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Lifetime Award Honoree Ann-Margret

The Chita Rivera Awards announced they'll be honoring stage & screen icon Ann-Margret with the Lifetime Achievement Award. The 2026 Chita Rivera Awards take place on May 18th at the NYU Skirball Center in NYC at 7:30P.  Also announced was that the hit off-Broadway show Gotta Dance! is this year’s recipient of The Douglas & Ethel Watt Critics’ Choice Award. This Award is bestowed by the journalists of the Chita Rivera Awards Broadway judging committee to recognize outstanding work that falls outside the framework of the original categories. It is named for the longtime Daily News theater critic Douglas Watt and his wife Ethel. Gotta Dance! is currently running at Stage 42. The Chita Rivera Awards celebrates dance & choreographic excellence, preserve notable dance history, recognize past, present & future talents while promoting high standards in dance education & investing in the next generation. The NYC Dance Alliance Foundation Scholarship Program & The Chita Rivera Training Grant are the beneficiaries of the event & since the inception of the Foundation over $5.4 million has been awarded to over 600 dancers attending 50 of the most prestigious college dance programs in the country. The Chita Rivera Training Grant consists of financial support plus one year of dance classes at Steps on Broadway in NYC. This year all funding & proceeds will support the creation of a new Chita Rivera Training Scholarship. The Chita Rivera Awards are produced by Joe Lanteri, Founder & Executive Director of the New York City Dance Alliance Foundation in conjunction with Patricia Watt. Tickets start at $125. 
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Cyndi Lauper Celebration of Courage

Cyndi Lauper will be honored at Celebration of Courage, Outright International’s annual awards & gala that takes place Monday June 1st at Pier Sixty, Chelsea Piers in NYC hosted by Laverne Cox. Levi Strauss & Co. & VoteLGBT will also be honored at this year’s event bringing together leaders, advocates, artists, & allies from around the world. Lauper will receive the 2026 Outspoken Award, Levi Strauss & Co. will be honored with the 2026 Outstanding Award & VoteLGBT is the 2026 Felipa de Souza Award Honoree. It’s an evening of inspiration & community in support of human rights for people everywhere. Celebration of Courage highlights Outright’s achievements & elevates & advances activists & our allies leading the charge to gain equality for people in their countries & around the world. Their annual awards & gala raises critical operating support for Outright & the global LGBTQ movement. This is a fabulous event including the “Courage Ball” a ballroom experience open to all with categories like Runway, Performance & Best Dressed. There will also be appearances from Avon Dorsey, Brita Filter, Claybourne Elder, Erik Ziemba, Jen Capra, Kal Penn, Randy Gardner, Wilson Cruz, members of the band BETTY, Alyson Palmer, Amy Ziff & Elizabeth Ziff & many more. This year’s bold dress theme is Wear Your Courage which is so timely as our LGBTQ communities around the world are facing increasing challenges. This is a night more than a celebration it’s a powerful act of solidarity & support. There will also be Outright’s Live & Silent Auctions featuring exclusive items, providing contributors with unique brand elevation & engagement opportunities. 
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Tyler Clementi Foundation Additions

The Tyler Clementi Foundation has announced the addition of community leaders & activists Collin Martin & Melissa Elizabeth Driscol to its Board of Directors. They will be joining an accomplished group of leaders dedicated to advancing the Foundation’s mission to end online & offline bullying in schools, workplaces & faith communities. Alan King, Board Chair of the Tyler Clementi Foundation stated, “We are thrilled to welcome Melissa Driscol & Collin Martin to the Tyler Clementi Foundation Board of Directors. Both Melissa & Collin bring a genuine commitment to the values at the heart of our mission; dignity, belonging & the belief that every person deserves to feel safe & accepted. Their advocacy & support for the LGBTQ+ community have made a meaningful difference in so many lives & we are honored to have their voices & experience joining the work of the Tyler Clementi Foundation. We look forward to the incredible impact we will create together.” Martin added, “As an openly gay athlete, I’ve helped make the soccer world a more inclusive place. I’m proud to join the Tyler Clementi Foundation & help advance that mission beyond sport.” Driscol concluded, “Being an Upstander means using my voice, visibility & relationships to challenge bullying wherever it shows up & to stand with those who are targeted. I am honored to join the Tyler Clementi Foundation Board & help amplify its mission through human connection, compassion & action.” The Tyler Clementi Foundation is a leading national nonprofit org working to end online & offline bullying in schools, workplaces & faith communities to honor the legacy of Tyler Clementi. 
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San Francisco Spotlight On Broadway

