Past Leadership Award Honorees

(Note that these events were called Honoring Our Allies from 1990 to 2003)

2013

Pink & Purple Weekend/Awards Brunch
Actor and Equal Rights Advocate, Jeffrey Wright
Lobbyist and former Assistant Attorney General, Robert Raben
Special Recognition:
Highlander Research and Education Center
Lee Rubin

2012

Miami Recognition Dinner, Miami, Florida
Attorney and Activist, Elizabeth F. Schwartz
National LGBT Rights Activist and Director of Gay and Immigrant Rights Programs at the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund, Matt Foreman

Pink & Purple Weekend/Awards Brunch
Leaders and activists in the LGBT, women's and Latino/a movements, Ingrid Duran & Catherine Pino
writer and director of the film Pariah, Dee Rees

2011

Miami Recognition Dinner, Miami, Florida
Longtime LGBT Activist, Georg Ketelhohn
Rugby Superstar and Founder, Ben Cohen StandUp Foundation Ben Cohen

Pink & Purple Weekend/Awards Brunch
US Secretary of Labor, Hilda L. Solis
Assistant Director of Govt. Affairs, Service Employees International Union, Skip Roberts
Founder and Owners, Lambda Rising Bookstore, Deacon Maccubbin and Jim Bennett

2010

Miami Recognition Dinner, Miami, Florida
Miami-Dade County Commissioner Katy Sorensen
Miami Beach Gay Pride Operations Director Cindy Brown
Activist and Actor Alan Cumming

Leadership Awards, Washington, D.C.
Congresswoman Gwen Moore
Secretary-Treasurer, Office and Professional Employees International Union Nancy Wohlforth

2009

Leadership Awards, New York, New York
Fashion designer John Bartlett
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom

Leadership Awards, Washington, D.C.
National Education Association
Wanda Sykes

Recognition Dinner, Miami, Florida
Lt. Dan Choi
Steve Adkins
Rev. James Trapp

2008

Leadership Awards, Seattle, Washington
Louise Chernin

Leadership Awards, New York, New York
New York Governor David A. Paterson
Director John Waters
The National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce

Leadership Awards, Washington, D.C.
AARP and its office of Diversity and Inclusion
Daniela Sea of The L Word
Rep. Rush Holt of New Jersey
Us Helping Us

Recognition Dinner, Miami, FL
Keith Boykin, activist and journalist
Ilene Chaiken, L Word Creator
Joan Schaeffer, community leader

2007

Leadership Awards, Seattle, Washington
Marsha Botzer

Leadership Awards, New York, New York
U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel
Stephen Goldstein, Chair & CEO, Garden State Equality

Leadership Awards, Washington, D.C.
Service Employees International Union
Patrik-Ian Polk, Executive Producer, Noah's Arc

Leadership Awards, Los Angeles, California
Dr. Judy Chu, Vice Chair, California State Board of Equalization
Christine Chavez, President, Actionimpact.org

Recognition Dinner, Miami, FL
Jerry Chasen, activist and attorney
Leondard Pitts, Jr., Pulitzer Prize winner
Debbie Wasserman Schultz, U.S. Congresswoman

2006

Leadership Awards, Los Angeles, California
Senator Barbara Boxer
Alice Huffman, President, California State Council NAACP
Richard Glatzer & Wash Westmoreland, writer-producers of Quinciñeara

Leadership Awards, New York, New York
Pulitzer Prize winning author Michael Cunningham
New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn

Leadership Awards, Washington, D.C.
Community service organization Food & Friends
US Representative John Conyers Jr.
Brokeback Mountain author Annie Proulx
Senator Russell Feingold

Recognition Dinner, Miami, FL
Julian Bond, civil rights leader
Bob Cole, community leader
TWN, community news outlet

2005

Leadership Awards, New York, New York
U.S. Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle

Leadership Awards, Washington, D.C.
Transgender advocate Sylvia Guerrero
Former Governor of Vermont Howard Dean

Leadership Awards, Los Angeles, California
California Principals of Scout Productions, David Collins & Michael Williams
Executive Director of the Black AIDS Institute Phill Wilson
Executive Director of the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Community Center, Lorri L. Jean.

