The Triangle Gay and Lesbian Foster Parent Association (also known as Triangle Project) was founded circa 1986 and worked to provide gay and lesbian youth with nurturing foster homes. Among the Triangle Project's activities was training potential gay and lesbian foster parents, and working with agencies such as the Los Angeles County Department of Children's Services to provide homes for at-risk youth. In 1989, the Triangle Project merged with the Gay and Lesbian Adolescent Social Services (GLASS), which led to disagreements regarding the organization's overall mission. Most of Triangle Projects' original members left, and GLASS went on to become a for-profit housing and service organization, which later dissolved in 2008.

The Whitman-Brooks Foundation was founded in March 1979 as a non-profit educational foundation dedicated to providing education and support for coming out; providing leadership training for emerging gay and lesbian activists; and fostering a positive gay and lesbian identity for its members. Whitman-Brooks' activities included hosting annual conferences attended by community leaders, educators, and mental health professionals; holding on-going rap sessions and community seminars in a "non-threatening" environment; and providing scholarships and other services.

"During the late '70s, through the '80s, and into the early '90s, I was an active member of a number of gay and lesbian organizations in Los Angeles. Most notable, I suppose, would be the Whitman-Brooks Foundation, the first and largest co-sexual gay and lesbian organization providing guidance in coming out, a training program for potential community activists, and education about gay and lesbian issues at two or three major conferences each year held at [University of California, Los Angeles], [University of Southern California], and Occidental College. I served as chair of Whitman-Brooks for several years in the late '80s."

In the 1980s, Ferguson served as chairperson of Whitman-Brooks and was presented with award recognitions in 1985 and 1994.

"The other organization in which I participated was the Triangle Project, the first community organization to address the problem of homeless gay/lesbian youth as well as other youth in need of sympathetic foster homes. For a number of years, we recruited men and women from the community to become licensed and to serve as foster parents for youth referred to us by numerous agencies including the Los Angeles County Department of Children's Services. In the early '90s, due to faltering sources of funding, the Triangle Project was absorbed by GLASS (Gay and Lesbian Adolescent Social Services)."



Source: Letter from Donald A. Ferguson, dated May 12, 2007.