Tag Archives: good work

(Via – Truth Wins Out)

Hometown girl Lady Gaga has pledged to donate $1M to the Robin Hood Foundation, which will distribute the funds to five NYC-based organizations that support impoverished LGBT youth. Among the beneficiaries is the Hetrick-Martin Institute, where many of Ali Forney Center’s homeless gay kids go to school. Visit Gaga’s Facebook page and vote on your favorite charity. The top vote-getter …

Here’s a lovely project in Maryland that just hit my in-box. Pride Build Montgomery County aims to bring together the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and friends together to help build homes in partnership with families in need. Our hope is to provide an opportunity to better understand diversity by working to provide simple, decent, energy efficient and affordable …

Last night I attended the Imperial Court of New York’s 25th annual Night Of 1000 Gowns, which this year benefited the Ali Forney Center and the Trevor Project. Swirling amidst all of the winking pomp and circumstance were empresses, emperors, duchesses, dukes, viscountesses, dowager empresses, and probably a dozen other royalty titles unknown to me. Also in the room were …

British rugby star and passionate straight ally Ben Cohen is teaming up with gay and gay-friendly rugby clubs for a series of events called “Beer With Ben,” which will raise money for GLSEN. The Advocate reports: The Ben Cohen Acceptance Tour will visit Atlanta, New York, Seattle, and Washington, D.C., in May to raise awareness and funds, and encourage people …

The Naval Academy has honored the final wishes of a gay Marine who had told his husband that he wanted his ashes interred at the USNA Columbarium. John Fliszar was a 1971 graduate of the Academy, but what’s so heartwarming is how the Academy treated his husband, Mark Ketterson. The memorial coordinator asked about his relationship to the deceased. Ketterson …

On February 9th, amfAR will host its New York City gala where Stevie Wonder, Dionne Warwick, Gladys Knight, and Elton John will reunite for a performance of their Grammy-winning smash single That’s What Friends Are For, which was recorded 25 years ago as a fundraiser for amfAR. To date, the single has raised more than $3M for AIDS research. Honorees …

Wonderful news for the homeless LGBT kids of New York City. This morning NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn announced that city funding to the Ali Forney Center has been completely restored! Ali Forney Center executive director Carl Siciliano: This is wonderful news for the homeless youth of our City, particularly for homeless LGBT youth who would be disproportionately hurt by …

It has been a rough holiday season for the Ali Forney Center. The day after Thanksgiving I received an e-mail from the City of New York, informing me that due to budget problems, they were slashing their support for homeless youth programs, greatly defunding street outreach efforts and drop-in centers. Our drop-in support is being cut in half. I prefer …

Here’s the new Erasure single that I mentioned a couple of days ago. Get it now on iTunes. Proceeds from the track will be donated to The Hetrick-Martin Institute, the home of the Harvey Milk High School, in New York, and the True Colors Fund. The Hetrick-Martin Institute, the nation’s oldest and largest LGBTQ youth service organization, provides a safe …

The Family Acceptance Project works to help “diverse families understand how to support their LGBT children.” Here’s one of their touching training videos. (There’s a donation button at the link if you’d like to support their work.)

On Mondays, most Broadway houses are dark. But next Monday the stars of Broadway will gather for a special benefit performance for the Trevor Project. Lea DeLaria will host. Also scheduled to appear: Betty Buckley, Ricky Ian Gordon, Andrew Keenan-Bolger, Marc Kudisch, Aaron Lazar, John Tartaglia, Seth Rudetsky, Lea Delaria and Jeanine Tesori, as well as Emily Albrink, Jeff Blumenkrantz, …

This year’s Real Bad party, the closing event of Folsom Street Fair, raised a record-breaking $180,000 for local LGBT and HIV/AIDS groups. Via press release: Five selected LGBT health and community service organizations are sharing the funds raised, which include 100 percent of the money collected from general admission ticket sales. The beneficiary organizations are Maitri, the only residential care …

After last week’s report that Chicago’s Howard Brown LGBT Health Center may be forced to close due to financial mismanagement, an anonymous donor has offered to match gifts from the public up to $100,000. The offer comes from a man who credits Howard Brown with saving his son’s life. In a news conference last Thursday, Howard Brown made an unprecedented …

Openly gay Fort Worth City Councilman Joel Burns writes to direct us to an online raffle for the boxer shorts given him by Ellen DeGeneres when he appeared to speak about his heart-wrenching video about LGBT bullying. Raffle tickets are only $5 each and all proceeds go to the Trevor Project! But do it right now because the winner will …

Monday, November 8th in New York City, the Ali Forney Center will stage a fundraising concert featuring Alan Cumming, David Raleigh, Billy Porter, and dance music star Ari Gold. It’s no secret. Our LGBT youth are suffering now more than ever before, as you may have seen in recent news. These teens need support, they need help, and most of …

At the Ali Forney Center’s annual fundraising dinner on Thursday, executive director Carl Siciliano spoke passionately about the recent rash of LGBT youth suicides and the mission of his organization to create safe spaces for queer kids attempting to escape hopeless (and often brutal) home situations. Watch this. After his speech, Carl dropped a bit of a bombshell. Last year …

Hosted once again by Law & Order’s BD Wong, this year’s Anti-Violence Project Courage Awards honorees are the Paul Rapoport Foundation, Gay City News journalist Duncan Osborne, and Village Voice columnist Steven Thrasher. Get tickets here. AVP executive director Sharon Stapel raves about Thrasher to the Village Voice: “Your work at the Village Voice, particularly your coverage of proposed state …

True Blood’s Denis O’Hare hosts the Ali Forney Center’s “A Place At The Table” fundraising dinner gala this Thursday in New York City, where the honorees include furniture mogul/activist Mitchell Gold and a certain “perverted atheist leatherman blogger.” Get tickets here. If you can’t attend, please consider making a contribution to the Ali Forney Center’s desperately needed work for homeless …