The 10th anniversary of the San Francisco Spotlight on Broadway fundraiser concert & showtunes extravaganza takes place on May 17th at the refurbished Grand Theater on 2665 Mission Street in San Francisco. The show will be hosted by the fabulous & multi-faceted Donna Sachet & Leanne Borghesi who are Spotlight veterans & certainly are no strangers to showtunes & will be joined by vocalist Jae Truesdell. The show features music from a number of hit Broadway shows from the perennial classics. If you’re thinking of Les Mis you’re spot on to the more recent such as Six: The Musical. You’ll hear the irresistible music of ABBA as featured in Mamma Mia along with selections from West Side Story, Cabaret & more. The San Francisco Pride Band is conducted by Matthew Fell who joined the band earlier this year as the Artistic Director of the Concert Band program. This is Matthew’s first Spotlight concert which means he’s just as excited as you to hear these toe-tapping musical hits. The band was founded by Jon Reed Sims in 1978 as the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Marching Band & Twirling Corps. Over the following years Sims created the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, the Queer Chorus of San Francisco & the now-defunct Lambda Pro Musica orchestra. He also inspired the creation of similar community bands such as New York’s Queer Big Apple Corps & Los Angeles’ Gay Freedom Band of Los Angeles. The San Francisco Spotlight on Broadway fundraiser concert is most important fundraiser of the year for the org with a fabulous silent auction for your bidding pleasure & a cash bar. 
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New York African Film Festival 33rd Year

The 33rd New York African Film Festival (NYAFF) a month-long cinematic celebration that takes place across NYC throughout the month of May kicks off at the Africa Center with a Town Hall forum May 1st centered on the theme of “Black Space” the ongoing transformation of social & physical environments by Black communities toward liberatory futures. Spanning theaters, cultural centers & public spaces the festival will present more than 100 films from over 30 countries across Africa & its Diasporas. The lineup includes more than 50 feature films & 60 shorts with many filmmakers in attendance for post-screening conversations. Mahen Bonetti, African Film Festival, Inc. (AFF) founder & Executive Director stated, “Across this year’s selection, filmmakers are reimagining the landscapes we inherit—drawing from ancestral wisdom not as something to leave behind, but as a source of renewal and possibility. Many of the directors, including a strong group making their first features, open new ways of seeing, rooted in land, spirit & the worlds we share. In these films, what sustains us becomes a kind of wealth, guiding how we envision & shape futures on our own terms. Together, they offer glimpses of brighter horizons, reminding us that even in difficult times, life takes root in surprising & extraordinary ways.” NYAFF is co-presented by the Africa Center, Film at Lincoln Center (FLC), the Maysles Documentary Center, BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) & New York City Parks Department. The programs of AFF are made possible by the generous support of the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts & more. 
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Baylor Hosts All Are Neighbors Event

Student leaders at Baylor University in Waco, Texas hosted a historic event on Wednesday April 22nd as prominent Christian advocates, Human Rights Campaign & Interfaith Alliance leaders addressed the “All Are Neighbors” gathering offering a powerful values-driven alternative to Turning Point USA’s “This Is the Turning Point” tour stop happened the same day. Kelley Robinson, HRC President stated, "We are here. On this campus, in this moment, together. Because this didn't just happen. This moment exists because people spoke up. Because students organized. Because a community decided that if harmful ideas were going to have a platform, then truth would have one too & that matters. Because democracy doesn't just happen every other year in November. Democracy is happening right here, right now & I want you to know they are talking about you & your courage in Washington, DC & on campuses across America... You are making the change so many people only talk about. So good people, I came deep in the heart of Texas to decree & declare that we are here. We are fighting for freedom without exception. We are fighting for democracy without exception. We are fighting for joy - somebody say joy - without exception." Baylor’s College Democrats, NAACP Baylor, Students Demand Action at Baylor, Hearts for the Homeless & Texas Rising asked for & received university approval to host the event marking the first time that students at Baylor have been permitted to host leading LGBTQ advocates on campus. Additional speakers for the event included Minneapolis minister & activist Rev. Susie Heyward who was a central faith organizer in the successful effort to push back against ICE’s Operation Metro Surge & Interfaith Alliance president & Baptist minister Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush. 
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Supreme Court Takes On Preschool Case

The U.S. Supreme Court has decided to take up St. Mary Catholic v. Roy a case that will determine whether preschools that refuse to enroll children of same-gender couples may continue to receive Colorado state funding under the state's universal preschool program. Mardi Moore, CEO of Rocky Mountain Equality stated, “Colorado's universal preschool program was a landmark investment in our state's children, a commitment that every family would have access to quality early education. The answer to whether taxpayer dollars should fund institutions that turn children away because of who their parents are should be clear. Taxpayers should not fund discrimination. Public funding carries public responsibility & that basic contract cannot be selectively applied. Rocky Mountain Equality stands firmly with the Colorado families fighting to uphold the nondiscrimination protections that Colorado has enshrined in law & we urge the Court to affirm that equal rights & public funding are inseparable.” Kelley Robinson, HRC President concluded, “All students deserve to be accepted at school & treated equally regardless of their or their family members’ sexual orientation or gender identity. To give public dollars to preschools that openly treat students with LGBTQ+ parents differently is state backed discrimination & has no place in Colorado or everywhere else. Colorado’s policy is sound & responsible, but this case is part of a dangerous, escalating path that takes aim at LGBTQ+ children, parents & entire family units. This must stop.” Rocky Mountain Equality is a leading org dedicated to advancing LGBTQ rights & promoting equality & justice for all individuals in Colorado providing direct services to the community & engages in advocacy RMEQ strives to create a more inclusive & equitable society. 
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Lifetime Award Honoree Ann-Margret

The Chita Rivera Awards announced they'll be honoring stage & screen icon Ann-Margret with the Lifetime Achievement Award. The 2026 ...

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