After a huge LGBTQ community meeting and brainstorming, the Billy DeFrank Center opened its doors on March 1, 1981, in a two-room storefront on 86 Keyes Street using the leftover funds from a failed campaign that left everyone depressed. Santa Clara County residents voted to repeal ordinances extending housing and employment protections to lesbians and gay men. Having a safe place, an LGBTQ Community Center, was a need at the time. And to embrace his generous and diverse spirit, the Center named itself after William Price, a popular, African American drag queen, Billy DeFrank. He loved everyone in the community and raised thousands of dollars for all the causes facing the community in the 1970s. He died in 1980, but his inclusive spirit lives on in the Center, even for our allies.