Recognition Dinner, Miami, FL
Activist and Attorney Richard Milstein
California Assemblyman Mark Leno
Spanish President José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero

2004

Leadership Awards, New York, New York
Bishop Gene Robinson

Leadership Awards, Los Angeles, CA
Transgender advocate Sylvia Guerrero
Executive producer/director Greg Berlanti
Lesbian filmmakers POWER UP

Leadership Awards, Washington, D.C.
Civil Rights Director (GLAD) Mary Bonauto
EQUALITY FAIRFAX
Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin

2003

Leadership Awards, Los Angeles, CA
Transgender advocate Calpernia Addams
Executive producer/director David Lee
L.A. City Councilmember Antonio Villaraigosa

Leadership Awards, Washington, D.C.
Transgender activist Earline Budd
Ambassador Michael Guest & Alexander Nevarez
Attorney Stanley Weithorn

2002

Leadership Awards, Los Angeles, CA
Parents Roger Croteau & Steven Lofton
Actor Alec Mapa
The Advocate Editor-in-Chief Judy Wieder

Leadership Awards, Washington, D.C.
Comedian Margaret Cho
DC Black Pride
Actor Mathew St. Patrick

2001

Honoring Our Allies, Washington, D.C.
Producer Bruce Cohen
Representative Maxine Waters
Oregon activists Thalia Zepatos & Liz Kaufman

2000

Honoring Our Allies, Washington, D.C.
Comedian/Writer Kate Clinton (Lifetime Achievement Award)
Actor Wilson Cruz
Musicians Indigo Girls
Kathy Levinson & Jennifer Levinson
AIDS Czar Sandy Thurman
Civil Rights Attorney Lawrence Tribe

1999

Honoring Our Allies, Washington, D.C.
Former Task Force Executive Director Virginia Apuzzo
House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt
Task Force Founding Member Frank Kameny (Lifetime Achievement Award)
Anthropologist Dr. Beatrice Medicine
Representative Loretta Sanchez

1998

Honoring Our Allies, Washington, D.C.
Representative Barney Frank (Lifetime Achievement Award)
Representative John Lewis
Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton
Television Personality Cristina Saralegui
Reverend Cecil Williams

1997

Honoring Our Allies, Washington, D.C.
Coretta Scott King
The Mary Helen Mautner Project for Lesbians with Cancer
AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney

1996

Honoring Our Allies, Washington, D.C. and New York, NY
Cape Town Community Activist Zackie Achmat
South African Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry Kader Asmal
South African Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Equality Member Kevan Botha
South African Justice Edwin Cameron
African National Congress Deputy Secretary General Cheryl Carolus
Johannesburg Activist Sheila Lapinsky
South African President Nelson Mandela
South African Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Equality Member Phumzile Mtetwa
Activist Simon Nkoli
African National Congress Former Secretary General Cyril Ramaphosa

1995

Honoring Our Allies, Washington, D.C.
Congressional Black Caucus

1994

Honoring Our Allies, Washington, D.C.
Surgeon General M. Joycelyn Elders
Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi
Attorney General Janet Reno
Health and Human Services Secretary Donna E. Shalala

1993

Honoring Our Allies, Washington, D.C.
Representative Ronald V. Dellums
Representative Edward M. Kennedy
Representative Howard M. Metzenbaum
Representative Patricia Schroeder

1992

Honoring Our Allies, Washington, D.C.
Representative Barbara Boxer
Representative John Conyers
GLB Veterans of America
Senator Daniel Inouye

1991

Honoring Our Allies, Washington, D.C.
Minority AIDS Task Force Member Ron Johnson
Senator Ted Kennedy
National Commission on AIDS Member Dr. June Osborn
Representative Henry Waxman

Chicago, IL (in conjunction with Human Rights Foundation of Illinois)
Cook County Recorder Carol Moseley Braun
State Representative Susan Catania
ACLU's John C. Hammell
State Democratic Chair Gary LaPaille
Senator Paul Simon

1990

Honoring Our Allies, Washington, D.C.
Representative Bella Abzug
Senator Alan Cranston
Representative Ted Weiss