned specifically for gay families. In the meantime, it's great to know that the younger generation of GLBT community members have such great resources available to them when they have questions or need a little support. In order to help keep The Center in Long Beach a vibrant part of the community, you can make a donation online or if you are in the area you can help by volunteering time. Either way, the MYTE youth group and all other services offered by The Center are powerful tools for the Long Beach LGBT community, and me and my family are thankful to have them so close to home.

**Thank You to the MYTE Youth who allowed me to include their photo in this post, and to Rikka Racelis as well for her help and kindness during our visit.**

Julie Phineas is a work at home mom of 2 who lives in Southern California. You can find out more about her by visiting her page on MySpace.