The Center has announced its new board leadership for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins on July 1. Richard M. Valdez will become the new chair in July when Robert Gleason steps down from the post.

Valdez, who has served on The Center’s board since 2002, will become the first Latino to chair the organizations’ board of directors. In addition to serving on The Center’s board, he has also been a member of the ACLU board and Mayor Murphy’s LGBT Advisory Board, has chaired The Center’s Public Policy Advising Committee and is currently one of three co-chairs of San Diegans Against Marriage Discrimination. He also manages The Center’s softball team, The Center Starz.

Coming out at 34 years old, Valdez was first exposed to The Center as a client through their Married Men Coming Out Group. His experience working with The Center sparked his interest in getting more involved with the GLBT community.

“I had been active in the disabilities rights community before I came out,” Valdez said. “I liked the Access Center [a local disabled rights organization, where Valdez served as chair of the board for three years] because it was a social service and it also had an advocacy component and I was very interested in, and really fell in love with, the civil rights movement for the disabled. But I realized when I came out that the next time I volunteered for a board I wanted it to be in my community and I wanted it to be LGBT.”

A native of San Diego, Valdez received his undergraduate degree from UCSD and his law degree from the University of San Diego School of Law. Valdez and his partner are also the parents of two children.

“I am so pleased to see Richard Valdez take on this position of leadership with The Center,” said Delores Jacobs, executive director of The Center. “Richard’s longtime and passionate commitment to civil rights make him the ideal leader for The Center as we continue to educate, advocate and mobilize for full human rights for our community. I have been fortunate to work with incredible board chairs during my tenure as executive director, and Richard will most certainly make his mark on The Center and our community as he adds his name to that list.”

Looking to the year ahead, Valdez has said that one of his goals is to increase the diversity of those involved in The Center

“I’d like for the entire community – from the Latino community, the African American community, the Asian Pacific Islander community, lesbians, bisexuals, transgenders – I want everyone to feel that is their center, not just one segment of the community’s center,” he said. “I want to focus on diversity and outreach to our own community. We look to spreading our net beyond the LGBT community and getting more of the allied progressive folks to know who we are and what we do; to be able to continue to be players in the political arena and create change.”

Joining Valdez will be Lennie Alickman and Peter Spencer as the new vice chairs of the board of directors. Dale Kelly Bankhead will be the board’s new secretary and Jenny Flynn will serve as treasurer. John Laird was voted member-at-large.