"The momentum is ours and our time is now," said co-chair Chubi Anyaoku at this year's Bon Foster Civil Rights Celebration, echoing the theme for 2011, "Seize the Momentum."
The annual fundraising event for LGBT-rights group Lambda Legal was held at the Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies April 28. The event is named after Bon Foster, a lawyer who left $250,000 to Lambda Legal to open a Midwest office after his death at 36 in 1991.
"He was loud and proud before it was fine," said Lambda Legal Midwest Regional Director Jim Bennett. "That visibility is what moved us forward."
Guest speakers talked about personal moments in their lives. Co-chair and Lambda Legal National Leadership Council member John Richards spoke about when he came out to his parents, saying that coming out is the biggest moment for many gay people.
Bennett talked about the moment when his mother finally told his conservative uncle that he is gay.
Zach Wahls, a 19-year-old college student with lesbian parents, got a standing ovation from the crowd after his testimony to the Iowa House of Representatives was played. Wahls recently received national attention for his speech asking for equal treatment for families like his.
"We still have a long way to go, but we're on our way," Wahls told the audience. He said that his personal moment was after his testimony when he realized that "all these people had my back."
Lambda Legal's new national marriage project director, Camilla Taylor, talked about arguments against same-sex couples raising children. "We have now reached a time when it's considered shameful to make those arguments," she said, adding that many couples still struggle to get respect for their relationships.
Anyaoku closed by talking about his experiences growing up in Africa, where it's still legal to be prosecuted for being gay.
After the presentation guests enjoyed music, drinks courtesy of Sidetrack, hors d'oeuvres from Wolfgang Puck and views of Buckingham Fountain from the ninth-floor museum space.
Lambda Legal also launched its "Get to Know Me" campaign with a photo booth for couples. Same- and opposite-sex couples supporting marriage equality will be featured on the Facebook page created for the campaign.
"It's really moving fast and furious now, both up and down," said Bennett, mentioning the most recent election, the civil-unions" bill passed in Illinois and the repealing of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." "There's a momentum that our movement has. We want to encourage each individual to seize their own moment," he added.
Text by Lisa Klein; photos by Kat Fitzgerald ( MysticImagesPhotography.com ) .
