All Dressed Up
Dallasites suit up for sparkly Black Tie Dinner benefitting LGBTQ+ causes
The pride was palpable at this year'sBlack Tie Dinner, the largest one-night LGBTQ+ fundraising gala in the nation.
Table after table of guests — all decked out in their sparkly, ruffly, shiny best — packed into the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Dallas for an evening that began with a VIP cocktail reception upstairs and general admission gathering downstairs, in between the many photo opps and impressive silent auction items.
The list of those being honored was long, spanning entertainment to sports, and co-chairs Regina Lyn Pierce and Terry D. Loftis spared no time in getting the celebrations started.
Following a special performance by country music artist Cameron Hawthorne, it was time for the awards.
For ease of reading, here's a list of the awards and their recipients:
- Elizabeth Birch Equality Award: Gus Kenworthy, Olympian and LGBTQ activist
- Media Award:Colman Domingo, Emmy Award-winning actor
- Vanguard Award:Rafael L. Silva, actor on 911: Lone Star
- Visibility Award:Ryan O’Connell, actor, director, comedian, and disability advocate
- Kuchling Humanitarian Award: Robert Emery, local philanthropist and community activist
- Dale Hansen Ally Award:Denise Lee, actor, singer, and community activist
The famous AfterBlack Party kept everyone dancing long into the night — several of the night's stunning shoes ended up on the side of the dance floor.
Each year, Black Tie Dinner selects up to 20 nonprofit organizations from North Texas as local beneficiaries of its fundraising, as well as the Human Rights Campaign Foundation as its national beneficiary. To date, Black Tie Dinner has distributed over $27 million dollars to a wide variety of organizations serving the needs of the LGBTQ community.
This year's beneficiaries include:
- AIDS Services of Dallas
- Big Brothers Big Sisters Lone Star
- Black Trans Advocacy Coalition
- Cathedral of Hope United Church of Christ
- Celebration Community Church
- CitySquare
- Coalition for Aging LGBT
- Dallas Hope Charities
- Equality Texas Foundation
- Help Center for LGBT Health & Wellness
- Legacy Cares
- Northaven United Methodist Church
- Pegasus Slowpitch Softball Association
- Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas
- Resource Center
- Synergy Wesley Foundation
- Turtle Creek Chorale
- Uptown Players
Next year's Black Tie Dinner is set for October 28, 2023.