Pictured Nate Berkus; Anthony Rapp; Student activist Kevin Hauswirth; co-chairs Catharine Smith and Chris Grace; Joe Solmonese; Lorna Luft, daughter of Judy Garland; Mona Noriega; Gary DeStefano, president of the U.S. region of Nike; Tracy Baim and Jean Albright; Jan Schakowsky. Photos by Hal Baim and Hunter Clauss
The Human Rights Campaign kicked off its 17th dinner gala at the Hyatt Regency Chicago June 17 to commemorate individuals, corporate entities and nonprofit groups that have contributed to promoting equality for the LGBT community living in the United States.
'I hope people will get a new perspective about the Human Rights Campaign and a new perspective about the GLBT community,' said Catharine Smith, who co-chaired the event along with Christopher Grace. 'I hope everybody learns about some of the rights that we have, some of the rights that we need and how hard [ the Human Rights Campaign is ] working.'
Those honored at the event were interior designer Nate Berkus, the AIDS Foundation Chicago, Windy City Times Publisher Tracy Baim, and Nike. Student activist Kevin Hauswirth, a recent graduate of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, received the first HRC Chicago GLBT College Student Award.
U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky presented the AIDS Foundation with its award, and former Lambda Legal Midwest Director Mona Noriega presented Baim with her award.
'HRC's mission—probably something that is right at the top of our list with our regards to corporate America—is working everyday, here in this country, to extend a greater set of benefits for [ LGBT ] employees,' said Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign. 'There are millions of people all around this country who look to the Human Rights Campaign to do that specific piece of the work with corporate America, which is to get them to focus on something that 10 years ago was an incredibly big challenge.'
Solmonese said Nike, which is a sponsor of the Human Rights Campaign, was awarded the Corporate Equality Award for its high marks on the nonprofit's Corporate Equality Index, which evaluates companies based on their non-discrimination policies, domestic-partner benefits for same-sex couples and philanthropy for LGBT matters. Nike has received perfect scores on this corporate index since it was created.
With the help of corporations like Nike, Solmonese hopes that the political atmosphere regarding LGBT issues in the United States will brighten up.
'We are in the most important election cycle, I think, in a decade,' Solmonese said. 'We are really poised to make some big changes in congress and move this country back on a road towards fairness and equality.'
Keynote speaker for the event was Anthony Rapp of the stage and film musical Rent. He talked about being an openly gay actor, and the experience of working on Rent for so many years.
The evening's featured entertainer was Lorna Luft, daughter of Judy Garland, doing a range of songs her mother is known for. ( See interview with Luft this issue. )