Be Your OUTside Self

Center for Sexuality and Gender Diversity

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ABOUT THE CENTER

The Center with a large audience listening to presentations about LGBTQ and African American/Black history

The Center is an easy access hub providing safe, supportive spaces and services to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community, and serving as a bridge to the greater community in Kern County.

The Center opened in 2011 in an effort led by understated community leader and philanthropist David Trujillo. As a young man, David found the Los Angeles Center to be an invaluable resource to him when he came out, particularly in connecting with other LGBTQ people. After the 2010 suicide of Tehachapi teen Seth Walsh, David's desire to bring the same resources to Bakersfield's LGBTQ community took on a renewed urgency. He said, "LGBTQ youths need to know that they are okay and that there is nothing wrong with who they are and who they love."

Conservative estimates put the current number of LGBTQ persons living in Kern County at 36,000 to 50,000 residents. In our first four years, we served about 1,000 individuals per year. Since then, thanks to significant grant funding from the California Reducing Disparities Project of California’s Office of Health Equity. Now The Center serves 250 to 300 individuals a month, with many using The Center weekly or more frequently.

At the celebration of our sixth anniversary in November 2017, we announced our name change to The Center for Sexuality & Gender Diversity. Why change the name? In short, our board of directors wanted a name that celebrated the richness of an LGBTQ+ community that continues to evolve and make its varied voices heard. Now all people who identify along the entire spectrum of sexual orientations and gender identities can see themselves in the name as well as in its services. We also removed "Bakersfield" from the name because we want to be a resource to ALL of Kern County.

ABOUT TÊRA KAIA

Our mission is to redefine the way clothes fit and function and encourage you to get outdoors, and be your outside self.

Têra Kaia knows how to be her outside self. She's DTK (down to kayak), DTC (down to camp), and practically LIVES in her #basewear top. She's bold, unique, and unapologetically herself. Têra Kaia encourages you to celebrate your eccentricities, and let the person you are on the inside shine out.

Têra Kaia (formerly Arêt Basewear) was started in 2016 by outdoorswomen who became fed up with standard outdoor bras and swimsuits that didn't fit over their muscles, quickly fell apart in the outdoors.

Ready to create something new we put our heads together, hit the sewing machine, and made something different: #Basewear.

Basewear is a baselayer... AND a swimsuit. It's a water-friendly underlayer that fits so seamlessly it feels like nothing is on. Versatile enough for any outdoor adventure, you can wear it for weeks on end as you hike into the backcountry or jump in a lake. Breaking out of society's standard sizing our basewear is designed to fit modern women... which means muscles ARE included. Seamless, reversible, and minimal, our design aesthetic is inspired by the natural world.

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Be Your OUTside Self

Be Your OUTside Self

Center for Sexuality and Gender Diversity

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Be Your OUTside Self

Center for Sexuality and Gender Diversity

Choose Your Donation Frequency

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