Roland Palencia

Roland Palencia (he/him) is a Professor at California State University Northridge (CSUN)’s Tseng College in the Diverse Community Development Leadership Master of Arts program. He is the former Community Benefits Director and corporate trainer at L.A. Care Health Plan, the largest public health plan in the nation. He is the former Executive Director of Clinica Monseñor Oscar A. Romero and of Equality California; former Senior Director at The California Endowment, and the Chief of Operations and Vice-President at the AIDS Healthcare Foundation.

Palencia has been honored as a “Local Hero” by KCET (PBS affiliate) and Union Bank of California. In the early 1980s, he became one of the founders and a pioneer of the blossoming LGBTQ Latine movement in the greater Los Angeles area, including co-founding Gay and Lesbian Latinos Unidos (GLLU). He has been featured in a number of books and publications such as “Gay L.A.: A History of Sexual Outlaws, Power Politics, and Lipstick Lesbians” by Stuart Timmons and Lilian Faderman (2006). “Central Americans in Los Angeles” by Rosamaria Segura (2010); and “The Gay Revolution: The Story of the Struggle” by Lilian Faderman (2015). 

The 165-page Master thesis by David Guzman, M.A. (CSUN 2014) records Palencia’s life journey as a Guatemalan political refugee and community activist. 

He is the Executive Producer of two documentary films: “TransVisible: Bamby Salcedo’s Story,” a documentary depicting the life and activism of the nationally renowned Trans Latina activist Bamby Salcedo; and “UNIDAD: Gay & Lesbian Latinos Unidos,” which chronicles the legacy of the largest Queer Latine organization active in the 1980s and early 1990s. 

He received a B.A. in History from UCLA and an M.A. in the Engaged Humanities from Pacifica Graduate Institute. He is a former lecturer at CSUN’s Central American Studies Department. His greater passion is to be a mentor to future generations of community activists.