Blizzard of Pride

A BLIZZARD OF PRIDE AT WALDORF

B. PROUD

The Human Rights Campaign hosted its annual Manhattan gala at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on Saturday evening, February 11, just as the city’s largest snowstorm ever was rolling into full gear. The highlight of the evening was a special award presented to Ang Lee, director of “Brokeback Mountain,” seen here with Joe Solmonese, HRC’s president. Lee was introduced by Anne Hatheway, who played the wife of the Jake Gyllenhaal character in the film. Many in the audience were undoubtedly disappointed that Gyllenhaal, who it was announced would also attend, in fact delivered his greetings via video from location on the West Coast. However, Christopher Meloni, star of the HBO series “Oz” and NBC’s “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit” did help fill out the evening’s hunk quota.

Other award recipients included Long Island Gay and Lesbian Youth and Citigroup, honored for its strong corporate policies supporting its LGBT employees. Speakers included City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, New Jersey’s new Democratic U.S. Senator Robert Menendez, and New York’s Senator Chuck Schumer, who vowed to battle once again this year to defeat Republican efforts, now slated by Majority Leader Bill Frist for June 5, to vote out a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.

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