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In 1975 a small group of gay men began operating a telephone hotline specifically targeted to the gay community of Kansas City. The purpose of
the hotline was to answer crisis calls, offer peer counseling and provide information about referrals for services within the community. In 1983 Gay Talk organized as a 501(c)(3) not for profit
corporation under the internal revenue service tax code. By January of 2000 the number of calls to the hotline had dropped dramatically. Gay Talk volunteers decided to transform Gay Talk into a
web-based information center and discontinued the telephone hotline. Gay Talk's web address is: www.gaytalk.org.
When AIDS became a concern to the gay community, Gay Talk volunteers began a speaker's bureau, which offered lectures and workshops on HIV and
AIDS. These services were in such high demand that a separate program, Condom Crusaders, was created in 1987. Condom Crusaders, from 1988 to 2001, provided safer-sex packet distribution at Kansas
City public-sex areas and Kansas City's gay and lesbian bars.
Also in 1987, Gay Talk restructured the organization as an umbrella not for profit, expanded the organization's mission statement and changed
the official name to Gay Services Network, Inc. This allowed for many new programs to be created without applying for separate not for profit status for each program. In 1990 GSN added 'and Lesbian'
to its name, creating the present Gay and Lesbian Services Network, Inc.
Since 1987, GLSN has provided a 'home' for many single-goal organizations such as:
Gay and Lesbian Awareness: created to host various gay and lesbian oriented entertainment events from 1987 to 1992.
Evoke: created to provide gay and lesbian awareness training to the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department from 1988 to 1994. In 1994 the KC,
MO PD incorporated Evoke's training materials into their standard officer training courses.
Project Pride: created to host the 1993 to 1996 Kansas City Gay Pride Festivals.
Gay Games-KC: created to represent Kansas City at the International Gay Games in New York, NY in 1994
Missouri on the Move: created to provide non-political educational services for Missouri on the Forefront in their effort to defeat the Missouri
Constitutional Amendment that would have forbidden any laws or regulations that would protect the rights of gay and lesbian citizens of Missouri.
Passages Youth Group: created to provide a safe, non-threatening environment for teenage and young adult gays and lesbians. In 1994 the Passages
Youth Group program was transferred to the umbrella not for profit Westport Cooperative Services, Inc. By moving the program to WCS, Passages was able to expand its range of services and outreach
efforts.
GLSN has worked with many agencies to enhance their services to the their clients. Some of these organizations are: KC AIDS Research Consortium,
KC Free Health Clinic, Good Samaritan Project, HARC, SAVE, Alternative Professionals Together, PFlag-KC, Native American Health Coalition, Synergy House, Lesbian & Gay Community Center of Greater
Kansas City and the Midland Empire Task Force in St. Joseph. Missouri.
From 1991 to 2000, GLSN was the lead training agency for the City of Kansas City, MO Health Department HIV Health Education/Risk Reduction Program.
GLSN provided training to other non-profit agencies that received HE/RR grant funding.
GLSN has received grant funding from: The Diana, Princess of Wales International Fund, Elton John AIDS Foundation, American Express Foundation,
The Buffet Foundation, Robert Sterling Clark Foundation, The Gill Foundation, J. Paul Getty Trust, The Hormel Family Trust, The Center for Management Assistance, Heart of America United Way, DIFF/A,
the Departments of Health for Kansas City, Missouri and the State of Missouri, Wyandotte County, Kansas Health Department, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the Wyatt Foundation, Mid-America
Distributors, the Kansas City AIDS Foundation and the Neighborhood Tourism Development Fund of the City of Kansas City, Missouri City Council.
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